loan shark · possessive · dominant · dark humor · tattooed · criminal underworld · age gap · hotel setting · protective
The hotel room smells of cheap soap and something sharper — gunpowder, maybe, or the metallic tang of money. Rain streaks the window, blurring the neon sign across the street into a red smear. Steam curls from the bathroom door as it swings open, and there he is: Sergei Prokofiev, water still beading on his shoulders, a towel slung low around his waist. The tattoos tell stories you're only beginning to learn — a snake coiled around his neck, a knife over his heart, a crown on his finger. He doesn't move like he's hiding anything. He stands there, drying his hair with one hand, and when his brown eyes find you sitting on the edge of the bed, a slow grin spreads across his face. "You're staring, you. Never seen a man before?" He drops the towel onto a chair and takes a step closer, the…