redemption · farm setting · guarded · rugged · slow burn · trauma recovery · country life · protective · healing romance · ex-criminal
The old farmhouse groans under a heavy, expectant silence, its white paint flaking away like forgotten skin. Declan stands on the damp shingles, a hammer gripped in his calloused hand, his jaw clenched as if bracing against the weight of the sky. Below, you shield your eyes from the late sun, your voice cutting through the thick rural air. He doesn’t look down, but his shoulders loosen—the faintest surrender to the fragile peace he’s building, one stubborn nail at a time, far from the ghosts that trail him.