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“Well enough, or so the doctors assure me. He’ll never be completely a hundred percent, but his quality of life should be okay.”
“Is he the only parent you have?”
Max gave a tight nod.
Zander mentally patted himself on the back. Good job, him. Good job listening to his instincts. Any other vampire in this place would have taken advantage, not given Max the help he so desperately needed.
Zander turned the page, expecting more conditions, only to be met with blank space. That was it? That was all Max demanded—help with his father’s medical bills?
Did this man not understand his worth?
“What of school?” Zander asked in confusion. “You are an architect student, are you not?”
“School can wait a year.”
No, it bloody well couldn’t. Zander pulled a pen from his pocket and wrote:All school expenses covered for the next year.
Max made a noise of protest. “What are you doing?”
“If I must negotiate for you, so be it.” There, much better. Oh, no, wait. He tacked on another condition:All living expenses paid for.
“I didn’t ask for that either!”
“Hush, you’ll thank me later.” Zander cheerfully flipped to the third page. Ah-ha, now they were at his part of the contract. The only things typed in for his terms were regular feeding and sex, which were standard.
He thought about it, then wrote in:Max must live with me for the duration of our contract. There. Now he was happy.
Max stared at the words and made a noise of dismay. “You want me to live with you?”
“Again, you’ll thank me later. All right, madam, are we set?”
“Only if Mr. Monroe agrees to terms and signs.” She gave Max a look that said,Don’t be an idiot, sign that!
Max was still bemused, looking at Zander like he wasn’t sure if he was in some kind of strange fever dream. He took the pen when Zander offered it, signing the bottom of the page.
At least Max was smart enough to take advantage of Zander’s offer, even if he was confused. Zander took the pen back, adding his own signature underneath.
“Gentlemen, if you’ll give me a moment, I’ll scan this in so you can both retain a copy. Just a moment.” She stood, giving Zander a slender, black jewelry box before leaving the room.
Zander had an idea of what was in the box and when he opened it, sure enough, there was a slave’s collar. Pretty, no doubt, with its black velvet collar and ruby in the center. He had no intention of making Max wear it. With a snap, Zander closed the lid, tucking the box into his suit pocket to dispose of later.
“You’re, um, supposed to put that on me.”
He looked at Max, this man he had just bought, and gave the gentlest smile he could. “You are contracted to me, but you are not my slave. I will not treat you as one. While we’re on the subject, I can assure you of a few other things. First, you need never fear my fists nor my temper. I’m not abusive. Second, I will never feed from you or have sex with you without your full consent. Third, you don’t need to worry about anything while in my care. Not your father, not school, not living expenses.”
There was that damned caution again, like Max couldn’t fully trust any word coming out of Zander’s mouth. Zander had a bad feeling Max had been hurt before, hence he couldn’t put faith in anything Zander said. Even with a written contract between them.
“Why are you being so generous with me? To a human you just met.”
“I have a serious weakness for beautiful men who are both smart and loyal. You”—Zander lifted one of Max’s hands, placing a gentle kiss on his knuckles before meeting his eyes levelly—“are my kryptonite.”
“You”—Max returned in kind—“confuse the hell out of me.”
Oh? There was a spark of sass in this man. Good, Zander hated doormats. “Just wait until you get to know me.”
“The way you say that concerns me.”
It should. Zander had tried imposing limits on himself before, but…it proved both tedious and boring. For Max, he’d pull out all the stops.
