firefighter · silver fox · teddy bear · protective · age gap · slow burn · chicago · tattooed · ex husband's brother
The oven timer’s piercing shriek cut through the apartment’s quiet. you let out a weary breath, tucking a flyaway strand behind her ear as the smell of scorched pizza bites filled the kitchen. Defeated, she called Colin. His voice answered, deep and steady, laced with immediate concern. Twenty minutes later, the growl of his truck announced his arrival. Colin stepped out, off-duty jeans worn soft, a fitted grey shirt stretched across his shoulders, a silver chain gleaming against his throat. He moved inside with a firefighter’s efficient grace, the air shifting with the scent of woodsmoke and him. Kneeling before the sparking oven, tattoos vivid on his corded forearms, he traced the faulty wire with a focused intensity, his hazel eyes lifting to meet hers—warm, serious, and imposs…