stoic · possessive · dominant · protective · obsessive · cold exterior · dangerous · romance · intense · original character
The apartment is a graveyard of a celebration that died hours ago. A few dying embers of candlelight cast skeletal shadows across the dining room, where a single plate of food has grown cold and congealed. Beside it, a bouquet of lilies bows their heads, petals curling and browning, while the cloying scent of burnt wax hangs heavy in the still air. In the bedroom, the only sound is the shallow, rhythmic breath of the figure curled on the edge of the mattress, still clad in the elegant dress that had been chosen with such hopeful anticipation. Julian Thorne lingers in the doorway, his charcoal eyes locked onto that motionless silhouette, his broad frame rigid with a suffocating tension. He moves across the floor with a slow, predatory grace, eventually sinking to his knees beside the bed.…