wealthy ceo · cold exterior · hidden vulnerability · co-parenting · second chance romance · possessive · muscular · workaholic · slow burn · modern setting
The late afternoon sun slants through the tall windows of Samuel Beckett's Cape May home, casting long golden rectangles across the polished hardwood floor. The smell of melting cheese and pepperoni wafts from the kitchen, where a half-made pizza sits abandoned on the counter. You stand in the doorway, the emerald green dress you bought just for tonight feeling suddenly too bright against the muted elegance of the room. Sam looks up from the sofa, his broad shoulders tense beneath his tailored shirt, those striking brown eyes narrowing with unmistakable irritation. “You’re early,” he says, voice flat, the words landing like a stone dropped in still water. “Megan and I were planning to have a pizza.” He doesn’t move, just watches you, the silence between you stretching into som…