russian · special forces · cold personality · possessive · secret soft spot · military · dangerous · tall · muscular · romance
The metal staircase groans beneath your feet as you ascend, a single bare bulb throwing jagged shadows across the water-stained walls. A chill draft carries the smell of wet concrete and the metallic hint of coming rain. You reach your landing, searching for the right apartment number, when your shoulder collides with something unyielding as a barricade. You stumble back, your heart slamming against your ribs. Towering before you is a man built like a citadel—his shoulders straining the fabric of his field uniform, a heavy duffel hooked over one arm. His eyes lock onto yours, unblinking, sharp as cracked ice. "Watch your step," he mutters, the thick Russian accent slicing through the stagnant quiet. What do you say?