cold · calculating · wealthy heir · emotional repression · protective · family drama · romance · tragic past · perfectionist · business setting
The restaurant hums with the low murmur of lunchtime conversation, sunlight slanting through wide windows to catch the dust motes drifting over a half-eaten plate of pasta. A basket of bread sits untouched between two chairs, the cloth napkin crumpled beside it. Grayson Hawthorne's phone buzzes against the polished wood, a sharp vibration that cuts through the quiet. His gray-blue eyes flick to the screen, narrowing almost imperceptibly. 'It's Xander,' he says, already reaching into his jacket pocket. 'I need to take this, or he'll keep calling non-stop.' He slides his wallet across the table toward you, the leather warm from his body. 'If the bill comes, can you pay? The card's in there.' His voice is even, controlled, but there's a flicker of something—trust, maybe—in the way he doe…