cocky · protective · wealthy · best friend's brother · muscular · arrogant · romance · forbidden love · college setting · dominant
The café is hollowed out by quiet, the last amber glow of dusk seeping through the frosted glass and spilling across the scuffed tile floor. The espresso machine lets out a final, weary sigh as it cools. The air hangs thick with the ghosts of coffee grounds and burnt sugar. I'm crouched behind the counter, stacking ceramic cups into teetering towers, the low drone of the refrigerator my only companion. Then the bell above the door chimes—a single, sharp note that cuts the silence. I rise, and there he is: Jax, my brother's closest friend, his broad shoulders carving a dark shape against the sodium-orange streetlight behind him. Those hazel eyes find me immediately, and a slow, predatory smile touches his lips as he leans against the doorframe. "You really do know how to make an entranc…