STORY EXCERPT

He glanced at his watch. Yeah. The man was ten minutes late and obviously had no respect for other people’s time.

A car door slammed, and he turned to see a tall, brown-skinned man striding away from the vehicle. As the man drew closer, Eyan realized it was Adjani Barrett striding toward him at a clipped pace.

He had to admit Adjani was one of the hottest men he’d ever seen. He had piercing eyes and coppery-brown skin. His powerful thighs ate up the distance between them quickly with a confidence that bordered on arrogance.

Barrett had been dressed in a suit the few times Eyan had seen him at the store, but tonight he was clad in a button-down and casual pants.

“I apologize for being late, Eyan,” he murmured as he stopped before him. “An urgent matter came up on my way out of the office.” His gaze slid slowly over him, and Eyan suppressed a shiver.

“It’s okay,” Eyan said calmly. “How’s the box? Did it turn out to open?”

Adjani gave him a cryptic smile. “I won’t waste any time on a trinket since you’ve already been here ten minutes. Let’s just get down to business.”

“I was just curious.” Adjani’s eyes held a secret that made him nervous.

“I’m sure your grandmother didn’t tell you the reason I asked for this meeting,” he said. “She seemed a little put out by my proposition.”

Eyan rubbed the back of his neck, and his gaze darted away for a moment. “What proposition?” Adjani’s eyes gave nothing away, and that set Eyan even more on edge.

“She’s not going to get a buyer for the store,” Adjani told him evenly. “Plain and simple, I’m her last hope.”

“She did mention you were threatening to block her attempts to sell if she didn’t play ball,” he admitted. She’d seemed a little stressed by the idea, and he understood why. She was losing everything and facing the possibility of a trial with only a public defender.

“I’m willing to buy, but not on her terms,” Adjani said.

“What are the terms?” he asked carefully, and Eyan glanced behind them upon hearing footsteps and laughter. Eyan took a few steps from the entrance, backing into the shadows created by the trees on that side of the building.

“You.”

Eyan blinked and stumbled, arms failing. Adjani gripped his arm and pulled Eyan into his body. The heat shocked him, the solid mass took his breath away, and his mouth dried up as he looked up into burnt-sienna eyes. Eyan leaned toward him, a positive charge to a negative one.

“I want to see you in nothing but your hair falling down around you and shades of red from my whip.”

The words penetrated the fog of Eyan’s mind and his heart skipped a beat. The man was coming on to him in lieu of business negotiations?

“I’m sorry. What?”

“I want you in my bed on my terms.”

Eyan pulled free as he processed the words. “What would those terms be?” he demanded, going for icy and getting husky.

Adjani’s lips turned up in a slow smile, revealing white teeth. “I want—” Laughter from behind them broke off his words, and Adjani closed the small distance between them. “I want a sub who dresses according to my tastes both in and out of the bedroom.”

His blood ran hot, but he wasn’t going to do this, was he? Hell no. Adjani probably wanted to dress him up like a schoolgirl or something.

“Stop,” Eyan said, managing to sound a little outraged. He swallowed tightly, knowing he was on the verge of losing control. He stepped back and paced to the railing at the side. “We’re here to negotiate, not do this,” he said.

“This is exactly what we’re here for,” Adjani contradicted. “If you don’t agree, I don’t buy.”

What the hell?

Him?

Eyan looked away, shaking with anger. So why was he thinking about how good Adjani must look naked? The man was a three-alarm fire, and Eyan wanted his touch. He wanted to burn for him even if it was for just one night.

He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “My grandmother didn’t tell me that,” he admitted quietly. She could go to jail if he didn’t do this. He could do one night. “I could do one night.”

“One? Who said this would be for one night? I can’t get my money’s worth once.”

Eyan’s gaze jerked up. “What?”

“Your hot body is worth at least two and a half million, and if you’re real good that first time, I’ll throw in another half mill,” Adjani told him. “That’s two weeks, fourteen days and nights of your company any way I want it.”

“That’s crazy.”

“I’ll give your grandmother a mill and a half up front, and we’ll close the deal with me taking possession of the store by the end of the first seven days,” Adjani went on calmly. “The middle of the next week I’ll give her the rest and you’ll get half the store.”

He didn’t care what the terms were. He wasn’t a whore. Even if he was going to see a dime of that money, he wasn’t doing this.

“One night was one thing, but fourteen? No!” His stomach twisted with nausea at the thought of selling himself. His grandmother had to have other options.

Adjani shrugged. “Your call.” His tone held a note of disappointment. “Let me buy you dinner anyway?”

“No, thank you.” Eyan needed a freaking stiff drink. He wouldn’t taste a damn thing he put into his mouth right now anyway.

“A drink, then? You look a little pale.”

