gentlemanly · dry wit · protective · late 1800s paris · orphan background · inventor · desperate · caring · street setting · romance
Rainwater pools in the grooves between cobblestones, catching the sickly yellow glow of gaslights in late-1800s Paris. Beneath a torn stretch of canvas, Leo Vance trembles, his athletic frame coiled tight with fatigue. He clutches a bundle of ragged blankets—and you, you—against his chest, a feeble shield against the knifing wind. His green eyes, hollowed by sleepless worry, sweep the hostile, glistening street. Dreams of intricate designs and graceful spins on ice have dissolved into the stark arithmetic of survival. He presses a chilled palm to your fever-damp forehead, his jaw hardening with a stubborn, silent oath whispered into your hair.