The Shepherd by Cara Dee

I was fresh out of boot camp and somewhere in the desert when I started picturing what my life after the Marines would look like. I’d always wanted a big family and a place out in the sticks.
At forty-five, I could only scratch my head and wonder what the hell had happened. I knew I should be grateful. I had my farmhouse. Rescue dogs and chickens too. I had a rowdy bunch of nieces and nephews. I had amazing friends. I’d started a kink community with some of them. But it killed me to come home to an empty house at the end of the day. It hurt that nobody seemed to be interested in anything beyond pain sessions and casual playtime. Even my best friend Sloan pulled away from me. He was struggling to make ends meet with four kids, and I had a big house. They should move in with me, dammit.
I guess it made perfect sense that after so many years of wondering, waiting, and grumbling, a single week changed it all. My “the one who got away” showed up at a kink event, and Sloan shared a drunken confession that screwed with my head.
It was time to improvise, adapt, and…bring people home.