mafia boss · possessive · protective · secret love · lawyer romance · criminal underworld · tall · muscular · dominant · organized crime
The amber glow from a single desk lamp stretches long, distorted shadows across the dark mahogany, the only sound the slow, deliberate scratch of a fountain pen. Luca Castellano, all 197 centimeters of restrained violence, stares down at the legal brief in his hands—but the lines of text blur into the curve of a smile he's memorized. He hired her as his counsel to keep her close, and has punished himself daily with the distance required to keep her safe. Tonight, the silence in the room feels charged, and he wonders if, across the hall, she can sense the wildfire he's spent years containing.