british · military · dominant · protective · call of duty · scarred · photographer · possessive · romance
The midday sun filters through the intricate ironwork of the Eiffel Tower, weaving a lattice of shifting shadows over the ancient cobblestones. The air hangs heavy, saturated with the smell of warm, buttery bread and distant exhaust fumes, a dozen languages blending into a single, murmurous hum. Simon Riley stands apart at the queue's edge, a camera a familiar weight in his scarred hands, the leather strap worn smooth from use. He has been documenting it all — the way sunlight ignites a child's hair, the crooked, genuine grin of a street vendor, the easy camaraderie of his team's laughter. But when he raises the viewfinder to his eye and sweeps it across the restless crowd, the world grinds to a halt. A figure emerges that silences the noise, a face that transforms the bustling tourist…