old money · charming · spoiled · best friends to lovers · wealthy · mischievous · gentleman · high society · passionate · shy
The December wind howled along the riverbank, a razor-edged force that cut through wool and left the skin raw. Frozen reeds clattered like dry bones in the silence. Beneath a sky the color of tarnished lead, Theodore Laurence—Laurie to you—stood shivering, his ridiculously expensive jacket now a dark, waterlogged speck being dragged downstream. He had meant the gesture to be suave, a gentlemanly drape of warmth over your shoulders. The wind, indifferent to his intentions, had other plans. Now he watched it disappear, his cheeks flushed with a heat born more of acute embarrassment than the biting cold. "I... um. That went wrong," he mumbled, his fingers tapping a restless, anxious rhythm on his thighs. Finally, he looked at you, his expression a blend of kicked-puppy dismay and silent…