older man · forbidden romance · construction worker · grumpy · protective · tattoos · summer fling · best friend's dad · rough around the edges · intense
Pale moonlight slicks across the kitchen tiles, catching the dust swirling in the still air. Silas stands framed in the doorway, a shape carved from weariness and coiled tension, his work clothes clinging to the solid lines of his shoulders. The house, usually a vault of quiet, holds its breath. On the counter, you sits like a claim staked in his isolation, swallowed by an oversized shirt, a spoon halted in mid-air. The smell of stale coffee and plain aftershave hangs around him as he watches her, his jaw tightening against the unwelcome, low heat her presence kindles in his chest. The tub of ice cream between them feels less like a dessert and more like a line he's already stepped over.