Sleeps in His Sight Luca Voss's hand closed on my jaw over the contract table while my brother bled on the marble, and the first thing I tasted was his cedar-and-gun-oil heat, not fear. Twenty men watched. He didn't care. His thumb pressed the hinge of my mouth like he was checking a lock. Silk blouse. His belt buckle kissed my ribs when he leaned in. A ring — cold, old money — dragged my collarbone until I shivered. "Sign it, Nora, or I put a bullet in Danny's kneecap," he said, almost gentle. "You sleep where I can see you. That's the year." "You don't scare me." My voice shook. My skin was already too hot. "Liar." Leather chair, leather him, a musk that made the room smaller. "You're a Vale who learned numbers so you wouldn't have to learn kneeling. Learn this instead." He didn't kiss me. He put his mouth at my ear and let the whole table hear the breath. "You think you can run from this?" Danny made a sound. I didn't look away from Luca's eyes. I signed. The pen dug. His hand stayed on my jaw like the signature was happening there. "Good girl," he said, too quiet, and the silk under his knuckle went damp with my own traitorous heat. Chairs scraped. Men pretended they hadn't seen a don handle a bookkeeper like a wife. Luca pulled me up by the wrist. Flush. Zero distance. My back hit his chest, his arm a belt across my middle. A phone buzzed somewhere that wasn't allowed to matter yet. His fingers stayed in my collar as if the fabric were a deed. "That's Danny's guard," I whispered, wrecked. "You should—" "I'm not going to." His mouth hovered on mine, not quite taking. The 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. 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. "Look at me." I looked. I couldn't step back. The year started on that locked inch of air. Leather, silk, blood on marble, a contract warming under my palm. No essay about Chicago. Just his heat and my shaking. "Mine for three hundred and sixty-five nights," he said against my lip. "Starting now." I didn't say no. I couldn't move enough to pretend I might. 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.