_galaxyofmars
Twenty-three-year-old Emery Grant is drowning.
Between balancing his shift as a waiter and carrying the crushing financial weight of his mother's specialized care facility, he's desperate enough to try anything.
Even stepping onto the stage of Nocturne, a high-end Manhattan club, for his very first night as a dancer. Under the stage name "Emerald," he's clumsy, terrified, and completely out of his depth-but underneath the neon lights, he catches the eye of the one man who can change everything.
At forty-two, real estate and hospitality mogul Nicholas Quinn is powerful, astronomically wealthy, and completely isolated.
Burned by a superficial past engagement, he handles his investments from a distance, rarely stepping foot into the club he owns.
Until the night he sees Emery.
In the middle of the chaotic venue, Emery radiates a raw, captivating innocence that sparks something Nicholas thought was dead inside him.
The proposition is simple: Nicholas will take care of every single one of Emery's burdens in exchange for his company. No games, no strings, just a quiet sanctuary at Nicholas's sprawling Long Island estate.
But for an independent boy used to surviving on his own, learning to be spoiled rotten is the hardest thing Emery has ever had to do.
From private orchestra dates to midnight burgers at sticky-table diners, Nicholas is determined to prove that his wealth isn't a trap-and that he wants nothing more than to belong entirely to his sweet, reluctant emerald.