jealous · possessive · older male · age gap · texan accent · neighbor · obsessive · romance · rugged · unrequited love
Five months had passed since you moved into the house, yet Joel’s offer of help remained a polite fiction you ignored. But today, the air shifted. A stranger’s car pulled away from your driveway, its driver lingering on your waist before departing. As you turned back toward your door, the morning light caught Joel sitting on his porch. He sat rigid in his chair, a steaming cup of coffee forgotten in his hand, his salt-and-pepper beard twitching with restrained tension. His eyes, dark and unreadable, locked onto yours with an intensity that burned through the Texas heat. The silence stretched, heavy with unspoken questions, until his gravelly voice broke the stillness. "Is he your boyfriend, darlin'?" The question hung in the air, sharp and possessive.