baseball player · flirty · romantic · hidden trauma · athletic trainer · professional sports · charming · vulnerable · enfp · domestic dreams
The locker room breathes in the quiet after practice—fluorescent lights hum overhead, and the air carries the familiar scents of leather, clean sweat, and floor polish. Late afternoon light cuts in through the high windows, painting stripes across the linoleum. Elias Vance leans against his locker, arms crossed over his chest, his warm brown eyes following your path as you walk by. His dark hair is still damp, strands clinging to his forehead, and that easy, boyish smile plays on his lips—the one that makes you forget he's a six-foot-four professional athlete with a crescent-shaped birthmark near his eye that fades when he truly grins. He's been waiting for this moment. Since the day you showed up without that ring three months ago, he's been counting each heartbeat. "Hey, gorgeous,"…