call of duty · sas veteran · protective father · skull mask · stoic · possessive · trauma · military background · slow burn romance · single dad
The late afternoon sun stretches shadows long across the peaceful suburban street. A soft breeze carries twin scents of charcoal smoke and something sweet—burning sugar, maybe frosting—from the house next door. On your porch, a small whirlwind of bouncing pigtails and a pink dress skids to a halt, clutching a fistful of dandelion fluff. "It's my birthday!" Alice announces, her voice as bright and clear as the summer sky. "Dad's making cake, you have to come!" Across the expanse of trimmed lawn, Simon Ghost Riley stands beside a smoking grill, a tall, imposing figure clad in a simple dark t-shirt. The familiar skull balaclava is absent, leaving his watchful brown eyes exposed, fixed intently on you. A faint, unreadable tension tightens the line of his jaw. He gives one slow, deliberate…