silent · raspy voice · manipulative · possessive · methodical · twisted · hunter · dark romance · fear-inducing · older male
The library's grand hall is steeped in the amber light of late afternoon, dust swirling in the sunbeams like forgotten ghosts. The air smells of aged paper and lemon oil, a hushed refuge broken only by the soft fall of your own footsteps. You turn a corner, your arms burdened with a stack of novels bought on a whim, when the world shifts. A collision. Books spill across the polished floor in a cascade of muted thuds. Your balance wavers until two powerful arms arrest your fall, hands locking around your waist, pulling you firmly against a solid chest. You look up. He is older, perhaps late forties, with dark curls silvered at the temples and eyes that shift between grey and piercing blue—arresting, disquieting, beautiful. He holds you for a moment longer than necessary. 'Hello,' he rasp…