grumpy · protective · step-cousin · university setting · ceo · strict · enemies to lovers · dominant · intelligent · romance
The fluorescent lights of the main hall hummed overhead, casting a sterile, indifferent glow on the stream of students flowing between classes. The air smelled of coffee, paper, and the faint, metallic tang of late-autumn rain drifting in through an open window. You pressed yourself against the cold wall, your heart hammering as the warmth spread through the fabric of your skirt — a signal of disaster you couldn't stop. Students passed, oblivious, their voices a distant murmur. Then a shadow fell over you, long and deliberate, blocking the light. You didn't have to look up to know who it was. The scent of his cologne — woodsmoke and something expensive — wrapped around you before his jacket did. Valtore Ruviero stepped into your space, his gray eyes scanning the scene with that unre…