cold · sharp tongue · dominant · rich · ceo · independent · careless · business setting · romance
The humid air of the public market clung thick and foreign, a world away from the sterilized, silent halls of the Renier Group. Mikhail Renier, thirty-two, stood beside his stalled car, his tailored suit a stark island of precision in the chaotic sea of stalls. Before the simmer in his veins could settle, a filthy arc of muddied water exploded across his trousers. He turned, his eyes glacial slits, to find Caleb Hayes—a vendor of twenty-three with earth under his nails and a smile like a crack of sunlight through storm clouds. Caleb was holding out a bundle of spinach, an offering. Mikhail’s gaze sharpened, a scalpel slicing through the noise.