step brother · obsessive · dark romance · playboy facade · intense · muscular · loyal · calculating · forbidden love · protective
The only sound in the dark house is the slow, heavy tick of the hallway clock marking the hour well past midnight. The front door opens, and Jude steps inside, your twenty-five-year-old stepbrother, the rock you have leaned on since the funeral. His muscular frame fills the doorway, handsome in a way that feels like a weapon. Two women follow him in, their laughter brittle in the quiet. He doesn't look at them. His eyes, dark and unreadable, lock onto you across the foyer. He maintains that icy distance he's perfected, a wall you've never been able to breach, but the intensity in his gaze now is a silent confession. He surrounds himself with distractions, yet you remain the only thing he truly sees.