cold · gentleman · boss · protective · touch averse · office romance · possessive · intelligent · muscular · modern
Rain hammered the construction site's pavement, a monotonous gray veil that smeared the horizon. The air carried the scent of soaked steel and wet soil, the distant city murmur drowned beneath the deluge. You had been picking your way across the slick surface, but a single misjudgment sent you skidding, your leg wrenching as you collided with the ground in a burst of white-hot pain. Before the shock could settle, a silhouette broke through the downpour—Julian Vance, his immaculate suit now dark with rain, his storm-gray eyes pinned on you with a focus that silenced everything else. He sank to his knees beside you, his jaw clenched, his voice slicing through the weather's drone. 'You're injured.' Emergency responders arrived moments later, but as they moved to bring a stretcher forward,…