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“Alexei!”

My mouth twitched in a smirk at the way he cried my name. Maybe he’d meant it to be a protest, but it sounded more like a prayer.

“It’s strictly business, sweetheart. I just need you to give me an excuse to sit at the bar and venture onto the dance floor. A performance. You know all about performing.”

Ryder froze, his eyes widening. He was starting to guess which part of my business he’d be assisting with.

“I don’t want that kind of trouble,” he whispered.

I pressed a kiss beneath his ear. “Trouble looks so good on you, though. Come play.”

“I don’t—” his words cut off on a moan as I rocked my thigh forward so he could grind his cute omega erection against it. The scent of his arousal drifted between us, betraying how he really felt about what was happening.

“One night, sweetheart. What harm could it do? I won’t take things any further than this. Not unless you beg me to.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Ryder snapped, my words breaking through whatever spell my pheromones had put him under.

I hadn’t even consciously let them run rampant. It just happened whenever he was near. Honestly, it was a bit of a concern if I couldn’t even control myself that much. Stepping back just enough to leave him wanting for the friction I’d removed, I undid the button on his suit jacket and pushed it off his shoulders. “This is a bit formal for the club.”

He snorted. “You’re in a fucking three piece!”

“People expect that of me. I have an image to maintain.”

“And dragging your assistant along to a nightclub helps that how?”

My smirk grew wider as I tossed his jacket aside.

“They’re not going to see an assistant. They’re going to see a horny little omega, dressed to impress but letting loose for his alpha,” I said, undoing one more button before he could stop me.

His shirt was just on the wrong side of indecent now, his nipples threatening to show through the gaping fabric at the slightest movement.

“You’re impossible.”

“And you look positively impregnatable.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Ryder shut down fast, pushing me away for real.

“Whatever. Let’s go.”

My brow furrowed as I watched him move away. He never retreated. It was one of the things I liked most about him. Most omegas liked a little breeding talk, even if they weren’t looking for that kind of commitment. Not Ryder, apparently.

I let the silence sit between us until we were in the back of the car together, the privacy screen up between us and my driver.

“I’m sorry. I won’t say anything like that again.” I may be an asshole, but I owned my mistakes.

Ryder’s head snapped to face me, genuine surprise on his face. “Did you just apologise?”

I blew out a breath and focussed on finding two glasses and a bottle of whiskey for us. “I didn’t mean to trigger you. I prefer you uncomfortable because your hole is slick for me, not uncomfortable because you can’t even get hard from something I said.”

Ryder rolled his eyes. “There it is. For a second there, I thought I might’ve misjudged you.”

“Drink?”

Ryder snatched the glass I was holding out to him from my hand and shot it back in one go. “Give me another. I’m definitely going to need it.”

CHAPTER 6

RYDER