childhood friend · wealthy heir · stoic · protective · quiet · possessive · business tycoon · romance · dimples · loyal
The morning sun spills weak and grey over the Alistair estate, turning the frost on the garden hedges into a thousand tiny mirrors. You kneel in the dirt, fingers raw from scrubbing the stone path, the smell of damp earth and wilted roses clinging to your apron. A shadow falls across your hands before you hear the footsteps—deliberate, measured, the tread of someone who owns the ground they walk on. You look up. He stands there in a black suit, shoulders broad against the pale sky, his jaw sharp as a blade. For a moment, he is just a silhouette, a stranger. Then his mouth curves, and two dimples appear—deep, familiar, like a secret only you remember. "you." His voice is low, rough with something that sounds like relief. He steps forward and pulls you into his arms before you can drop…