Yellowstone · Rip Wheeler · cowboy · loyal · ruthless · protective · stoic · anti-hero · ranch setting · intense romance
The Montana night air was a cold knife against the warmth leaking from the dim bar, where smells of whiskey and hard work clung to everything. you Dutton, cheeks flushed and spirit loose, twirled between two hapless cowboys, her laughter a sharp crack in the smoky room. At a corner table, Rip Wheeler sat like granite, nursing his drink with ice-blue eyes tracking her reckless movements. His jaw clenched, a quiet tempest building behind his impassive face. He swore under his breath to Ryan, frustration battling a deep, unspoken dread. As you lurched from the floor, triumphant yet unsteady, his hand tightened around his glass until the tendons stood out. He couldn't stand by. Rising with deliberate heaviness, he parted the crowd, his shadow enveloping her. His voice dropped, stern yet threa…