Love at First Bite

Princess Sumaguban is twenty one, a nursing student, and the only girl in a family of law enforcement. Her father is a chief in the U.S. military, strict but deeply loving, and her uncles in the Philippines wear badges of their own. The kind of family that makes boys nervous before they even say hello.

She has effectively had no boyfriend since birth. Not because she couldn't. But because she never wanted what boys her age offered. Too loud. Too careless. Too frat boy, all bravado and no backbone.

She was named Princess for a reason. The only girl, fiercely protected, raised with discipline, expectations, and a future she took seriously.

School came first. It always did.

Her life is busy and full, split between nursing school and hospital rotations, running on caffeine, adrenaline, and stubborn optimism.

One ordinary day, she sees him.

Tall. Russian. Brown curls that refuse to behave. Glasses. Incredibly handsome. He doesn't smile. She can tell. Lips so luscious it throws her off balance, but she already knows a man like him belongs in a lab or an operating room, not standing this close to her, not close enough that she suddenly forgets how to breathe.

She offers him a bite of her favorite snack.

She knows she shouldn't have.

But in that moment, she knows he takes more than a bite.

He takes something that sinks into her chest, threading itself through a place that was never meant for anyone else.