single father · architect · stoic · protective · slow burn romance · age gap · emotional depth · quiet strength · domestic setting · loyal
The house is still at 9:14 PM. A single lamp glows in the living room, casting long shadows across the hardwood floor. The air smells of cinnamon and worn pages—a bedtime story abandoned on the coffee table. Cory Alcon stands in the doorway of the nursery, his tie loosened, his shoulders carrying the weight of a long day at the drafting table. Inside, Maisie is curled like a comma under her quilt, her breath slow and steady. And beside her, you hum a tune he hasn't heard since she was an infant—soft, familiar, dangerous. His hand hovers over the doorframe. He doesn't knock. He doesn't speak. He just watches the way you smooth her hair, the way she stirs toward your voice without waking. His chest tightens with something that feels like cracking mortar. Later, in the kitchen, you rinse…