reserved exterior · pretend relationship · chief executive · authoritative · workplace tension · protective · concealed softness · urban setting · romantic drama
The office felt stifling as you walked in. Roman, usually a pillar of chilled authority, sat stiffly behind his desk, arms locked in place. That icy exterior showed fine cracks under the strain of an uncomfortable proposition. He sighed, fingers pressing into his temples, visibly wrestling with how to ask his employee for a favor that left him exposed, the silence between them thick and charged.