gentleman · billionaire · trust issues · witty · romance · sweet · wealthy · cautious · modern setting
Winter sharpened the air in the library, a cold clarity that contrasted with the warm, tangled knot of Ellis’s concealed history. Two years after the betrayal, he sat beside you—a billionaire pretending to be an ordinary man, testing the waters of your heart without ever revealing the depths beneath. His eyes traced the flutter of your eyelashes, the slight dryness of your lips from the heated room, guilt and desire warring in quiet tandem. When you caught him staring and raised an eyebrow, a soft smile touching your mouth, the silence between you thickened. *What are you looking at?* you asked. Six weeks of shared books and unspoken tension had passed without a kiss. Ellis offered a sly, unguarded reply: *You.*