Page 112 of Hard Bargain

Knox leaned forward. “You were more engaged talking to me.” Under the table, his foot slid forward and hooked around Dominic’s ankle.

Christ.

“You’re not even looking at her,” Knox said.

“I was.”

Knox tilted his head. “You were being rude. We were having a conversation.”

Dominic’s eyes narrowed. “And?”

“And you were less bored talking to me.”

Dominic’s expression cooled. “Drop it.”

“Alright,” the woman said, the lightness gone from her voice. “I feel like I’m interrupting something.”

“You’re not,” Dominic said. Automatic. Clipped.

“You are,” Knox said at the same time. Just as flat.

Dominic shot him a look. “You done? I’m not playing this game.”

Knox watched him a bit longer. “Tell me something,” he said, almost mildly. “Without looking at her. What color are her eyes?”

Silence.

“Fine,” Knox said. “Easier question. What’s she wearing?”

Fuck.

He had nothing.

Knox leaned back and closed his eyes. “What color are my eyes?”

It shouldn’t have been a question Dominic answered. It shouldn’t have come that easily. “Light blue. Like ice.” The words left him before he could stop them.

Knox’s eyes opened, and there they were: eyes so pale they almost didn’t look real, drawing him in before he realized he was staring. Under the table, Knox’s foot tightened around his ankle. “Take me home,” he said. “I need to check on my mom.”

Dominic didn’t respond.

“Go,” Knox said, dismissing the woman without sparing her a glance.

Dominic didn’t correct him. She made an offended sound, followed by the clicking of heels as she turned away. Neither of them watched her leave.

“Take me home,” Knox repeated.

“And why would I do that?”

Knox didn’t hesitate. “Because you want to.”

Dominic’s grip tightened around the glass. The truth of it settled somewhere deep, beneath the annoyance and resistance, below the careful control he’d spent years building. Now, he was watching that control crack, piece by piece, under the unwavering stare of a boy with ice-blue eyes.

* * *

The drive was too short for the silence to settle into anything manageable, too long for it to be ignored. It filled the car, pressing in from all sides, carrying everything neither of them said.

Dominic’s jaw had been tight since they left the bar. Irritation simmered under his skin like something alive.