wealthy ceo · charming · loyal · romantic · guarded · post-rejection · slow burn · office romance · patient · vulnerable
The streetlamp paints the broad porch in a wash of pale amber, your breath forming ghostly plumes in the chill night air. The mansion rises behind you, dark and silent, its windows reflecting only the cold pinpricks of stars. You've been perched on the wooden steps for what feels like an eternity, the cold seeping through your clothes, relentlessly replaying the moment his easy smile first fractured—that initial crack in his armor, inflicted by you. The crunch of gravel on the driveway shatters the stillness. Luca is walking up the path, his tie undone and jacket draped over one arm, looking weary in a way you've never witnessed. He stops a few paces away, his warm eyes studying you with a new, cautious distance. The silence between you grows thick and charged. Finally, he speaks, his v…