Page 25 of Obey

“Try one, Sugar.”

He held the truffle to my lips, and I hesitated. I could've taken it from him. Probably should have, considering how close he was sitting. But something about the way those hazel eyes held mine made it difficult to remember why I was supposed to.

So I opened my mouth.

His fingertips brushed my bottom lip as he slipped the chocolate past it, lingering just long enough to make me wonder whether the contact was accidental. The truffle melted against my tongue, rich dark chocolate giving way to a warmth of cinnamon and cayenne that caught me completely off guard.

“Well?”

I swallowed. “Okay. That's ridiculously good.”

His grin widened as if he'd personally accomplished something. Then, without breaking eye contact, he brought his fingers to his mouth and slowly licked away the chocolate that had melted against his skin.

I decided I hadn't seen that.

That's Jace. He can cross an ocean, exhausted enough to fall asleep at work, and still somehow remember me while he's gone.

Elias, on the other hand, has his own way of making me feel appreciated, though I doubt he'd ever describe it that way.

During regular hours, you'd hardly know he exists. His office looks untouched: no stray papers, no forgotten coffee cups. It looks more like a display than a place where anyone actually works.

But in product development meetings, something shifts. He pulls me into every session, every planning discussion, every prototype evaluation, until I've become less his assistant and more his second set of eyes.

I started to wonder, at some point, whether I knew too much.

A high-stakes investor dinner gave me my answer.

Fields had spent most of the evening name-dropping, talking over people, and landing small cruelties with the ease of long practice. He’d barely acknowledged me until somewhere between the entrée and his second bourbon.

His gaze slid toward me. “Predictable move, gentlemen.”

Jace’s smile tightened. “Meaning?”

"Come on." Fields cut into his steak. "A woman who looks like that doesn't get invited into the inner circle because she's good with numbers. We all know how these arrangements work."

For a moment, nobody moved.

Jace's smile disappeared. Nate lowered his whiskey glass to the table with deliberate care, while Elias watched Fields as though he'd just said something in a language none of us understood.

Fields, apparently mistaking their silence for agreement, reached for his drink.

I waited for someone to say something. Anything.

Instead, Nate leaned toward Elias and murmured something I couldn't hear. Elias gave the smallest shake of his head, his attention never leaving Fields. Across the table, Jace set his napkin beside his plate, the easy humor I'd come to associate with him nowhere to be found.

Whatever was happening between them, I wanted no part of it.

I stood. "Excuse me."

My chair scraped against the floor as I walked away, and not one of them tried to stop me.

I'd barely cleared the restaurant entrance when I heard footsteps behind me.

"Sloane." Elias's voice carried across the sidewalk. "Where are you going?"

"Home. If all you needed was someone pretty to sit at the table and keep her mouth shut, you should've made that clear before I wasted my time preparing for tonight."

I was reaching for my phone to call a car when he caught my hand, stopping me.