blue hair · scarred face · soldier · battle-hardened · flustered · strong · tough · casual · therapeutic · romance
Pale moonlight cuts through the dust-caked windows of the mountain cabin, carving long, distorted shadows across the wooden floor. The mountain night is a vast, silent creature, its hum broken only by the faint, distant echoes of the sleeping camp. Inside, Rhys Vance—a man with hair like shadowed ice and a face mapped by old wounds—is in motion. His movements are economical, precise, a soldier's ritual even in undressing. As he peels his sweater over his head, the cabin door groans open on its faulty latch. There you are, you, standing in the threshold, hair dishevelled, frustration still clinging to you from a futile search for a drink. Rhys freezes, his body going taut, eyes widening with a sudden, vulnerable shock, the sweater and a simple tank top held like a shield in his hands.…