. Streetlights flickered over puddles reflecting the gray skyline of Manhattan,

was Ros

Upper West Side didn't pay much, but it allowed her hands to be close to the beauty she had always loved-flowers, especially wild ones. Roses were

they we

the alley shortcut she knew by heart. That's when the black car pull

he step

In a sharply tailored suit and an expression that belonged more in boardrooms tha

His voice was de

lied, chin lif

could have melted ice. "I don'

im, unimpressed.

billionaire, media-dubbed genius, and one of New York's most el

linging to her skin, her steps echoing in

a ride," he offe

aid without stoppi

a brow.

you don't do favor

him. Who wa

nto the fog, vanishing lik

ter, she sa

rked, when the bell chimed and the air shifted. She looked up and froze. It was him. Dry th

wers," he s

d a brow.

sel

d. "You buy flowe

ay I

phiniums and white peonies. He watched her fingers move with

black card whe

she said with

urprise.

omething strange to his heartbeat. "

d walked out with the bouque

omen threw themselves at him. Investors begged

. she intr

one with the same steady tone, no matter who they were. He found himself thinki

retu

Wedn

es. Sometimes tuli

othing, choosing instead to treat him like any other cust

Thursday,

nne

trimming a bouque

"You don't even wa

e it wouldn

y n

ate men who think

hat if I told you I w

ed. He was too c

say you'

s, Alexander didn't feel insulted.

o

sked. She finally agreed because he didn't pu

out, it wasn't to a five-star

stro in Harlem. The food was spicy

cross from her like

ed. Reall

wn flower shop, helping girls from her neighborhoo

ered t

oney, but

ss her. He held her hand instead-just briefly-and

were a slow unfurlin

, who'd grown up an orphan, who built an empire from nothing but code

he was learning

rusted men with power, f

hispered confessions. Love bloomed not like fir

one like theirs, neve

is past was wa

ld be tested in ways nei

of fairy lights in her tiny apartment, his

ust a man a

ll

life, Alexander Cain wanted