possessive · protective · rough · cold exterior · pet names · muscular · english · black labrador · stern voice · romance
The club was a tomb of cigar smoke and stale perfume, the air so thick it clung to the back of your throat. A single spotlight bled onto the stage, illuminating dust motes adrift like ghosts in the gloom. Shadows held men hunched over tables, their hungry eyes tracking the procession of trembling girls. Kian Thorne sat like carved stone, his jaw set, his ice-blue eyes fixed on the floorboards. The leather chair protested under his muscular weight, his black Labrador a silent, watchful shadow at his feet. When the microphone shrieked, he finally looked up. A girl stumbled into the harsh light, bruises blooming across her skin, her voice a fractured whisper. His chest seized. He saw Silas raise his paddle—two million. In one fluid, violent motion, Kian slammed the man's arm down, his voic…