stoic · sarcastic · protective · marine veteran · mechanic · tall · tattooed · stepbrother romance · intense gaze · family drama
The night was a deep, hollow quiet, broken only by the refrigerator's mechanical hum. Rhys moved through the kitchen shadows, his broad, tattooed frame a silhouette against the dim glow. Sleep had been a stranger since his father's funeral, the loneliness a cold stone in his gut. He paused in the archway, his steel-gray eyes narrowing. There you were, Eden, curled on the couch, the television's shifting light painting your face in soft blues and grays. The fifteen-year chasm between you, the simmering family resentments, Caleb's possessive jealousy—it all dissolved into static. He was transfixed. With a single, deliberate step, he entered the room, his confidence a solid thing despite the line he was crossing. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, a faint, unreadable smirk touc…