Elias began to notice the change in small, unforgivable ways.
It was in how silence no longer felt empty. In how his thoughts, once sharp and defiant, now curved instinctively toward a single name. In how his body reacted before his mind could intervene. tightening, warming, anticipating whenever he imagined Damien Blackwood's voice.
He hated it.
He hated the way control slipped without being taken. Hated that no hands had touched him, no rules had been spoken aloud, and yet he already felt restrained. Claimed in a way that left no marks and demanded no permission.
Damien had said he would wait.
And that was the cruelest part.
The next meeting was scheduled, formal, buried beneath layers of professionalism and corporate necessity. Elias told himself it would be different. He told himself he would be distant, sharp, untouchable.
He was wrong.
Damien arrived late.
The boardroom stilled the moment he entered, as if the air itself had learned to obey him. He didn't look at Elias at first. Didn't need to. Elias felt his presence like pressure against his skin, slow and deliberate.
When Damien finally turned, their eyes met.
Just once.
It was enough.
The meeting blurred into irrelevance. Voices spoke. Numbers were discussed. Decisions were made. Elias heard none of it. He was acutely aware of Damien's stillness, the way he spoke only when necessary, the way his gaze occasionally flicked toward Elias not lingering, not obvious.
Possessive.
When the meeting ended, Damien dismissed everyone with a nod.
"Mr. Kane," he said calmly. "Stay."
Elias did.
The door closed with a sound that echoed too loudly in the room.
Damien removed his jacket with unhurried precision, draping it over the chair. The simple act felt intimate. Dangerous. Elias stood rigid, pulse racing.
"You're restless," Damien said, loosening his cufflinks. "Distracted."
Elias crossed his arms. "You don't get to analyze me."
Damien stepped closer. "I do. Because you allow it."
The truth struck deep and unwelcome.
"You haven't slept," Damien continued. "Your posture is tight. Your eyes are darker. You've been thinking about what you want."
Elias laughed sharply. "You're not that important."
Damien smile not amused. Certain.
"Lying doesn't suit you," he said. "You're far more compelling when you're honest."
Damien stopped in front of him, close enough that Elias felt the heat of his body. Not touching. Never touching unless it mattered.
"Tell me," Damien said quietly. "What did you dream about?"
Elias stiffened. His jaw tightened.
Damien leaned in, voice low, intimate. "You don't have to say it. I already know."
The silence between them thickened, charged and heavy. Elias felt exposed, unraveled by the weight of Damien's attention.
"You want control," Damien said softly. "But you crave surrender."
"That's not true," Elias said, too quickly.
Damien lifted a hand not touching, just hovering near Elias's wrist. Elias's breath caught.
"You feel that?" Damien murmured. "Your body reacts before your pride can intervene. That's not weakness. That's instinct."
Elias swallowed. His pulse thundered in his ears.
"Instincts can be dangerous," Elias said.
"Yes," Damien agreed. "That's why they're honest."
Damien finally touched him.
Just barely.
Two fingers at Elias's wrist, where his pulse betrayed him instantly. The contact was light, deliberate, controlled. Elias froze not from fear, but from the shock of how much it affected him.
Damien felt it. Of course he did.
"Still," Damien said calmly. "You don't pull away."
Elias couldn't breathe. His body leaned forward without permission, drawn toward the warmth, the authority, the promise of something he had never allowed himself to want.
"Let go," Damien whispered. "Just for a moment."
Elias shook his head, but his feet didn't move. His pulse raced beneath Damien's fingers.
"I won't force you," Damien continued. "I don't need to. You will come to me because you want to. Because resistance has exhausted you."
The words sank deep.
Damien released him.
The absence of touch was worse.
Elias exhaled sharply, hands trembling. "You're doing this on purpose."
"Yes," Damien said simply. "And you keep coming back."
Elias looked up at him, anger and need tangled beyond separation. "What if I don't?"
Damien stepped back, giving him space he didn't want. "Then I walk away."
The thought struck harder than expected.
"And if you do?" Elias asked quietly.
Damien's gaze darkened. "Then I will not be gentle."
The room felt smaller. Warmer. Elias felt something shift inside him something dangerous and thrilling.
"I won't beg," Elias said.
Damien smiled slowly. "You won't have to."
He moved past Elias, opening the door.
"You're free to go," Damien said. "But understand this every step you take away from me will feel wrong."
Elias paused at the doorway.
He hated that Damien was right.
He left but the echo of Damien's presence followed him, wrapped around his thoughts, his breath, his body.
That night, Elias lay awake again.
This time, he didn't fight it.
He imagined control given willingly. Silence broken softly. Authority met with trust. He imagined the moment he would finally stop resisting.
And the thought didn't scare him.
It thrilled him.
Some obsessions begin with desire.
Others begin when resistance finally cracks.
And Elias Kane was dangerously close to breaking.
.