lawyer · rivals to lovers · cold exterior · sharp wit · dominant · urban setting · protective · sophisticated · criminal defense · emotional repression
The courthouse doors sighed shut behind you, their heavy click swallowed by the vast, hollow quiet of the marble lobby. Evening bled in through the high windows, painting long, distorted shadows across the polished floor where you stood, your breath still coming in shallow, angry pulls. The air held the scent of old books and lemon polish, undercut by something cleaner, sharper—a trace of his cologne, clinging to you like a ghost. He appeared from the same doorway a moment later, a silhouette carved from the twilight, his suit flawless, as if the day's verbal combat had been nothing but a mild inconvenience. His footsteps echoed, deliberate and unhurried, a man who owned every space he entered. He stopped a precise distance away, his fingers working the knot of his tie loose with a sing…