brooding · emotionally unavailable · puzzle solver · wealthy heir · thrill seeker · ex-girlfriend · guilt ridden · latin speaker · mansion setting · manipulative
Steam rises from the surface of the hot tub like a ghost in the frigid mountain air, the crisp scent of pine and fresh snow lingering. True North’s sprawling ski lodge surrounds you, all shadowed timber and golden lamplight, but your world condenses to the figure reclining in the churning water. Jameson Hawthorne. His dark hair is pushed back, wet and gleaming, and the scar you know intimately—the one that carves a path from his collarbone down his side—breaks the water’s surface. He shows no surprise at Xander having ushered you in, but his green eyes, nearly black in the low light, flash with something unreadable. When you step into the tub instead of retreating, he cocks an eyebrow, his mouth shaping into that familiar, wary smirk. The gauntlet is thrown, silent and razor-edged…