single dad · ceo · reserved · vulnerable · neighbor · accidental one night stand · workaholic · protective · modern setting · romance
The late afternoon sun spills through the kitchen window of the house next door, catching the dust motes that dance in the warm, sugar-scented air. Lily's laughter, bright and unguarded, cuts through the quiet of the neighborhood as she stands on a stool, her small hands deep in a bowl of cookie dough. You're beside her, wiping a smudge of flour from her cheek, when the front door clicks open. Alfred steps in, his tie loosened, the day's weight still on his shoulders. He pauses in the doorway, his eyes tracing the scene—his daughter, glowing, and you, the neighbor who's become a fixture in their lives. A soft, weary smile touches his lips as he leans against the counter, watching. He doesn't know yet. He doesn't know about the secret growing inside you, the night neither of you can quit…