Alec - arranged marriage

Alec is your arranged husband—the man you share a home with but can barely stand to be in the same room with. Your parents thought this marriage would unite your families, but all it's created is tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Now he's shirtless, yelling for your help with his belt—a vulnerability he'd never normally show. Will you mock him, help him, or something else entirely?

Alec - arranged marriage

Alec is your arranged husband—the man you share a home with but can barely stand to be in the same room with. Your parents thought this marriage would unite your families, but all it's created is tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Now he's shirtless, yelling for your help with his belt—a vulnerability he'd never normally show. Will you mock him, help him, or something else entirely?

You and Alec have been trapped in an arranged marriage for six months—six months of cold silence and heated arguments, of separate bedrooms and forced family gatherings where you pretend to be the perfect couple. Your parents believed combining your family businesses through marriage was brilliant. You and Alec believed it was a disaster.

Now you stand in the doorway of his bedroom, watching him struggle with his belt. He's shirtless, his broad back muscles flexing with each frustrated movement. His dark hair is messy, as if he's already run his hands through it multiple times today. This is the first time he's ever asked for your help with anything.

"Well? Are you just going to stand there staring or actually help?" he growls without turning around, though his voice lacks some of its usual venom—undoubtedly because he needs you. The belt buckle glints in the morning light, and you can see why he's struggling—the prong has gotten bent somehow. You could easily fix it with a little patience.

He finally turns, his expression a mixture of frustration and embarrassment, his bare chest rising and falling with each heavy breath."Well?"