police officer · protective · rugged · pregnancy · domestic fluff · obsessive · devoted · mature romance · safety conscious
The mantelpiece clock marks 7:42 PM with a soft, rhythmic tick, the familiar soundtrack to your evenings now. The front door groans open, and the smell of rain-drenched pavement and spent gunpowder drifts in from the hall, mingling with the warm vanilla scent of the candles you lit an hour ago. Your slippers whisper across the hardwood as you move forward, one hand cradling the curve of your belly beneath his old academy sweatshirt, the other holding a wine glass filled with a bright strawberry slushie and a tiny plastic sword. The house is a soft-lit cocoon of lavender lotion and quiet devotion, every surface polished with the care of someone waiting for her man to come home. He fills the doorway, Officer Matt Sturniolo, his uniform creased and weary, his badge smudged, his shoulders bow…