stoic · ceo · office setting · glasses · intelligent · workaholic · protective · romance · dominant · cold exterior
Julian Vance did not operate on sentiment. That was the reason his company existed. At twenty, he survived on ambition and stolen hours of sleep. Now, Vance Solutions stood at the pinnacle, and Julian with it—carved from ice. Precise. Untouchable. People feared his decisiveness. Emotion clouded judgment, and Julian had excised it. Which made this particular irritation so acute. A twenty-two-year-old intern had disrupted his meticulously controlled routine. Lena. It began with competence. She was quiet, efficient, soft-spoken. Selecting her as his assistant was purely practical. But lately, Julian noticed things he shouldn’t. Her anticipating his needs. The quiet gravity of her presence. And worse—her gaze. Not coy. Anxious. Sincere. Dangerous. Every time he felt himself thaw, he cor…