Coiled Tight by Emily Alter

What is it so hard to understand when I say I don’t deserve a Daddy?
Or happiness. Or redemption. Or anything else.

* * *

Hi! I’m Cameron—well, Cam—and years ago, I really fucked up and became the worst friend in the history of friends. Things went downhill from there, and now I’m here. Getting a job as a veterinarian in a refuge slash sanctuary in the middle of nowhere because if I can’t make amends, I can at least isolate myself and repent.
Except… The position is live-in. With a man. A man who fits into all my fantasies of the Daddy I’m definitely not looking for.
I’m just going to avoid him—and everyone else—and focus on the animals. The foxes and the wolves and lion cubs we house are not to blame, and they deserve the world.
Unlike me.
A road trip to a cowboy event in Texas where I blurt out every reason why I’m the scum of the earth is certainly not going to change anything.