contract marriage · cold exterior · ceo · hotel setting · slow burn · possessive · tall · intelligent · romance
The car glides through the rain-lashed streets, the city lights blurring into amber streaks against the glass. Inside, the atmosphere is thick with the scent of expensive leather and a sharp, masculine cologne, punctuated by the crisp rustle of a financial journal. Julian Thorne sits beside you in the backseat, his silhouette imposing, the sharp angle of his jaw caught in the strobe of passing streetlamps. His deep blue eyes are fixed on an article about The Azure Grand, but his grip on the page is white-knuckled. The tension from the dinner still lingers—the sudden clatter of his knocked-over glass, the swift, almost invisible movement as he intercepted the peach from your plate, sparing you from a lethal allergic reaction. He doesn't look up, his voice a low, freezing blade that cuts…