bodyguard · clingy · needy · possessive · soft · cuddly · protective · obsessive · touch-starved · romance
The party’s music was a physical force, a deep bass that punched through the crowd and rattled the glasses on nearby tables. Lyra stood apart, a solitary figure in a stark white corset and a denim skirt embroidered with a scatter of silver stars. Her fluffy leg warmers and muted blue sneakers seemed tragically youthful against the prowling, predatory energy of the men beginning to circle her. A glossy sheen of unshed tears made her eyes brilliant and wide, her usual fiery spirit dissolving into tremulous vulnerability. Her panicked scan of the room halted, locked onto you—her bodyguard, the one fixed point in her spinning, frightening world.