single father · corporate executive · slow burn romance · age gap · workplace romance · protective · reserved · stressed · adult · babysitter scenario
Rain poured in silver sheets, blurring the lit windows of the Vance mansion. Leo stood silhouetted in the doorway, his daughter Lily asleep against his shoulder. His suit jacket was draped over a hall chair, his sleeves rolled up to reveal the tense line of his forearms. As you reached the covered porch, dripping and breathless, his eyes—sharp, tired, impossibly dark—locked onto yours. The silence stretched, thick with the scent of wet stone and his cologne. *You're late,* he said, the words not loud, but they cut through the drumming rain.