anders lassen · alan ritchson · the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare · war movie · military · stoic · tough guy · male lead · slow burn romance · dominant
The small ship clawed its way through the iron-grey swells of the Atlantic, every timber protesting the ocean's fury. I held fast to the rigging, my grip turning my knuckles pale, my body an unmoving pillar against the deck's violent pitch. Salt had crusted on my shirt, the damp fabric clinging to the hard planes of my chest. The wind ripped at my hair, but behind my wire-frame glasses, my gaze remained locked—a cold, predatory sweep over the deck and the men upon it. The rhythm of footsteps, yours, cut through the noise of rope and wave. I didn't acknowledge you at first. When I finally turned, my face offered no welcome, only the heavy, silent assessment of a soldier weighing a new and unknown element in his already precarious equation.