Page 114 of Hard Bargain

Dominic’s grip tightened slightly. “Don’t do that again,” he said. “Don’t make yourself smaller for anyone.”

Knox’s lips parted—about to argue, to push back again—but Dominic didn’t give him the chance. He closed the distance in a single movement. His mouth crashed into Knox’s, all the leftover anger bleeding straight into the kiss.

For a second, Knox didn’t respond. Then he did. Just as angry.

Knox’s fist closed in Dominic’s shirt and dragged him closer. There was nothing hesitant left in him—nothing careful or contained—and that was all Dominic needed.

The kiss was heat and fury and everything that had been building since the bar. Since Knox had sat there with that stubborn look in his eyes, his foot curled around Dominic’s ankle, and ruined everything.

Dominic’s grip at Knox’s throat didn’t loosen. He used it to hold him exactly where he wanted, angling his head, kissing him harder. He broke the kiss just enough to look at him, faces close, breath ragged. His thumb shifted against Knox’s pulse. “That’s better.”

Knox’s eyes flashed. Chest rising too fast. “You’re an asshole.”

Dominic almost smiled. “Yeah. You needed it.”

Knox’s expression turned lethal. “I didn’t need anyth—”

Dominic kissed him again, and this time it didn’t feel like a choice.

The kiss was slower now. It dragged and lingered, like he was forcing Knox to feel every second of it. Like he was forcing himself to. His mouth moved against Knox’s without hurry, without restraint, until it stopped feeling like a kiss and started feeling like more than he could afford.

Knox melted into it. Pressed closer. His hands weren’t steady. They kept moving over Dominic, dragging him in like there was still distance left to close.

He should stop.

The thought came and went.

He let it turn consuming instead. The kiss had stopped being something he could control. It deepened on its own, intimate in a way that felt too real. Knox whimpered against his mouth and it hit Dominic harder than anything else had all night.

Fuck.

Knox clutched at him, taking everything Dominic gave and asking for more without words. Knox’s hands slid down, gripping Dominic’s ass and pulling him in. Their hips slammed together with a raw, aching urgency. A ragged moan tore free between their mouths.

Dominic took back control. He ground into him in a relentless rhythm, the hard press of him dragging against Knox’s cock until sparks burst behind his eyelids. Knox let out a stream of broken sounds—each one sinking straight into Dominic’s core and pulling an answering groan from his throat.

They weren’t kissing anymore. Just sharing the same desperate air, foreheads pressed together, bodies shuddering. The intensity edged on unbearable. It wasn’t just heat anymore; it was gravity. The kind that shifted orbits. The kind Dominic felt in his bones.

I’m in too deep.

He tore his mouth away like the contact burned. He stumbled back—too fast, graceless in a way he never was—putting distance between them like it was the only defense he had left.

Because if he didn’t stop now, he wouldn’t stop at all. Not until he owned every last piece of Knox Wolfe.

Chapter 30

Knox

Knox stayed where he was. His back pressed against the wall, like his body hadn’t gotten the signal that it could move again.

For a moment, nothing made sense. One second, Dominic had been everywhere, impossible to ignore, and the next—nothing.

His thoughts came in slow, trying to catch up to what had just happened. There was still warmth under his skin and the ghost of pressure at his throat.

He blinked, staring ahead without really seeing. Then his gaze shifted. Dominic stood a few steps away. Too far. That was the first thing Knox registered clearly: the distance. It felt wrong in a way he couldn’t immediately explain.

His eyes moved over Dominic, slower now, more focused. Dominic didn’t look right. He looked… flustered. Not that untouchable version Knox was used to. His breathing was off. His expression wasn’t set right. There was something in his eyes that Knox had never seen there before.

What the fuck.