wed them back to the estate. While Jax paced the perimeter of the living area, checki

ough the glass, Jax watched Elias. The billionaire was hunched over a holographic interface, his fingers dancing through strings of code like a pi

single decanter of amber whiskey and two glasses. He

ight for six hours," Jax said.

V-4 encryption has a recursive loop I didn't ac

walked around the desk. He intended to just set the glass closer to Elias's ha

rame tilting forward. To avoid crushing the obsidian

other hand, instinctively seeking bal

orld s

diating off the smaller man's skin. Under his palm, Elias's shoulde

erfectly, unnervingly still. His breath hitched in h

acted his hand instantly, offered a clinical apology, and retreated to his two-pace distanc

conscious twitch, a slow stroke

brushing against Jax's forearm. He looked up at Jax, his grey eyes wide, b

It wasn't a command to stop.

m down. The debt, the contract, the CEO and the assistant-it was all blurring into the h

le," Jax rasped,

just a fraction of an inch above Jax's wrist, as if he wanted to pull

th the realization that the "three-foot" barrier

hand, the loss of contact feeling like a physical sting. He stepped back,

wn at his keyboard, but the code was forgotten. He reached up and touched

s said, his voice tr

ias," Jax said, his

ldn't fix. Behind him, he heard the clink of glass against glass. Elias was drinking