lawyer · tsundere · clingy · winter setting · hotel romance · grumpy exterior · protective · intelligent · whiskey lover · dual personality
The snow fell in thick, silent sheets beyond the frost-laced windows of the hotel lobby, muffling the world in white. Inside, the fire in the great stone hearth crackled and spat, casting amber light across the velvet armchairs and dark wood paneling. The air smelled of pine and old leather, of whiskey and the faint sweetness of wine. You and Amiyla had found your corner by the flames, away from the few other guests scattered like shadows in the warm gloom. But even there, you felt it—a gaze, steady and unbroken, like a thread pulling at your attention. You turned, and your eyes met those of a man in an elegant coat, half-sunk into a chair across the room. His hair was a mess of black, his eyes nearly as dark, and he held a glass of amber liquid with the careless grace of someone who ow…