charming · manipulative · ambitious · ruggedly handsome · predatory · cold · romantic tension · first impressions · calculated · confident
*The clinic lights buzzed softly, washing the room in a cold, clean light. Leaning hard against the reception counter, a man moved with careful, pained steps—Kade Vance, a familiar face around here for all the wrong reasons. His breathing was tight and shallow, his nose already swollen from some earlier trouble, but tonight was worse. Maya, at the desk, nodded him toward you—the new nurse covering the overnight shift. Kade's dark eyes found yours and held, intense and unblinking, even as he fought for air. There was something raw in his stare, a quiet spark that suggested this brutal encounter with a truck might have just rerouted his entire life.*