Page 137 of Hard Bargain

Dominic’s gaze moved past him. Knox saw the exact moment it registered—the slight change in his posture, the way his expression closed off before his attention came back. “I’ll have someone drive her home.”

“You’re assuming I’m coming with you.”

Dominic’s eyes darkened. “Aren’t you?”

Yeah. He was.

* * *

Not even ten minutes later, Knox slipped into Dominic’s bed after helping a sleepy Tara into a car. He’d barely settled before the mattress dipped beside him.

They faced each other in the dim light, close enough that Knox could make out every shift in Dominic’s expression. What he found there wasn’t his usual control and unreadable mask. He looked more upset than Knox had ever seen him, tension sitting clear in his face.

Knox frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Dominic didn’t answer right away. His gaze dragged over Knox’s face like he was looking for something.

Knox shifted closer. “I’m here. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Dominic’s jaw flexed. “Did you fuck her?”

Knox’s eyes widened. That wasn’t a question he’d been suspecting. “What?”

“Your friend. The one on your couch.”

It took a moment for the words to land properly, then Knox shook his head. “No. I didn’t.” His brows pulled together. “Why do you even care?”

Dominic just looked at him with an expression that was getting more irritated by the second, and then it clicked. “You’re jealous?”

Dominic’s expression hardened. “I don’t get jealous.”

“You are right now.”

The silence that followed was louder than any admission would have been. Dominic exhaled loudly through his nose. “But you have fucked her before, right?”

“I’ll answer you,” Knox said. “If you admit you’re jealous first.”

For a moment, Dominic went so still Knox thought he’d pushed it too far. That this was where Dominic would shut it down, pull back, and put distance between them the way he always did.

He didn’t retreat.

“I feel possessive over you,” Dominic said. The words came out slowly, like admitting this was harder than anything he’d done all week. “And I don’t like to share what’s mine.”

Mine.

Knox’s breath stopped.

He should have pushed back. Should have bristled at being claimed without permission, at the assumption Dominic had that right. A part of him knew that.

The rest of him didn’t care.

What moved through Knox in that moment wasn’t resistance—it was warmth. Deep and certain and grounding, spreading through his chest. Being his didn’t feel like a cage. It felt like being chosen by someone who didn’t give pieces of himself to anyone, and had chosen Knox anyway.

It terrified him.

He leaned into it regardless.

“Yeah,” Knox said, keeping his voice steady even though his pulse was doing something ridiculous. “I’ve slept with her before.”