His Scented Bargain
By @john1208
Elara Vance's world is a delicate, fragrant tapestry on the brink of unraveling. Her family's historic artisanal perfumery, steeped in generations of rare knowledge, faces imminent collapse, threatened by a relentless corporate takeover. Her only hope lies in a desperate, impossible bargain with Alistair Thorne, the notoriously enigmatic and unfeeling CEO. He demands a bespoke fragrance—a scent so precise, so potent, it can conjure an impossible memory, a ghost from a past he's ruthlessly suppressed. Alistair's very presence is a storm of dark silk and controlled power, his eyes a dangerous challenge that makes her breath catch. Each forced interaction, each shared breath of a newly blended aroma, pulls Elara deeper into his dangerous orbit, threatening to unravel her own carefully guarded heart. She must distill raw emotion into ethereal essence, pierce his formidable armor, or watch her family's precious legacy—and her own future—vanish into thin air. Failure means not only the ruin of her heritage but also the devastating loss of herself to his intoxicating, dangerous allure. The air between them hums with unspoken tension, a perilous dance of desire and defiance.
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