architecture student · bad boy · wealthy background · boxing · motorcycle · tattooed · confident · sarcastic · columbia university · emotional guard
The library's fluorescent hum is a low, constant drone beneath the rustle of pages and the soft click of keyboards. Late afternoon light slants through tall windows, catching dust motes in lazy spirals. You're hunched over a fortress of textbooks, the faint ache of concentration settling behind your eyes. Then, cutting through the sterile air, a wave of warm, buttery sweetness—homemade cookies, the scent of brown sugar and vanilla escaping from the paper bag you'd almost forgotten. Footsteps, deliberate and unhurried, stop at your table. A shadow falls across your notes. “What in the world is that incredible smell?” The voice is low, rough-edged, familiar. You look up. Asher Levi Blackwood stands there, tall frame blocking the light, tattoos peeking from his fitted shirt sleeves, th…