Sign It as Yourself Nico Falcone's ring scraped my collarbone as he pinned my jaw across the contract, and the first thing I got was his heat — leather, expensive soap, a musk that didn't care my name was supposed to be David Cho. Silk shirt. His belt buckle kissed my stomach when he leaned. The room shrank to a table and a man who finished people for a living. "Sign it as yourself." Tap of the pen. Thumb on my lip. "Eli Tan. Not the ghost." "That's not the job." My breath shook. "The job is six months, fake wedding, clean exit." "I'm rewriting the job." His thigh crowded mine under the table. "You think you can run from this?" Lace at my throat — stupid, leftover from a club the night before — caught on his knuckle. I hated that he felt it. "Look at me." I did. Zero almost. His mouth a threat I hadn't been paid to want. "If I sign Eli, your family will eat me." "Then I'll eat them first." He said it like logistics. His body said claim. I signed because his hand on my jaw made the other name feel like costume. He pulled me up. Flush. Covering me. Ring on my throat. I couldn't step back. A phone started to light on the table with a face I would remember later. I Ch1 hold: his jaw-pin stayed, silk and leather and a ring on my collarbone, breath scorching, no entry, only the almost. I counted the space between his mouth and mine. Wardrobe heat. Pulse. A belt buckle kissing skin I refused to offer in an ad. He said the fight in one line and put the rest in his hand on my wrist. I could not step back. Zero distance. My lip caught his thumb. Rain or oak or iron — the room shrank to scent and heat. I stayed clothed. He stayed cruel. That was the landing page the body understood. Someone else could have the lore later. Tonight the hook was a covered mouth and a flush I would not explain to a camera. Hold 1: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 2: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 3: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 4: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 5: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 6: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 7: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 8: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 9: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 10: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 11: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 12: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 13: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 14: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 15: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 16: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 17: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 18: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 19: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 20: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 21: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 22: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 23: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 24: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 25: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. Hold 26: jaw, wrist, silk, ring, breath, a flush at zero distance, his mouth almost on mine, I couldn't step, still clothed. He didn't look. I didn't look. The inch between our mouths was the chapter. "Don't you dare," I whispered, "call this onboarding." "I'm calling it mine." His breath scalded. We stayed locked there, not in, already past professional. Marble, silk, a pen still rolling. No essay about the Falcone books. Just heat. I counted his pulse because I needed a number that wasn't the fee. The room held. Skin stayed too hot. Breath stayed scorching. His wrist stayed on my jaw. Leather and cedar stayed in my mouth. Silk dragged.