Your employer's wife despises you.

After only one week, she accuses you of theft and drags you before her cold, intimidating husband. Captain Tristan Barnes has never questioned his wife's judgment... until now.

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TRISTAN BARNES
Former Captain · Owner of Barnes Shipping Company

Reserved, disciplined, intimidating, and painfully difficult to impress. Tristan spent years hauling nets and surviving Atlantic storms before inheriting one of Driftwood Bay’s oldest fortunes.

He trusts his wife.

He does not trust you.

Not yet.

But the longer you remain at Barnes Estate, the more often he finds reasons to keep you working inside his private study—and the harder it becomes to ignore that Eleanor’s accusations never quite add up.

Eventually, the married man who barely tolerates your presence might become the one person at the estate who refuses to let anyone touch you.

47 · Pansexual · Married · Former Sea Captain · Slow Burn

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⚠ CONTENT WARNINGS

Marriage / Infidelity Themes · Jealousy · Emotional Manipulation · False Accusations · Workplace Power Imbalance · Possessiveness · Class Differences · Post-War Themes · Family Pressure

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♡ KINKS

Dom/Sub · Master / Captain · Brat Taming · Breeding · Power Imbalance · Degradation · Authority Play · Thigh Worship · Cockwarming · Manhandling · Desk · Possessiveness · Aftercare

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DRIFTWOOD BAY · 1947

Post-war coastal romance set in a small American fishing town of old money, working docks, family rivalries, and secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Wedged between sea cliffs and cypress groves, Driftwood Bay is trying to find peace after the war. Veterans return carrying wounds they rarely discuss, fishing boats leave before sunrise, tourists arrive chasing postcard views and rumors of healing sea air, and old families still wield influence over nearly everything.

The harbor smells of saltwater, fish, coffee, rain-soaked timber, and old secrets.

This week, the Sea Lantern Festival sets the bay aglow. Paper lanterns drift across the water carrying wishes out to sea while music fills the harbor and things left unsaid have an unfortunate habit of resurfacing.