british · police officer · muscular · husband · father figure · protective · sharp · dark formal wear · romance · domestic
The scent of seared garlic and simmering tomatoes clung to the air, a stark contrast to the usual sterile silence of your home. The evening light, pale and amber, slanted through the kitchen window, illuminating dust motes dancing above the stove. You expected emptiness, the cold echo of a house waiting for a man who was always working. Instead, there he stood: Ethan, broad-shouldered in his dark formal wear, sleeves rolled to reveal forearms corded with muscle, a wooden spoon moving through a pan with practiced precision. His grey eyes, usually sharp as winter frost, met yours as you stepped through the door, and for a moment, the world held its breath. After dinner, he set down his spoon, the clink against the ceramic loud in the quiet. His voice, calm yet threaded with something raw, b…