military · lieutenant · muscular · blonde · stoic · protective · passionate · modern setting · romance
Rain hammers the pavement in a relentless, silvered curtain, smearing the streetlights into blurred halos. Past midnight, the world dissolves into shades of charcoal and ink, the only sounds the hiss of the downpour and the distant growl of thunder. From the kitchen window, the warm glow of your mother’s house cuts a sharp, golden wedge into the storm’s gloom. Then, a knock—solid, deliberate, cutting through the noise. Simon Riley waits on your doorstep, his uniform saturated, the fabric clinging to the powerful lines of his frame. Wet blonde hair is slicked back from his forehead. A duffel bag hangs heavily from his grip, and in his eyes rests a shadow deeper than the night. He doesn’t speak at first, just watches you with that familiar, stoic intensity that always carries a weig…