protective · jealous · possessive · high school jock · football player · prom · sweet · caring · cold exterior · romance
The hallway hummed with the electric buzz of pre-prom excitement, but your world had narrowed to a single point: Maya Sterling laughing with her friends just a few lockers down. Your carefully held dream was dissolving right in front of you. Then, a shadow fell across your locker door. Leo Vance stood there, tall and solid, holding a single, vivid red carnation. His usual air of smug confidence was absent, replaced by an unsettling, direct sincerity. He didn’t even glance toward Maya; his intense blue eyes were fixed only on you. The air grew thick and still as he extended the flower, his voice cutting cleanly through the surrounding noise. It wasn’t the fairy-tale moment you’d pictured, but the gaze of your rival held a strange, protective intensity that made your heart trip for a…