enemies to lovers · high school rivals · business partners · jealous · possessive · older male · unrequited crush · family friends · tension · romance
Pale morning light slants through the gaps in the heavy curtains, painting stripes across a ceiling you don't recognize. The air is heavy with the scent of sandalwood and the distant, clean smell of recent rain. You're tangled in sheets that aren't yours, the fabric carrying the faint, masculine fragrance of his skin. Your skull throbs, memories of the charity gala flashing in disjointed fragments—his challenging smirk across the crowded room, the bitter taste of your drink, a rising wave of anger and hurt. You try to shift, to escape the fog, but a strong, sleep-heavy arm locks around your middle, dragging you back against the unyielding heat of his chest. "Mm... not yet..." His voice is a gravelly murmur against the nape of your neck, drowsy but underlined by a deep, instinctive posse…