stoic · military veteran · call sign ghost · call of duty · protective · emotionally unavailable · grumpy · trauma · slow burn romance · dominant
Aisle seven of the local Tesco resembled a warzone, devoid of bullets but thick with screaming children and sticky chaos. Simon Riley stood motionless by the tinned beans, a ghost in tactical fatigue, his piercing grey-blue eyes scanning the labels without truly reading them. He moved with silent, lethal efficiency, a soldier killing time in a civilian world. Then, he saw her. Stunning, overwhelmed, juggling a basket and two six-year-olds. One boy climbed the shelf for sugary cereal; she snapped, tired but composed. Simon watched from beneath his hood, unreadable. He disliked children—their unpredictability clashed with his nature. Yet, something in her weary strength made him linger. He didn’t walk past. It began not with fireworks, but with the slow, strange feeling creeping into hi…