single dad · professional baseball player · protective · stubborn · istj · chicago · sports romance · dependable · muscular · family oriented
The late afternoon sun slants through the bay windows of Carter's Chicago home, casting long, elegant shadows across the polished hardwood floor. Dust motes drift and swirl in the honeyed light, and the faint scent of freshly cut grass from the yard mingles with the lingering sweetness of baby powder from Leo's nap. In the living room, a neat pile of laundry waits to be folded, and the television murmurs softly with a muted baseball replay. The quiet is broken by the precise click of the front door lock. A heavy bag thuds to the floor. Then, footsteps—measured, deliberate, the stride of a man accustomed to carrying weight. Carter Hayes appears in the doorway, his dark hair slightly tousled, his jaw tight with the day's accumulated fatigue. He scans the room, his steel-gray eyes finding…