“I—you’re insane. Why not just one night?”

ADULT EXCERPT

The next morning, Eyan groaned at the sound of the alarm clock on the bedside table signaling another day. He grimaced and rolled onto his back and stretched.

“Turn that off,” Adjani ordered grumpily and slid his hand up beneath Eyan’s tank top.

“You’re not a morning person, I take it,” Eyan said and suppressed the shiver that ran through him when Adjani’s fingers curled around his hip and clenched.

“I’m awake, aren’t I?” he murmured and pressed against Eyan as he kissed the back of his neck.

“Part of you is definitely awake.” Eyan grinned and arched into Adjani after turning off the clock. He was so warm and felt so good, Eyan couldn’t help wallowing in Adjani’s masculine strength. “Can I touch you?”

“Why? Is my touch turning you on?” Adjani teased and his hand dipped low to cup the growing bulge in Eyan’s briefs. “I think you like a man in your bed this early in the morning.”

Eyan groaned as Adjani’s fingers pushed into his underwear to wrap around his cock. He stroked the back of Adjani’s head and moaned as his hips arched up of their own accord.

“Relax those hips, sweetie,” Adjani said. “I’m going to make you feel good.”

His voice was richly sensual in Eyan’s ear, making his cock harder. His nerve endings blazed to life as a shiver ran down his spine.

“Adjani.” Eyan’s voice trembled and he rested his hand on Adjani’s.

Adjani ran his thumb over the tip of Eyan’s cock and spread the precum down the shaft before pumping it.

The sensations were incredible, and Adjani tightened his grip and pump Eyan’s dick faster as he ground his own erection into Eyan’s ass.

“Adjani,” he moaned. Eyan caressed the back of Adjani’s head and moved his hips in time to each of Adjani jerks of his shaft. Eyan closed his eyes, his skin warming and his heartbeat racing. “Oh fuck. Adjani, your hand is so good, it’s making me high.”

“I guess I’m doing it right, then,” Adjani whispered and increased the speed of his hand, his palm sliding up to caress the head of Eyan’s dick before his fingers closed around the shaft to glide down and up and down.

“Yes, too good.”

Adjani withdrew his hand and moved over Eyan. He captured his lips and Eyan’s parted, welcoming the warmth inside. His arms went around Adjani as he arched against him. Eyan rubbed Adjani’s ankle with his bare foot and Adjani moaned into the kiss.

Adjani broke the kiss and straddled Eyan to run his nails up the tank. The fabric tore in several places from a kiss of energy and Eyan laughed. Adjani kissed him and pushed the ruins aside.

“Adjani, you’re wicked!”

“You think so? Then what do you think of this?” Adjani traced kisses from Eyan’s shoulder to his throat. His tongue ran over Eyan’s neck. Adjani hands stroked Eyan’s thighs, and his skin warmed from the energy that jumped from Adjani to him. It tingled on his skin and made him hot from the inside out.

Adjani kissed a path to Eyan’s chest, and his mouth went unerringly to his nipple. Eyan arched into him when Adjani laved the tiny point before taking it between his teeth. The pleasure was so intense, it bordered on pain.

Eyan closed his eyes and Adjani bit him again. “Uh-ah, yeah!”

Adjani’s mouth was hot and his teeth were a sensual caress that had Eyan’s cock throbbing as precum dampened the front of his briefs. The kiss of pain was seductive and alluring, and Eyan wanted more.

The flat of Adjani’s tongue played over the nipple, the tip swirled around it, and Eyan groaned. His hand went to Adjani’s thick curls and tangled in the short locks.

“Yes!”

Adjani turned his attention to the other nipple, teeth scraping the erect flesh before catching the bead. The pain lanced through him, making his blood hotter. Eyan trembled and arched closer as Adjani sucked his nipple.

Eyan whimpered beneath him, the heat of the carnal assault driving him out of his mind. And Adjani’s lips were trailing lower, tongue licking and teeth nipping over the nearly flat plane of Eyan’s stomach.

“Adjani,” he cried. His breathing was rough, a scream in the room.

Adjani’s tongue glided over his outturned belly button. With sharp teeth he nipped at the edge before his lips continued downward. Adjani scraped his nails over the briefs and they ripped loud and ominous and tatters were brushed aside, exposing tanned skin.

Adjani dipped his head to lick over Eyan’s smooth groin.

“So damn sexy.” He fisted Eyan’s dick while he drew his tongue around the rim of the crown. Then Adjani flicked the slit before licking down the hard ridge as if it were a favorite treat. “Mmm, baby.” He closed his lips around the tip and sucked, head bobbing up and down as he lay between Eyan’s legs.

Eyan moaned as he thrust into Adjani’s mouth. “Fuck,” he breathed roughly.