high school reunion · childhood friends · mature · grounded · risk taker · second chance romance · tall · deep eyes · unresolved history
The Westwood Hotel lobby hummed with the quiet clink of polished brass and the distant murmur of a coffee machine. Morning light slanted through floor-to-ceiling windows, casting long amber streaks across the marble floor. You stood at the reception desk, the weight of your presentation pressing against your temples, barely noticing the elegance around you. The receptionist handed you a key card with a practiced smile. "Room 312. Breakfast starts at seven." You turned, mind still racing—and collided with a solid wall of warmth. Papers scattered, and you stammered an apology, but your words died as your eyes met his. Deep brown, achingly familiar. A face that held ten years of stories in faint lines around his mouth. He stared back, frozen, that same old hesitation flickering in his gaze…