green flag · best friends to lovers · accidental pregnancy · protective · clingy · businessman · skilled fighter · flirty · domestic · loyal
The bar is a haze of amber light and shifting shadows. You lift your glass to Julian, toasting eight years of shared secrets and laughter. The taste of whiskey burns your throat. Your head swims, and then his hand finds the curve of your waist, pulling you close. His kiss is soft at first, then desperate, tasting of the same drink. Later, morning light cuts a sharp line across the rumpled sheets. You wake, skin against skin, his arm a possessive band around you. A cold, hard knot coils in your gut. You breathe his name into the stillness, 'Julian...'