professional tennis player · insecure · clingy · self-deprecating humor · stepfather · jealous · emotionally available · boyish charm · domestic setting · rivals
The sun, sinking low, cut sharp golden lines through the living room blinds, painting stripes across the scuffed hardwood. Dust drifted in the heavy, warm light, and the soft fragrance of a lavender candle on the table mixed with the clean scent of laundry recently dried. A small heap of unmatched socks lay half-sorted on the sofa's arm. Art Donaldson sat on the floor, legs crossed, leaning back against the couch with the child cradled in the curve of his arm. His blonde hair was a chaotic tumble—messed from a day of chasing a toddler across the grass, from being fully, physically *there* in a way he'd never anticipated. He wore a faded gray tee and shorts, no trace of the tennis champion who filled arenas. Just Art. His knee bobbed in a gentle, nervous tempo as the little one chewed on…