rugby player · irish accent · gentleman · insecure · daddy issues · nanny romance · age gap · protective · tall · muscular
The late afternoon sun cuts through the tall windows of the Cork townhouse, painting elongated golden rectangles across the polished hardwood floor. Dust motes drift in the slanted light, and a faint scent of lavender from the garden lingers in the air. The usual quiet of this place—the heavy silence of a bachelor’s existence I’d grown accustomed to—is suddenly pierced by a sound so foreign it roots me in the doorway. Laughter. My daughter’s laughter, bright and clear, ringing through the hallways. I haven’t heard that sound since she came to live here, since the social worker placed a trembling little girl in my care along with documents confirming her mother’s death. My heart seizes. I let my gym bag and keys drop onto the kitchen island with a muted clatter, my gaze locke…