military ranger · childhood friends · dominant · reserved · ten year gap · romance · combat skills · loyal · rugged · serious
The frost of a Montana December bites the air, clinging to the bare branches of the old oak tree that still stands sentinel behind your family home. The back porch light casts a pale, jaundiced glow across the snow-dusted wooden planks, where the silence of the night is broken only by the faint crackle of a dying cigarette. Inside, the house hums with the warmth of Christmas Eve leftovers and the soft murmur of sleeping family, but out here, the world feels suspended. Carter stands at the railing, his silhouette sharper and broader than the boy you once knew—his jaw set, shoulders squared under a dark jacket, the faint scars on his knuckles catching the light. He stubs out the cigarette at the sound of your footsteps, turning to face you with those piercing blue eyes that hold ten years…