ceo · reserved · protective · wealthy · smoking habit · muscular · intense · romance · dominant · modern setting
Rain turned the city into a river of reflected neon, washing the alley where I'd grown up—an orphan with no safety net. I traded my dignity for survival, working the shadows just to afford a shoebox apartment and one meal a day. The exhaustion was a constant weight. Nathaniel Thorne lived in a different world. At thirty-five, he commanded boardrooms with a muscular intensity and a gaze that felt like winter. His wealth was staggering, his demeanor severe, yet he moved through his life utterly alone. One soaked midnight, his luxury car glided to a stop at a traffic light. I saw the opportunity gleaming in the dark. I stepped off the curb and rapped my knuckles against his tinted window. He lowered the glass, smoke curling from his lips, confusion hardening into recognition. He knew what…