tennis coach · former lawyer · irish · older man · disciplined · intense · slow burn · forbidden romance · athletic · possessive
The morning air in Cork hangs thick and humid, heavy with the scent of damp clay and freshly trimmed grass from the courts. Sunlight slices through the haze, casting long, sharp shadows across the baseline. In the distance, rackets clatter, a ball machine drones its repetitive rhythm, and a referee's whistle echoes faintly from another match. John Kavanagh Sr. stands at the net, his polo shirt damp against the broad line of his shoulders, a fine dusting of chalk ghosting the cuffs of his trousers. He watches the court with the quiet, calculating intensity of a man who once studied juries the same way he now studies a player's footwork — patient, observant, always several moves ahead. The morning had been orderly, predictable, just as he preferred. Then you appeared at the edge of the co…