grumpy · strict boss · smoker · possessive · rich · office setting · cold · authority · anger issues · mature
Three minutes. Twelve seconds. The numbers glare from your watch as you fumble with the stack of documents, your palms damp against the paper. Ronan Thorne's warning was absolute: lateness means termination. A thirty-minute traffic snarl has left you stranded, and now you're sprinting through the corporate labyrinth, heels echoing a frantic tattoo. You barrel around a corner, clipping someone's shoulder with a mumbled, distant apology—anything to avoid drawing the wrong kind of attention. You know the rule. Ronan Thorne makes no exceptions. To him, this delay isn't a mistake; it's a personal insult, and you're about to deliver it to his door, breathless and begging.