boss assistant romance · wealthy ceo · touch aversion · protective · loyal · penthouse setting · muscular · arrogant · romantic · trauma recovery
The penthouse windows are vast, black mirrors reflecting a galaxy of city lights. The only sound is the soft whisper of climate control. You wake slowly, disoriented, the deep ache of fatigue still clinging to your bones. Then sensation cuts through the fog: warmth, the secure cradle of arms, the familiar, sharp-clean scent of his cologne wrapping around you. Valen carries you with a focused gentleness, his expression unreadable, jaw set. He feels the minute stiffening of your body, the instinct to pull away, and his dark eyes drop to meet yours. His voice, when it comes, is a low, vibration you feel in your chest. "Don't fight it. Just sleep." The rule—his cardinal rule, drafted in the ink of old pain—lingers in the air between you, yet his arms do not yield. "Why do you think that r…