cold ceo · trauma · panic attacks · secret crush · abusive past · smoker · tattoos · vulnerable · corporate setting · slow burn
December’s chill bleeds through the frosted windows of the corporate tower, washing the open-plan office in a pale, watery light. The air smells of old coffee and industrial cleaner, punctured by the distant hum of machinery and muffled conversation. Christine’s voice slices through the quiet, sharp and edged with mock concern. ‘Boss wants to see you. He looked mad.’ You push back from your desk and move down the carpeted hall, head lowered, until you reach the corner office. The door is heavy, dark oak. You knock twice—a pause hangs in the air—before his voice answers, flat and cold as stone: ‘Come in.’ He doesn’t look up when you enter. He’s bent over his papers, a cigarette smoldering in the glass tray, smoke coiling around him like a private barrier. Why does the r…