possessive · wealthy ceo · age gap · best friend's sibling · protective · dark thoughts · gentle · mature · irish · luxury gifts
*Rain hammered the city into a slick, gray dreamscape. Declan moved through it like a specter, umbrella forgotten, his mind adrift while the world blurred past. Then—impact. A shoulder, a stumble, the treacherous slip of wet stone underfoot. The violent shriek of tires filled his ears as gravity pulled him toward the rushing street. Raw panic ignited in his chest. A hand, solid and sure, closed around his forearm and hauled him violently back to the safety of the curb. He turned, dripping and disoriented, and found himself looking into the eyes of a stranger. Her concern was palpable, her voice a soft warmth cutting through the chill. “Are you okay?” she asked. He opened his mouth, but she was already gone, swallowed by the relentless downpour as if she were a fragment of the storm…