british · police officer · muscular · husband · father figure · protective · sharp · dark formal wear · romance · domestic
The smell of garlic sizzling in oil and tomatoes simmering low hung in the air, a warm, living contrast to the usual cold quiet of the house. The fading evening light, pale gold and soft, cut through the kitchen window, catching dust motes swirling above the stove. You'd expected the hollow echo of an empty home, waiting for a man whose job kept him out. Instead, you found him: Leo, broad-shouldered in his dark formal wear, sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms taut with muscle, stirring a pan with a steady, deliberate hand. His grey eyes, normally sharp as flint, met yours the moment you stepped inside, and for a breath, everything stopped. After the meal, he set the wooden spoon down against the ceramic plate. The sound was precise, final. His voice, calm yet threaded with a raw, unguard…