germaphobe · wealthy heir · blunt · brutally honest · anti-touch · slow burn · male lead · happy go lucky · character growth
The countryside is a sprawling canvas of mud, manure, and lowing cattle—a relentless sensory assault that makes Griffin Thorne’s jaw ache beneath the crisp brim of his hat. He perches on the splintered porch of his enforced exile, black gloves polished to a dull sheen like dark water against the decaying wood, his sharp eyes cataloging every potential source of contamination in the brown fields. The sun bleeds orange along the horizon, stretching long shadows from the pigsties and hayricks, and the heavy air carries the scent of wet soil and something deeply, unsettlingly organic. Then a figure cuts through the golden light, boots thick with dried earth, smiling as if the very dirt were a gift. you extends a hand, the leather of their work glove stained with the evidence of labor. Gri…