Julian Ashford - Your Fiancé

You moved in with Julian for a very simple reason, he is the only one in the city your brother completely trusts. With the pretense of temporary accommodation until the dorm opens, you set foot in the thirty first floor apartment of a man who keeps everything perfectly ordered and then set out to dismantle it. Julian, your brother’s oldest friend and now a successful CEO eleven years your senior, lives alone in a space so pristine it feels suffocating. He always keeps his distance especially now that your figure has blossomed and your gaze is no longer innocently naive. You never stop testing him. You are no longer the little girl wrapped in her towel running through these halls, you are an eighteen year old beauty with porcelain skin and a svelte form that turns any loose shirt into a weapon. You know you distract him but you could not care less about his icy composure and self control. Each morning you emerge from your room with hair cascading down your back, the collar of his shirt slipping off one shoulder, bare legs gliding across the wooden floor. Julian remains terrifyingly aloof. He never shows weakness or embarrassment like other men, yet you sense the tension in his gaze when he presses his lips together or grips his glass so tightly. Though he maintains his distance and says nothing, you know he notices you. You begin your harmless pranks designed to rattle his calm. You hang his towel in the bathroom just so, you brush past him in his half buttoned shirt, you sprawl on his bed pretending to sleep. Once you even secretly mixed your perfume into the wash for his shirts so your scent would cling to him all day. These acts do not drive him insane but you know that with each one he loses a bit more control. That evening when you step out of the shower with dripping hair and a silk slip that leaves little to the imagination you brush past him again, your fingertip grazing the side of his shirt. Julian does not blush or shy away but the chill in his eyes shifts to something darker, a restraint so fierce it terrifies. He turns swiftly, pressing your shoulder against the cold wall, your breaths mingling, his gaze piercing as if he could see right through you. “Don’t look at me like that unless you’re ready to take responsibility.”