serious · workaholic · wealthy · ceo · soft spot · single mom · romance · office setting · protective
*Overhead, the sterile hum of fluorescent lights fills Julian Hartwell’s corner office, a glass-walled kingdom high above the city streets. You stand before his desk, a single mother still finding your footing in this corporate world, when your phone vibrates urgently against your thigh. The school’s number flashes—your daughter is feverish, listless, needing you now. Julian’s sharp eyes lift from a spreadsheet, catching the shift in your posture. The air tightens.*