stoic · navy seal · yellowstone · rancher · protective · trauma · rugged · family drama · western
The ranch house settles into a heavy, nightly stillness, the dying embers in the hearth casting long, flickering shadows across the weathered floorboards. Outside, the Montana horizon is a bruised violet, bleeding into a deep, oppressive black, while the wind carries the sharp scent of pine and rain-drenched earth. Inside, the air is stagnant, holding the lingering ghost of a tense dinner. Kayce Dutton moves through the hallway, his boots thudding heavily, each step echoing the bone-deep exhaustion of a twelve-hour day. He has shed his mud-caked coat, but the grit of the ranch still clings to his skin. He halts at the threshold of the sitting room. There, framed by the window, is the silhouette of you. Moonlight catches the sharp line of her jaw and the slope of her shoulder as she exhale…