Sugar

Chapter 1: Bristol

Before now, I have never really known what people meant when they called someone magnetic. I'm making eye contact with him, and he's stealing my breath away. Could it just be his prestige, the knowledge that he's a billionaire, that's making me feel so awestruck, or is it him?

I have always been good at reading people, but not now.

I'm standing in the doorway of his enormous office, frozen, because his stare has turned my blood into ice, and I can only imagine what my pageant coaches from when I was younger would say to me now— "Bristol, stay composed. Keep your emotions in check, don't let them show." Because in an instant, I could only imagine how I looked to him and his co-CEO slash workplace wife, the icy woman named Gwen who never lost her composure. Although I was dressed professionally in a short-sleeve blouse, dress pants, and black pumps, with my blonde hair curled into perfect ringlets, I probably looked like a deer caught in headlights. This new 25-year-old from the legal department, fresh out of law school, being scrutinized up and down by these seasoned CEOs in their forties.

So I break eye contact with him, straighten my back, tilt my chin up, and cross the room to Gwen to give her the papers I came here to deliver. All the while, Jared's gray eyes are following me intensely, boring into me, and I have to pretend it doesn't affect me, doesn't send shivers through my entire body. I tell Gwen about the contracts and stuff that she needs to sign, having to tilt my head up almost 90 degrees because she's about six inches taller than me.

"What's your name?" he says suddenly, his expression dead serious, without the hint of a smile. I try not to show that it fazes me.

"Bristol. Bristol Anderson," I say with that practiced, professional smile that I have used so many times before.

"You're a first-year lawyer?" he asks.

"Yes," I nod, keeping that smile plastered on my face.

"Will you come show me the papers." It's not a question. It's a demand.

Gwen gives a sigh of exasperation. "Oh, come on, Jared. I can just look at them myself. It's just some contracts."

"Hey, don't forget," Jared says, waving his finger. "I'm the one calling the big shots around here." They really are like a bickering married couple, I realize.

"It's okay," I tell Gwen with another smile. "I can just go over them real quick." I clutch my folder to my chest and walk steadily over to Jared's desk, which is a mess, with papers and pens strewn all over.

"Let me see," Jared says, taking the folder from me. "This payment is due...27th of June..." he reads aloud. Then he seems to find something of significance. "Here. Right here, Bristol. What does this mean."

Every time he asks a question, he phrases it like a statement.

I gingerly bend down a little to read the document and explain the little details to him, and I'm conscious of the fact that my blouse is unbuttoned enough that he can definitely see the rose-colored lace underneath, though he keeps his eyes fixed on my face. It is such an awkward position, but I have to stay like this because the text on the document is so small, and I can't help but wonder if he did this on purpose. If this is a power play. Well, if it is, I can handle it. I can handle situations like these. I look him squarely in the eye and he doesn't flinch, just raises his eyebrows. "So, I just need your signature," I tell him.

"Sure," he says, taking the pen from my hand. He touches my fingers a little and I feel that freezing sensation again, like he has sent ice coursing through my veins. I don't know what it is—my face is warm and blushing, but my body feels cold. I am grateful that I can finally stand up straight, and I close my folder with the papers in it. "Will that be all, Mr. Simmons?" I ask him innocently.

"That will be all, Bristol," he says, keeping that impassive expression. "I'll see you around." His eyes follow me as I leave the room, my heels clicking across the hardwood floor. And I can feel Gwen's disapproving expression, whether at me or him, I can't tell. Probably at both of us at once.