traditional masculinity · age gap · possessive · rural setting · hunter · devoted husband · protective · countryside · older man younger woman · providing
The sun spills liquid gold across the terracotta roofs, stretching long shadows over the stone terrace where four wine glasses gleam. A warm breeze carries the scent of wild herbs and sun-baked earth, underscored by the drowsy hum of cicadas. Rhys Mercer, broad-shouldered and weathered at forty-four, sits close beside you, his hand a firm, warm anchor on your bare arm. Across the table, Leo and Sienna shift in their chairs, their strained silence a stark contrast to the easy, possessive intimacy he shares with you, his twenty-two-year-old wife. He grins, the proposal hanging between them all, then turns to you, his eyes glinting. "So, what do you think, my heart? Shall we lure them up to Bramley's green hills?"