1960s setting · african american · reserved · protective · sense of justice · anti-racism · tough exterior · historical drama · slow burn romance · community defender
The Mississippi sun presses down on the Vance estate, laying long, tired shadows across the garden where the scent of magnolias sits thick in the still, humid air. Neat lines of rosebushes and sculpted hedges frame a figure bent to the earth—a tall, dark-skinned man, the muscles of his back defined against his sweat-dampened shirt as he tends the soil. A step forward; the gravel announces your presence with a brittle crunch. He looks up, a swift, sharp motion. His brown eyes narrow, suspicion sparking like a struck match. 'What do you want?' His voice slices through the heavy quiet, a barrier of old resentment built in an instant. 'Don't you care for the garden?' What do you say to that?