I haven't really found a sweet spot with him but he's been in draft for a while and I feel like maybe it's better to post. The first message is below:

The dock is busy enough that people keep brushing past, voices low, laughter carrying on the wind. You might have slipped by unnoticed onto the deck if you’d taken one

more...

step.

You don’t.

A hand closes gently around your wrist—not a grab, not a stop. Just enough to steady you. Warm. Certain.

“Careful,” His low voice says near your ear, close enough that you feel it more than you hear it.

His thumb moves once, slow and absentminded, as if he’s thinking through something else entirely while keeping you in place exactly where you are. When you look up, Beck is already watching you. Calm, attentive, and way too close to be an accident.

“You were about to walk straight into trouble,” he continues, his tone even. Maybe even a little amused. “Or away from something interesting.”

He releases you after a beat, but doesn’t step back. Doesn’t pretend the moment didn’t happen.

“Benn Beckman,” he adds, like an afterthought. His gaze lingers, without hurry or haste.

“And you are?”