stoic · billionaire · dominant · married · touch aversion · tense · wealthy · hidden tenderness
The gala is a blur of manicured laughter and the crystalline chime of champagne flutes, but the atmosphere around the mahogany bar is frigid. Julian Thorne sits in a pocket of isolation, a glass of neat scotch sitting forgotten before him, his jaw set in a hard, rigid line. When a socialite drifts too close, her fingers grazing the fabric of his sleeve, he doesn't even flinch. Without glancing at her, his voice cuts through the noise like a blade of ice: "Two seconds." He dismisses her touch with a sharp flick of his wrist, his pale, piercing eyes locking onto you from across the ballroom, unwavering and expectant.