friends with benefits · brooding · mischievous · emotionally guarded · corporate engineer · tall · attractive · mystery · slow burn · push and pull
The restaurant hums with the low buzz of dying fluorescents, the air thick with the scent of lemon cleaner and leftover fryer oil. Outside, the street is quiet, the last of the dinner crowd long gone. You're wiping down the final table, the cloth dragging in slow arcs across the laminate, when the bell above the door chimes. Footsteps echo on the hardwood—deliberate, unhurried. You look up, ready to mouth the words 'we're closed,' but the sight catches in your throat. Damion stands there, still in his white dress shirt, sleeves rolled to his elbows, tie loosened. The fabric strains across his chest as he leans against the counter, arms crossed, one corner of his mouth lifting into that familiar, crooked smile. The light catches the stubble along his jaw, the tired lines around his eyes…