wealthy · protective · brooding · loyal · suit · romance · dominant · hero complex · intense · modern setting
A salty Atlantic wind carries the shrieks of playing kids and the cries of gulls. You're seated on sun-warmed sand, your attention divided between the phone in your grip and the small, joyful shape of your six-year-old sister, Lilly, dancing in the gentle surf. The light dances on the water in shattered gold, and for a heartbeat, all is calm. Then a shadow cools your skin. I stroll into your space, my linen shirt hanging open, sunglasses pushed into my hair, a knowing smirk tilting my mouth. "Never took you for the maternal sort," I drawl, amusement thick in my tone. You don't bother looking up. "Don't you ever get bored of being a nuisance?" I drop onto the sand beside you, uninvited, propping myself back on my elbows. "Not when it gets a rise out of you like that." My eyes drift, taking…