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Rolling my eyes, I shoved him back, resisting the urge to knead at his pecs when my hands met his chest. My omega instincts really needed to get on board and stop sabotaging me. This—he—was not happening.

“I’ll see myself out.”

A large hand reached over my shoulder, shoving the door closed before I could open it more than an inch. Alexei’s warm breath blew over the sensitive skin of my neck. Closing my eyes for a second to get what little space I could, I forced myself to breathe normally. I was more than my biology. More than the need to slide down to my knees and beg for a taste of him. My clothes, as hot and rasping as they felt, were staying on. And the less said about my overwhelming need to present for this alpha, the better.

Alexei locked the door before stepping away. The loss of his warmth at my back had me shivering despite myself.

“I’m not trying to force you to stay. That’s just to slow you down for a moment while you reconsider. I think you might be a better fit for this role than either of us thought.”

Spinning on the balls of my feet, I watched Alexei saunter back across the room and behind his desk, my outrage growing with every step. “Why? Because you want to seduce me, now?”

Alexei’s mouth twitched up in a smirk that should not have been so damn sexy. “Because you don’t take my shit. Because you fight back. You need that in my world or you’ll be eaten alive.”

The way Alexei’s eyes were running down my body left no doubt what kind of eating he was imagining. Fuck that. The whole point of taking a corporate job was to keep sex out of it after a decade of mixing work and pleasure. I didn’t need this shit.

“Not interested,” I said. And then I walked out the door.

CHAPTER 2

ALEXEI

I couldn’t remember the last time an omega turned their back on me outside of presenting their ass for my knot. Who was this guy to walk away from me? Not. Going. To happen.

“Nate, lock the lifts, please.”

“Uh, sir?”

One look was all it took to have him scrambling to access the security controls. He’d been with me eight years. He knew the deal with my business. Knew not to fuck with me.

“I don’t suppose you could have just interviewed him instead of… whatever this is?” Nate said, eyes trained on his computer.

“You checked his references already?”

Nate’s eyes snapped up to mine, not quite a glare because he was more professional than the omega whose scent was driving me crazy, but close. “Of course. I meant it when I said he’s overqualified.”

“Good.”

Returning to my office, I perched on the edge of my desk closest to the door, arms crossed. Waiting. I didn’t have to wait long. The short, slender little spitfire was stalking back toward me by the time I’d crossed my ankles and adjusted the raging erection I’d had since I’d first shaken his hand. I wasn’t used to my body taking control that way. Shameless arousal was for omegas, not alphas. I was supposed to be in control. There was nothing controlled about the need thrumming through my body as my new assistant stormed into my office.

“What was that about not forcing me to stay? Am I trapped here now?” Ryder snapped.

“Only until you sign the contract.” Reaching behind me to grab the papers, I held them out to him.

“I don’t want your fucking job.”

“Too bad. I want you.”

And wasn’t that a mind fuck? I didn’t do want. Even for something as simple as a competent assistant. I’d learned very quickly upon taking control of my family’s businesses—both legitimate and otherwise—that omegas who let me close were only interested in my money and my power, not me. I’d lost count of the number of times an omega had ‘unexpectedly’ gone into heat in my bed, desperate to trap me with a baby—an heir—they knew I couldn’t refuse.

The irony that the drugs they used to achieve that timing probably came from the greyer side of my business wasn’t lost on me, but I had zero interest in having children, and even less in having a vapid socialite in my space every day. That’s why Nate had been so perfect as an assistant. As a beta mated into a pack, he had more men than he could cope with already, and no need for my money. He was only here to work.

“Yeah, well. We all want things we can’t have.”

“Not me.”

Ryder rolled his eyes at me. Again. It drove me crazy. Made me want to bend him over the desk, yank his pants down, and spank his ass as cherry-red as his pouty lips. Fuck, it was no wonder he’d gone into porn. The guy was every alpha’s wet dream. His ass when he’d walked away from me was luscious enough to give the hockey players on my team a run for their money.

“You can’t force me to work for you,” Ryder said.