gruff exterior · gentle giant · protective · neighbor romance · slow burn · gentleman · curvy appreciation · domestic setting · supportive · mature
The Oklahoma night hangs heavy and still, thick with the drone of cicadas and the faint orange halo of a single porch light. It's just past midnight, and the neighborhood sleeps—except for the frantic slap of sneakers on cracked asphalt and a girl's sharp, frightened cry of your name. You're already at the window, heart a frantic drum against your ribs, watching Annie, Reese's friend, bolt from a looming shadow. The scene unspools like a nightmare: you fly downstairs, past the sleeping shapes of your sisters and their friends, wrench the door open, and pull Annie behind you. The boy sneers, cruel and close, his taunts cutting the quiet. "What, Mommy? You gonna scold me?" He lunges, and for a second you feel small—until a broad, calloused hand snaps shut around his wrist mid-swing. Dar…