Hunger (Seductors #2) by B. L. Wilde

don’t feel as if other tables can overhear your conversation.” Oliver pulled a chair out for me before taking his own seat.
    “Do you come here a lot?” I questioned.
    “Are you asking if I bring other women here? Didn’t you ask me the same thing in London the weekend we met?”
    “I was going to ask your opinion on the menu, actually,” I sniggered.
    Oliver laughed with me before suddenly becoming serious, taking my hands in his over the table. “What do you want from me, Jade? I’ve tried to be strong, but when it comes to you, I can’t. I need to know what you want and that you’ll talk to me. No more running.”
    “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.” It was only a partial lie. If Oliver and I were ever going to get our happily ever after, we would have to have some time apart. There was no reason to think about that right now, though.
    “I want to believe you, Jade. I really do.”
    “We don’t have to have all the answers right now. Why can’t we just see how it goes?”
    “I thought that was what we were doing?” he smirked.
    “Okay, smart ass,” I giggled. “Can we stop with the heavy, then? Why don’t you tell me about your day? You seemed really stressed yesterday at lunch.”
    “You noticed that, huh?”
    “I know you pretty well.” I looked at our hands that were still linked together.
    “My uncle and I are disagreeing over an important development in the company. He thinks his age should give him the upper hand, but he isn’t thinking rationally.”
    “But it’s your company. You don’t have to listen to him, do you?” I was trying to act dumb. I knew Richard owned a percentage of Kirkham Industries but that Oliver held the majority.
    “It may be my company, but my uncle does have a small claim on it. Not enough to allow him to overrule me, though. I value his opinion most of the time. This time, however, I feel like he’s being driven by money.”
    “Is that what it’s about? Money?”
    “No,” Oliver sighed. “Money is the least of my problems. I have a lot of power in my hands, Jade. There are times I feel as if I’m playing God. One choice could affect the entire world.”
    “That sounds tough.”
    “It is,” he sighed, glancing behind me. Our food had arrived.
    “You weren’t kidding about this place having the best pasta. It’s really good,” I mumbled, digging into my meal.
    “Yeah, I’m rarely wrong,” he winked with a smile.
    “So, these important decisions you have to make…are they always top secret?”
    “Mostly, yes.”
    “I’m starting to understand why you’ve met so many world leaders.”
    “I’m not going to tire you with the boring details of my job, Jade.”
    “I don’t mind, really.”
    “You’re really okay with me talking about fusion and power cores?” My heart began to race. Power cores? Would it really be that easy? I was about to find out.
    “Power cores?” I frowned, sipping my drink.
    “You really want me to go into detail?” he chuckled.
    “Not too much. I need to be able to understand what you’re saying,” I giggled.
    “Okay, well, with nuclear weapons they have to have a core. This consists of heat and energy. There are two types of nuclear weapons—those that use most of their energy from fission alone, and those that simply use fission to begin the reaction.”
    “You really are a nerd, aren’t you?” I smirked.
    “You knew that about me the day we met,” he chuckled. “We don’t have to talk work.”
    “What did you want to talk about?”
    “You,” he grinned with a gleam in his eye. “Why don’t you tell me where you’ve been these last six months?”
    “You tracked my account. You probably know better than me where I’ve been.”
    He chuckled. “I guess I deserved that.”
    “I travelled around a lot. Mostly I stayed with friends. I had some money put away, so I just kept running.”
    “What made you finally stop?” His eyes were intense as he waited for me to answer.
    “I woke up