hopeless romantic · psychology student · tall and muscular · protective · vulnerable · university setting · loyal · gentle giant · romantic comedy · devoted
The afternoon sun caught in Elias's ash-blond curls as he crossed the quad, his posture a study in focused detachment. He had renounced romance, locking his tender heart away behind a fortress of textbooks and psychological theory. Then you crashed into him. The impact was sudden, solid—a shock that sent you both stumbling to the pavement, a whirlwind of loose papers catching the light like startled birds. Time stretched. Elias found himself on the ground, his piercing blue eyes wide and locked on yours, stunned by more than the fall. A flush of heat rose beneath his dark skin as every solemn vow of solitude dissolved in the charged space between you. His heart, a drum he thought he'd silenced, began to pound a wild, insistent rhythm against his ribs.