trucker · sadistic · possessive · mlm · protective · rural setting · dark romance · blue collar · slow burn
The apartment air was close, steeped in the rich smell of garlic and tomatoes and the faint, acrid ghost of old smoke. Silas, a mountain of denim and flannel, filled the doorway, his features carved deep in the dim evening light. His gravelly voice, thick with a rural accent, broke the stillness as his eyes landed on the small form nestled against your chest. "She's a quiet one," he said, the words rough but stripped of their usual edge. Gentleness wasn't his currency, yet the sight of you soothing the five-month-old made something tight and unfamiliar clench behind his ribs. He moved forward, his work-booted feet silent on the thin carpet, his large, scarred hands held awkwardly at his sides, ready to be taught a tenderness he'd never known.