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Ah, fuck. Shouldn’t have said that. My brain-to-mouth filter had disappeared. The smirk was back on Alexei’s face. Why was that so hot?

“That dildo had nothing on me, sweetheart.”

Wait, what? The dildo wasn’t the largest I had, but it was pretty fucking big. No way was he bigger. Fuck. A deep, dark, annoying-as-fuck part of me was dying to know, now. Every time I looked at him, I was going to wonder.

“Did you want to check?” Alexei offered, pushing his thumb against my lips until I couldn’t help but suck it into my mouth despite myself.

A low whine left my throat as I noticed the damp patch on his suit pants that were probably worth more than a month of my rent and the scent of his pre-cum filled the air around me. The shock of that noise coming from my mouth was enough to snap me out of the haze I’d fallen under, and I shoved him away.

“I have work to do,” I snapped, voice rasping and wavering in a way I wished it wouldn’t.

“I’ll be just there in my office when you change your mind,” Alexei said, sauntering off and leaving me with a view of his muscled ass that had my mouth watering with the need to eat him out.

How was I supposed to survive three weeks of this?

CHAPTER 4

RYDER

“You said you wanted a challenge,” Gregory reminded me, taking a sip of his champagne as he lounged back on the couch in his apartment.

“I said I wanted respect, too. I can’t work with him, G. You need to find someone else.”

“He’ll be eating out of your hand in no time.”

“He’ll be lucky if he can eat at all. I almost broke his jaw six times today.”

The teasing look on Gregory’s face turned to concern. “Cut him with your words, not your fists. He’s not someone you can threaten.”

We had spoken about Alexei’s criminal ties before I went to the interview. Gregory was a good friend. He’d never put me in that kind of position without warning me. There was a difference between a theoretical warning and the reality of Alexei Vilcrest in all his dominant glory, though.

“Should you be encouraging me to mouth off to a client?”

Gregory smiled, topping up my wine. “He loves it. Loves you.”

I let out an inelegant snort and rolled my eyes.

“I’m serious,” Gregory said, nudging my shoulder with his. “I rang him last night to check how things were going and he said he’d never had better.”

“Because he was probably watching me get off on my channel when you rang.”

“Don’t act like you don’t love that, too. Otherwise, you would’ve taken a break from your extracurriculars. It’s not like you need the money.”

“I’m not going to abandon my regulars with no warning!”

Gregory just looked at me, a single elegant eyebrow arching high. And okay, fair. I might’ve told him I was ready to give it all up. That as soon as he found me a decent job, I was out. It’s not that I was ashamed of what I did. I was just bored. I thrived on learning new things, and I was past ready to move on.

I wanted excitement. Wanted the thrill I’d gotten when I first stepped onto a porn set looking for work. The thrill I’d gotten when I took over managing eight different online platforms. The boredom went deeper than that, though. Because the biggest thing I was bored of was going home to my silent apartment every night. A quiet voice suggested that might be called loneliness rather than boredom. That voice could shut it. So could my so-called friend.

“Shut up,” I muttered.

“Alexei wasn’t complimenting your channel. At least, not only your channel. He really appreciates everything you’re doing in the office.”

“He has a funny way of showing it.”

“Once again, you love it. I know your type, Ryder. It hasn’t changed since college—dominant, muscled, aggressive. You don’t take any shit, and you need an alpha who’ll hold his own and won’t let you walk all over them. You love the adrenaline rush that comes with being with a man who could force you to take it, but waits for you to beg for it instead. You want someone utterly obsessed with you to make up for all those men who fell short when you didn’t match their messed-up stereotypes. Someone who would kill anyone who made you feel less than, and burn the world down around anyone who did you harm. You deserve that after everything you’ve been through.”

I stared at Gregory, blinking in shock. “Please tell me you didn’t give me this contract as some kind of fucked-up matchmaking scheme? He’s a crime boss. An alpha who thinks I’ll bend over his desk just because he tells me to. Aren’t you supposed to be championing omega rights and workplace professionalism?”