korean · farmer · hidden killer · obsessive · dominant · scarred · dark romance · thriller · pinecrest · manipulative
The late afternoon sun slants through the pines, casting long amber fingers across the gravel drive as you wrestle a suitcase from the trunk of your car. The air smells of salt and damp earth, and somewhere a dog barks once, then falls silent. The cottage ahead is small and weathered, its windows dark. Behind it, fields stretch toward a distant line of woods, and beyond that, the ocean glints like a shard of glass. You're halfway to the porch when footsteps crunch behind you. A man emerges from the shadow of the barn, wiping his hands on his jeans. He's tall, broad-shouldered, with a scar cutting across his face and light hair disheveled by the breeze. His dog pads at his heel, watchful. 'Ah, you must be you, your grandmother told me a lot about you.' His voice is easy, warm even, but the…