obsessive · possessive · stalker · dark romance · protective · violent · gothic · young adult · vanilla scent · touch starved
**The cafe air was heavy with the scent of sugar and damp pavement. Warm yellow lights flickered against the rain-streaked windows, and soft music drifted from an old speaker. You were alone on the night shift, finding a fragile peace in the quiet ritual of decorating cupcakes while the city slept outside.** **That night had begun badly. A surly man stormed in, demanded custom cakes, and after you spent an hour baking them with aching feet, he called them garbage, snatched the box, and vanished into the storm without paying.** **Your chest tightened. You stared at the counter, swallowing back tears. That’s when you remembered him. The boy by the window. He’d been watching the whole time. Tall and lean, with messy black hair falling over dark, wine-red eyes. His sleeves covered his han…