Before Gabriel could answer, the distant cry of an infant ended their conversation. Sterling lifted his chin and dropped his hand from Adrian’s back. He kissed Adrian on the top of the head. “I’ll get her. Can I leave you here with Cedric andGabriel?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Adrian’s eyes narrowed as he looked in Cedric’s direction. “I’vegotthis.”
Sterling took his leave, and Cedric found himself alone with the Lowe brothers. Physically, their shared heritage was obvious. Gabriel was a touch more slender and delicate—classically beautiful—while the years had hardened Adrian and lent him subtle touches of masculinity, but there was no mistaking them for anything but brothers. But where Gabriel was meek and quick to try to hide himself from everything and everyone, Adrian did not back down. He took a step forward and planted himself in front of Gabriel, shielding him behind his shoulder and looking Cedric dead in the eyes. “Before I let the two of you talk, I have to lay down some groundrules.”
Cedric wiped the emotion from his face and kept his hands in his pockets, hoping against hope that Adrian wouldn’t catch the scent of his arousal in the air, or spot the semi he was doing his best to conceal. “I’ll listen, but you have to understand that what you want will never be more important to me than what Gabrielwants.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed. “Gabriel is my brother, and he’s a Lowe. Youwilltreat him withrespect.”
“Of course.” The casual way Cedric spoke seemed to set Adrian off. He scowled and took a small step forward, so Cedric added, “I hadn’t plannedanythingbut.”
“If I hear that you are mistreating him, or that you’re using him, I willendyou.” Adrian stepped away to stand at Gabriel’s side. He reached out and set a hand on the small of Gabriel’s back to direct him forward. “We might be giving him to you for now, but you need to remember that when it comes down to it, he belongstous.”
The intensity in Adrian’s voice was in total juxtaposition with the way Gabriel dodged his gaze. The Lowe brothers may have looked similar, but when it came to personality, they were entirely different. To break a man like Adrian, Cedric could understand. But Gabriel? Gabriel was quiet and compliant. Gentle to a fault. Why was this a job Sterling thought only he could do? Any Dom could bend Gabriel to his will with littleeffort.
There had to besomethingmore.
Gabriel took a few, rushed steps forward at Adrian’s insistence. His fingers curled up to pick and pull at the sleeve of his sweater. Without looking up from his feet, he attempted conversation. “Hello,Sir.”
He might as well have punched Cedric in the gut for how those two simple words struck him. The headspace he needed to slip into was hard to get to when every little thing Gabriel did distracted him so much. Cedric did as best he could to get there regardless. “Hello,Gabriel.”
There was a tiny noise as air hitched in Gabriel’s throat. If Cedric hadn’t been so focused on him, he never would have heard it. Everything Gabriel did was timid—Cedric would need to pay close attention to his body language to make sure he didn’t overstep anyboundaries.
Adrian was starting to prickle—Cedric saw it in the way he broadened his shoulders and stood up straighter—so Cedric directed the conversation toward action. “Let’s go somewhere we can sit. There’s no need to keep standing in thehallway.”
“Great idea.” Sterling had returned with his daughter. She’d quieted down, her eyes closed as she nursed on a bottle. Tiny hands wrapped around the plastic, helping Sterling hold it in place. “The living room is just around the corner. Gabriel, if you would direct your guest, it would beappreciated.”
Cedric met Sterling’s eyes to find Sterling looking directly at him, resolute. It wasn’t disappointment he found lurking behind Sterling’s blues, but permission. Permission that didn’t matter. No matter how Sterling urged him to take immediate control, Cedric couldn’t. Consent was more important to him than landing a job. He would push gently, but if Gabriel didn’t want him, he wouldn’t go through with it, no matter what Sterlingwanted.
A niggling part of his mind told him that this was all a test to see how far he’d be willing to compromise his morals in order to land a job. Cedric hoped he wasn’t too far from the truth. Sterling was a gentleman Dom, and one of the most patient and understanding men in the community. It was uncharacteristic of him to push for something so obviouslywrong.
Cedric didn’t have much longer to think on the issue. Gabriel, who stood before him, took a half-step forward and lifted his head just enough to meet Cedric’s gaze. All the air in Cedric’s lungs found its way out, and he exhaled slowly and steadily even as his body screamed for him to take a breath. Gabriel bit down on his bottom lip, then glanced to the side and nodded in the direction of the hallway. “Will you please come withme,Sir?”
“Yes.” There was no way he could say anything but that. Cedric’s mouth spoke on autopilot, his tongue navigating a word that should have been familiar like it was his first attempt at speaking another language. The delivery was flawless, but the sensation was strange. Cedric chased it out of his mouth by following it up with a few more words. “Ofcourse.”
Gabriel’s gaze lingered on him for a second longer than it should have, and in that second, Cedric felt the intensity of their sudden chemistry tighten in his chest and plunge down his spine like water rushing down a cliff face. The physical attraction was there, and it was stronger than any Cedric had felt in years, but no matter how hard it struck, he could not letitwin.
This was a job. Gabriel was a client. Cedric would care for him in whatever ways Gabriel needed, but to get his emotionsinvolved?
It couldn’thappen.
Gabriel reached forward and took his hand. The skin-to-skin contact shot sparks down Cedric’s arm and jolted him from his thoughts to ground him in themoment.
He was in Sterling’s penthouse, in the hallway, holding hands with the young omega he was meant to dominate for the next severalmonths.
The same omega who looked at him with shy blue eyes thathidpain.
The same omega who made him feel things he’d thought he’d never feelagain.
Cedric swallowed hard and returned Gabriel’s gaze. It wasn’t met for long. Gabriel glanced away, frightened, and just like that, ledtheway.
Hello, Rabbit. It’s time to letmein.
Cedric followed him down the hall insilence.
5
Cedric
