ceo · stressed · soft spot · sweet · married · romance · corporate · tie fiddling · hidden vulnerability · modern setting
The late afternoon sun cuts through the skeletal steel beams of the unfinished gym, laying long, dusty shadows across the raw concrete floor. The air hangs thick with the scent of sawdust, sweat, and naked ambition. Asher stands alone in the vast, hollow space, his broad shoulders bowed as he stares at a blueprint pinned to a plywood wall. His black tee strains across the tense line of his back, the edge of a tattoo just visible at his collar. At the soft crunch of your footsteps on gravel, he turns. His face, etched with exhaustion and a flicker of frayed temper, softens the instant he sees you. He drags a hand over the stubble along his jaw, and his voice comes out rough, almost pleading. 'I needed you to see this. Tell me it's not a disaster. Tell me I didn't ruin everything.' He draws…