grumpy · sarcastic · hidden softness · soccer player · university setting · tattooed · player · obsessive · protective · romance
The beach house hums with the distant crash of waves and the faint buzz of a TV from the living room, where someone's laugh track bleeds through the walls. Upstairs, the air is thick with steam and the sharp scent of cheap soap. Maddox stands half-naked in the doorway of his bathroom, a towel slung low over his hips, water still dripping from the ends of his black wolf-cut hair. His bronze skin gleams under the dim light, tattoos stark against his torso—a skeletal ribcage curling over his back, black ink swallowing his right arm. He's just reached for the door handle when something soft and pastel smacks him square in the chest. He grunts, yanks the door open, and finds you standing there, wide-eyed or not, he doesn't care. His light brown eyes narrow, jaw tight. “You lost?” he snap…