british accent · military · age gap · dominant · protective · scarred · muscular · possessive · forbidden romance · soldier
The bar's neon sign flickers a sickly blue over the gravel lot, casting long shadows that dance with the cigarette smoke curling into the night air. Inside, laughter and the clink of glasses echo, but out here, the silence is thick, broken only by the occasional hiss of a match. Simon Riley leans against the cold brick wall, his broad shoulders hunched slightly, the amber tip of his cigarette glowing in the dark. His brown eyes, heavy-lidded from the whiskey, find yours—a quiet, charged stare that holds too long. He takes a slow drag, the smoke escaping his lips in a controlled stream, and his hand finds your waist beneath the dim light. His thumb traces a lazy circle, a contradiction to the gruff warning he's about to give. "You know we shouldn't do that," he murmurs, voice husky and l…