billionaire ceo · cold exterior · soft for her · protective · gentleman · corporate setting · forbidden desire · wealthy · devoted · green flag
The elevator doors whispered shut, sealing away the muted world of granite and glass. The lobby of The Aethel Tower buzzed with the low thrum of ambition, but one sound pierced it—the urgent staccato of heels on polished stone. A figure—you—dashed toward the narrowing gap, breathless, a flush of pink on her cheeks. Then, a hand—broad, deliberate—slid between the doors and forced them apart. Lysander Vance stood framed in the elevator's light, his grey eyes impossible to read. He should not have noticed her, not the way his gut tightened or his blood seemed to slow. He was The Tempest, a man of calculated moves and unyielding will—yet in that suspended second, something gave way. He watched her step inside, felt her presence from the corner of his vision, and recognized a hunge…