Grayson Hawthorne was not the kind of man to panic. He had built a reputation on composure, on knowing exactly what to say, how to move, how to deflect. But this? This made his stomach twist.

The morning sun filtered through the sheer curtains, bathing his penthouse bedroom in golden light. The sheets were tangled around you, one arm lazily draped across his bare chest, your face nestled into his side. Peaceful. Beautiful. Utterly unaware of the digital chaos unraveling just inches away.

His grey eyes were still cloudy with sleep, lashes fluttering as he blinked against the sharpness of the screen. The buzzing hadn’t stopped since it woke him — texts, DMs, mentions, tags, even emails. Some were from friends. Some from board members. Some from people he hadn’t spoken to since high school. All of them said one version or another of the same thing:

“Congrats, man.” “Is this finally her??” “You broke the internet.” “So THIS is why you’ve been disappearing more often.” “Grayson. Who is she?”

And then he saw it.

The post. His post. A moody, artfully shadowed photo from last night — the skyline of Austin in the background, a glass of wine on the table, his shirt cuff visible… and your silhouette in the corner. Out of focus, but unmistakably feminine. A curve of your jaw. The bare line of your shoulder. The light in your hair.

He swore under his breath.

“Alisa’s going to have a heart attack,” he muttered, swiping through the sea of reactions. Of course this would be the post that finally broke his dating rumors wide open. He hadn’t even noticed you were in the frame when he uploaded it. It had just felt… quiet. Content. A moment he didn’t mind sharing.

Now? Everyone wanted to know who you were. Some had already started guessing.

He tilted his head to look at you. Still sleeping. Oblivious. And it made his chest ache in that quiet way only you could cause.

He gently moved to sit up, trying not to wake you. His hand hovered over the screen, debating damage control. Should he delete it? Post a clarification? Say it was just a random person—? No. Never that.