“I’m not kneeling for you. I’m not going to listen to a word you say. You have no rapport with me, and you’re not making an effort to establish one. I don’t trust you, and you don’t trust me, and a TPE willneverwork between us if that’sthecase.”
This wasn’t healthy Dom behavior. Of all people, Sterling should know how to treat his submissive correctly. What he was asking for was irresponsible. There was no connection between them, no kind of relationship of trust or understanding. To Adrian, Sterling was the asshole who wanted to limit the few good things Adrian had in life. To Sterling, Adrian was just some pretty-faced slut—fresh, easy prey that he could wet hisdickwith.
That wasn’t going to cut it. Adrian refused to allow a man to own him. He would not sacrifice his liberty, no matter how much he loved The Shepherd. There were other clubs in Aurora—other places he could find men who would help him forget who he was and why he spent his weekend nights as far away from home as possible. He didn’t need to be some dickwad’s footstool for the next twenty-fivedays.
It didn’t matter that Sterling’s body was a work of art, or that his sense of style was flawless, or that he was a self-made man who exuded power and wealth. The truth was that Sterling was no better than Adrian considered himself. They were monsters in their own right, too self-absorbed to care about the world around them, or how they related to it, and too selfish to try to correct thatbehavior.
And when Sterling chuckled, it backed up Adrian’s belief and spiked his anger yetagain.
This wasn’tfunny.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to call me out.” Sterling laid his arms on the armrests of his chair. The same vaguely smug smile shaped his cheeks and glinted in his eyes. “I was almost certain that you wouldn’t come tonight, and if you did, that you’d refuse tostrip.”
Red-hot rage seared what sense Adrian hadleft. “What?”
“I was never counting on the TPE working out, but I wanted to see how far I could push you—how far you’d go until you snapped. I’m surprised it tookthislong.”
Adrian’s eyes widened, then narrowed. He wanted to speak, but he couldn’t find the words to say. None of them were scathing enough. Sterling needed to shut up, and he needed to do it now before Adrianreallygotangry.
“I’m impressed by your commitment, if I’m being honest.” Sterling nodded toward the book, but he didn’t take his eyes off Adrian. “I was settling down for a night of doing nothing when you came through the door. You have to admit, the whole setup was suspect from thestart.”
No, it wasn’t. Sterling hadn’t been acting when he’d haggled with Adrian for more time, and Adrian wasn’t going to let Sterling reshape reality so it better suitedhisego.
“You need to shut up right now,” Adrian uttered. His hands shook. “You’re not going to pretend this was all some game, because it wasn’t. Itwasreal.”
“If it wasn’t a game, why would I propose something as serious as a TPE to a casual acquaintance?” Sterling’s gaze challenged Adrian, but all it did was make Adrian angrier. He needed tostop talking. If he went on any longer, Adrian was going to explode. “IownThe Shepherd. I may be a businessman, but my intent behind opening the club wasn’t purely down to the dollar. I understand what it takes to be a good Dom. Iwouldn’thave—”
There were too many excuses and too many convenient truths. Sterling was so far up his own ass that he couldn’t admit his inadequacy. Adrian couldn’t listen to one more word. He needed Sterling to stop talking, and he needed it now. The prickly, writhing irritation in his chest and the anger boiling beneath his skin had grown too great to hold at bay. It freed Adrian of his inhibitions and left him as nothing more than a creature ofinstinct.
He grabbed Sterling roughly by the front of his shirt, then yanked him forward in his chair so they were nose to nose. At first, Adrian was going to stop there—the shock value should have been enough to stop Sterling from saying whatever he was about to say—but the prickling irritation Sterling stirred in him wasn’t sated, and it drove him further. Without a second thought, Adrian crushed their lips together to stop Sterling from talking anymoreshit.
The kiss was rough, spurred by hatred rather than passion. Adrian’s teeth clacked against Sterling’s, and when that wasn’t enough, he shoved Sterling back against the chair and climbed onto his lap in order to increase the pressure between their lips. The kiss bruised, and Adrian’s jaw ached, but he didn’t care. Until Sterling shut the hell up, hewouldn’tstop.
He just wasn’t expecting Sterling to returnthekiss.
Clacking teeth met clacking teeth. Sterling slipped his arms around Adrian’s waist and held him closer, and as he did, sparks fired off in Adrian’s chest that amplified the strangeness he’d been feeling sincelastweek.
It left himcravingmore.
Adrian rooted his hands in Sterling’s hair and tugged. Sterling forced his lips open and slipped his tongue into Adrian’s mouth. Adrian nipped at him—not enough to injure, but enough to hurt—then allowed his tongue to meetSterling’s.
His heartraced.
Fuck, did he hate Sterling. Hehatedhim. And yet the longer the kiss lasted, the more Adrian didn’t want ittoend.
Sterling’s hands dipped downward and squeezed both globes of Adrian’s bare ass. His fingers bruised Adrian’s skin, but Adrian didn’t care. He pushed back against Sterling’s hands and strengthened the kiss, taking from it just as much ashegave.
“Fuck you,” Adrian whispered against Sterling’s lips as the kiss broke, then started again. Their greedy, frantic passion was interrupted by stolen, gasped breaths. “Fuck you. Ihateyou.”
“Is that why you’re kissing me?” Sterling’s fingers loosened, then squeezed again. Adrian bucked back against him. The hatred had hardened his cock, and he didn’t care if Sterling saw. Their tongues met again, Sterling’s effortlessly dominating, before Sterling withdrew and broke the kiss. “And is that why you’re so hard for mealready?”
“Shut the fuck up.” Adrian kissed him savagely, but briefly. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talkingabout.”
“Don’t I?” One of Sterling’s hands left Adrian’s ass, and Adrian lamented its loss until the same hand wrapped around his bobbing cock and pumped it. The floodgates of pleasure burst, and Adrian stifled a gasp as he pushed into Sterling’s hand. “Do you mean to tell me that this isn’t an erection? Should I stoptouchingyou?”
“No!” Adrian shook. He thrust into Sterling’s hand, fucking the tight ball of his fist even as Sterling pumped him. The tension in his thighs and the rising pressure in his balls made him want to shoot, but he refused to let himselfbeweak.
“No, what, Adrian?” Sterling’s smug smirk was back, and it rekindled Adrian’s anger. “You’ll have to be specific. No, it’s not an erection, or no, Ishouldn’t—”
