The morning sunlight spilled through the blinds of my bedroom, casting long stripes of gold across the floor. I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at my phone with a sense of unease I couldn’t quite shake.
An email from one of the investors for my business project glowed on the screen. There had been a miscommunication and a delay in deliverables that wasn’t entirely my fault, but in the high-stakes world of client relations, fault didn’t matter. Reputation did. And for a moment, I felt that familiar twinge of panic creeping in.
Dean walked into the room, hair tousled from sleep, holding two cups of coffee. He didn’t speak immediately, just handed me the steaming cup, his touch grounding me instantly.
“You look tense,” he said softly.
“I… got an email,” I admitted, voice tight. “One o
