Page 61 of Hard Bargain

“Knox.”

The way he said his name did something complicated to his chest. “I’m fine.”

Silence. Heavier than the last one.

“Where are you?” Dominic asked.

“Outside.”

“You alone?”

A car drove past, headlights washing over him briefly before sliding on. “Yeah.”

“I can send someone,” Dominic said.

Knox’s pulse jumped. “You don’t have to—”

“I know.”

He thought about calling Tara again. About sitting in her kitchen with a cup of tea while she said all the right things in the right order. She’d mean it, and by the time he left her kitchen he’d feel vaguely guilty for not feeling better. He needed someone who wouldn’t try to make it smaller. Someone who already knew the world was exactly as bad as it was and hadn’t flinched.

“Why’d you really call?” Dominic asked.

Because everything else feels small now. Because I’m tired of pretending to be fine. Because you’re the only thing that makes sense today.

He said none of it. “I don’t know,” he said instead.

“Yeah,” Dominic said quietly. “You do.”

Knox felt it then—the pull. The same one he’d felt every time he was in Dominic’s orbit. He’d meant to call someone safe. He’d dialed the most dangerous man he knew instead, and some part of him had known exactly what he was doing.

“Give me an address,” Dominic said. Not an invitation. An order.

Knox didn’t hang up.

And when he spoke, his voice didn’t waver.

Chapter 17

Dominic

He shouldn’t have offered.

That was the thought looping through his head after the call ended.

Give me an address. He’d said it without thinking, pure instinct, and now he stood in the middle of his loft staring at his phone, irritation crawling under his skin.

He exhaled once and dialed Anderson. “I need you to pick someone up.” He rattled off the address. “Bring him to the loft.”

He paced to the windows, his reflection watching him back from the glass.

Knox hadn’t asked for help. Hadn’t even implied danger. Just one unsteady breath over the phone and Dominic had volunteered rescue. Why? He didn’t involve himself in domestic messes or blur professional lines. He definitely didn’t bring unknown variables into his private space.

The elevator alert came through thirty minutes later. He crossed the room and pressed the button to allow access to his floor. It reached the top with a soft mechanical sigh before the doors parted. Anderson stood back immediately, professional as always.

Knox stepped out, shoulders squared and expression composed. Doing a reasonable impression of someone who was fine.

Dominic’s eyes went straight to his cheekbone. The swelling was impossible to miss—red, already darkening at the edges—and there was a scrape along his jaw that hadn’t been there before.