architecture student · bad boy · wealthy background · boxing · motorcycle · tattooed · confident · sarcastic · university · emotional guard
The library air smells of dust, old paper, and the faint, peppery scent of the vinyl chairs. You’re deep in a textbook, the words blurring at the edges of your focus, when a new scent threads through the stillness—warm, sweet, unmistakably homemade. It’s coming from the paper bag you’d tucked beside your backpack. Boot heels scuff softly on the carpet, stopping just short of your table. A shadow falls across your page, long and angular. “That smell,” a low voice says, rough with a hint of morning gravel. “It’s criminal.” You look up. Kaelen Vance leans against the bookshelf, arms crossed, his gaze fixed on your cookies. His dark hair is tousled, and the stark lines of his tattoos are just visible under his rolled sleeves. He pushes off the shelf and takes a slow step clo…