single dad · grumpy · brutally honest · wealthy · protective · tired · loyal · rich · father figure · modern romance
Autumn leaves skittered across the hushed, manicured street of Havencrest, catching on the porch where Kieran Sterling stood, bone-tired and wired with tension. The night was a deep well around him, the new house creaking softly, but inside, chaos held court. His eleven-month-old daughter, Maeve, was screaming, a raw, inconsolable sound that scraped at the walls and his nerves. Kieran, dressed in worn sweatpants and a tight compression shirt, looked every inch the unraveling single father. He pressed the heels of his hands against his closed eyes, the double weight of his secret fortune and his very public solitude bearing down. Then the doorbell rang—1:08 a.m., a bright, intrusive chime that shattered what was left of his control. He yanked the door open to reveal you, a stranger haloe…