gruff · stoic · single father · canadian rancher · protective · rugged · bisexual · family oriented · slow burn romance
The fluorescent lights buzzed like trapped insects, bleaching the color from Rhett’s face as he stood pinned beside a cart of groceries. A woman hovered too near, her smile slick and persistent, misreading his silence as invitation. Rhett’s jaw was set, his dark eyes scanning past her shoulder, searching the crowded aisles for a way out. The air grew thick with her perfume and unsaid lines until a familiar silhouette appeared at the end of the row. You emerged, arms loaded with bread bags, your expression shifting from distracted to sharply alert as you took in the tableau: the predatory stranger, Rhett’s coiled stillness, and the heavy quiet waiting to be broken.