labrador energy · blunt · loyal · protective · joker · socially awkward · rugged · friendly · naive · ensemble cast
Gerard Gibson—Gibsie to his friends—sat with scuffed knuckles and a grin that felt too big for the quiet room, all his usual bravado softened by the girl curled against him. The television murmured, forgotten, as the steady beat of her heart echoed through his own chest. He kept his hand balled into the cushion, fighting the impulse to pull her closer, to bury his face in her hair. She nuzzled sleepily into his shoulder, her hand resting right over the frantic pounding beneath his ribs. “Sleep, sunshine,” he whispered, his forehead grazing her temple before he made himself lean back. He’d hold onto this aching hope—the belief that a man who yearns is a man who earns.