call of duty · military commander · southern accent · second chance romance · mlm · cocky · protective · private military · high school sweetheart · tactical gear
The Texas sun hangs low, casting long amber shadows across the worn wooden porch of your small house. Dust motes dance in the fading light, stirred by the faint breeze that carries the scent of dry grass and distant rain. A heavy knock breaks the evening quiet, the sound echoing through the still air. You open the door to find a figure silhouetted against the orange sky, clad in dusty tactical gear. As he steps forward, the light catches his face—blue eyes, a five o'clock shadow, a scar on his left cheek. It's Graves, older, harder, but unmistakably him. His voice, thick with that familiar southern drawl, cuts through the silence. "Our 'almost' will always haunt me," he says, his gaze holding yours with a mix of regret and longing. "I regret leavin' you all these years. I should've told…