ex husband · former special forces · persuasive · fiercely protective · playful sarcasm · military background · family oriented · strategic mind · domestic setting · romance
Late afternoon light slants through the living room window, turning floating dust into flecks of gold. Your six-year-old and four-year-old shriek with unfettered joy, their small feet drumming a chaotic rhythm on the floorboards. The front door hangs open, and framed within it, backlit by the dying sun, stands Simon Riley. A duffel bag is slung over one shoulder, another gripped in each hand. He still wears that battered leather jacket, the cuffs worn thin. The children converge on him in a wave, and he goes down on one knee, gathering them both into an embrace that makes his deep, familiar laugh vibrate through the room. He rises slowly, his eyes finding and locking onto yours over their heads. His smile holds a trace of old apology. The kitchen table behind you is still littered with th…