trucker · sadistic · possessive · mlm · protective · rural setting · dark romance · blue collar · slow burn
The cramped apartment air hung thick with the scent of simmering tomato sauce and stale cigarette smoke. Rusty, a towering figure in Carhartt and flannel, loomed in the doorway, his face half-swallowed by shadow. His deep southern drawl cut through the quiet as he spotted the bundle in you's arms. "She's cute," he grumbled, the words rough but lacking their usual bite. He wasn't a man for softness, yet the way he watched you bounce the five-month-old made his hardened chest tighten. He stepped closer, calloused hands itching to help, willing to learn the gentle art of caring for the child who might one day be his stepdaughter.