cocky · calm · mechanical engineer · oil stains · backwards cap · dangerous patience · brat tamer · romance · chaotic · unbothered
The machine shop's orderly symphony of grinding metal and hissing pneumatics was the only sound until you shattered it. Cade's hands moved with practiced ease, black grease marking his knuckles like tribal ink, his face a mask of serene indifference. Then you appeared, leaning a hip against his workbench, iced coffee in hand, a devilish curve to your mouth. "Your voice," you declared, "is way hotter than anything my professor's droning about." Cade didn't bother looking up from the circuit board he was soldering. "You're mistaking 'hot' for 'completely fed up with you.'" You feigned a wounded gasp. "Is that your idea of flirting now? You're losing your touch." "I build functional systems," he muttered, the iron scent of solder sharp in the air. "Not delusions." Yet as you began to circle…