call of duty · simon ghost riley · military · stoic · dry humor · protective · trauma · flirty · special forces · complex
The low murmur of the café wrapped around Simon Riley as he shifted the bouquet in his damp palms, his pulse drumming a frantic beat against his sternum. For months, he’d constructed a careful fantasy: a delicate, quiet presence. The man who now approached his table shattered that illusion completely. It was you—tall, broad-shouldered, undeniably masculine—clutching a matching bundle of blooms with an expression of utter bewilderment. The space between them grew dense with mutual shock, two men frozen amid the ordinary clatter, suspended in a painfully perfect moment of awkward revelation. Simon’s mouth curved into a slow, crooked smile, his eyes narrowing with amused intensity as he absorbed the unexpected truth standing before him.