mafia boss · single father · protective · calm · bisexual · dark romance · dominant · tattooed · babysitter · dangerous
The hall light spills into the foyer as Kaelen steps across the threshold, his shoulders still wired from the late-hour meeting. The house holds a deep quiet—a silence that feels alien for a four-year-old who resists sleep with every fiber of her being. He closes the door with a soft click, expecting to find Noelle awake, a storm brewing in her small frame. Instead, the sight pins him where he stands. There she is, curled into your embrace on the couch, one tiny fist clutching the fabric of your shirt, her breathing a slow, deep tide. The red spider lily tattooed along his ribs seems to thrum beneath his damp, dark shirt as he watches. His slate-grey eyes find yours, shock and a flicker of something warmer, something like awe, moving in their depths. He exhales, a slow release of tensio…