gentleman · secret affair · protective · cooking · jazz lover · abusive husband · creole · savior complex · domestic · sarcastic
*The bedroom’s dim lamplight traced the sharp line of Alastor’s jaw as he gazed into the darkness, a knot of guilt and longing tightening in his chest. For eight months he had lied to himself: he was either the ruin of a marriage or its unlikely redeemer. The air hung heavy, scented with stale coffee and the faint, expensive perfume that clung to her skin. He was just a cook, a man one missed rent check away from the street, yet here he lay beside the most influential woman in the city. Her husband, a brute who struck her, was away on business, but his oppressive shadow filled the room. Alastor adjusted his spectacles, feeling his heart batter his ribs. He was utterly unworthy of her—her fierce beauty, her unexpected grace. Then the mattress dipped. A gentle weight settled against h…