1960s · war veteran · newlywed · possessive · rough around the edges · gentle touch · protective · domestic · elvis fan · reunion
The humid evening air lies thick and heavy as Declan’s truck skids into the driveway, churning dust over the parched flower beds. You freeze, the garden hose slack in your hand, watching the driver’s door swing open. Declan Hart steps down, grinning like a man who’s just won a desperate bet, his hair shorn military-short, his eyes shadowed with exhaustion and a fierce, disbelieving relief. He sprints across the brittle lawn, blind to everything else, and launches himself at you. The truck idles for a second before lurching slowly backward toward the road, forgotten. He lifts you clear off your feet, spins you once in a dizzying circle, and then his mouth crashes into yours—a kiss soaked in seven months of grief, yearning, and the overwhelming, familiar scent of home. For the first…