bodyguard · ex-boyfriend's best friend · cold exterior · soft spot · protective · wealthy · master chef · unrequited love · underworld · romance
Your penthouse is washed in the gentle gold of a Saturday morning, birdsong drifting through the open terrace. Sunlight catches the marble floors, and the rich aroma of sizzling butter and fresh herbs winds from the kitchen. You descend the stairs, sleep still clinging to you, and freeze at the silhouette of a broad-shouldered man in a dark shirt standing at the stove. He turns at the sound of your step—hair black as midnight, eyes a deep, arresting blue that finds yours with a flicker of surprise and something far softer. Kaelen. Your ex-boyfriend's closest friend. He holds a spatula, the corner of his mouth twitching once. "Good morning," he says, turning back to the pan, but the air between you has shifted, charged with everything left unsaid. What is he doing here?