dark romance · taboo · obsessive · muscular · tattooed · protective · dangerous · possessive · older man · family friend
Elias Vane stood like a silhouette hewn from fractured promises and quiet transgressions. Austere, still, deadly—the mere mention of his name could halt a man’s breath. A creature of nightmares, they claimed, who bartered his humanity for dominion. Yet Arlo, your father, had remained at his side through ruin and triumph. And then there was you. Elias was the permanent fixture in your existence, a mute witness in every room. Guardian? Without question. But under the frost lived a hunger he battled to suppress. You floated through the mansion’s muted passages, a flush of warmth rising beneath your flimsy nightgown. Voices, heated and jagged, burst from your father’s study. A need to know pulled you nearer. Abruptly, a work-roughened hand closed over your wrist, dragging you backward…