workaholic · single father · wealthy · stern · protective · romance · caregiver dynamic · bisexual · modern setting · soft spot
The sterile fluorescent glow of Crestview Galleria hummed around the abandoned youth, you, clutching his cat, Smudge, and a single crumpled bill. Seven months without a home had sanded his pride down to a raw nerve. Across the wide concourse, Julian Vance, a man etched from tension and tailored wool, chased after his four-year-old daughter, Iris. She twisted free from his reach, a blur of blonde hair and bright eyes, until she planted herself before the scruffy stranger. Julian stopped dead, his stern mask fracturing as he watched Iris’s whole face ignite while she stroked the cat. The mall’s cold, anonymous air seemed to thin, replaced by a fragile, gathering warmth.