“I’m not foolish enough to put this in writing,” I told him. “I take my promises seriously. I’ll follow all your rules, but I need proof of your willingness to follow through.”
“Wh-what?” Fuck, I loved that sexy catch in his breath.
I held his gaze, counting slowly to ten before I said, “Strip.”
His mouth dropped open. “You can’t be serious.”
I skimmed my fingers down his breastbone and across his abs until I reached the waistband of his pants. After popping the button, I yanked him forward and bent down like I was going to kiss him. I spoke right against his lips. “I want you naked, and I want it now. I want to see everything you’re offering me so I know you’re truly willing to pay.”
He shook his head. “Not here. You said I’d be able to run the bakery during the day.”
“Bakery hours are over. We need to seal our bargain.”
“You have my word.” He held out his hand like he wanted me to shake it. I grabbed his wrist instead, drew it to my mouth, and ran my tongue over the thin skin and fluttering pulse point. When I looked back up, his teeth were sunk into his bottom lip.
“In my line of work, a handshake is never good enough. I need proof you’re willing to go along with everything I asked for.”
“Not now.” His eyes narrowed, making me long to bring that stubbornness to heel.
“You agreed to this. You no longer get to make decisions like that.”
“I never agreed to—”
“I’m losing my patience.”
“You never had any fucking patience, Angelo.”
I burst out laughing, unable to help myself. Lucien would have loved this moment. “Don’t expect any from me then. When I tell you to do something, just fucking do it.”
“I hate you.”
“Hate me all you want, but I want to see what a five-hundred-thousand-dollar deal looks like.”
Cameron scowled at me, but I saw pain flash in his eyes first before he turned away. For just a moment, I was ashamed of myself. Yes, he owed us, and he’d agreed to my terms, but I didn’t have to be cruel to prove I was in control.
“Part of you wants this as much as I do. You can hate that. You can hate me. But you’re going to do this. Here. Now. Because I’m telling you to.”
When he looked at me again, his eyes burned with anger. That was better. Anger I could work with. He gripped the bottom of his sweater, ripped it off over his head, and tossed it to the floor.
I fought the urge to groan as I looked at him: the curve of his shoulder, the line of his collarbone, his dusky nipples that were pebbled and hard, and that fucking treasure trail that disappeared into his pants. I wanted to run my tongue along it.
He kicked out of his shoes, then his hands went to his fly, but he looked up at me and hesitated. I couldn’t wait anymore. I knocked his hands out of the way and lowered his zipper myself. Then I shoved his jeans and boxers over his ass and down his thighs.
“Get them off,” I demanded as I stared at his gorgeous cock standing out from him, red and damp at the tip. It looked as needy as mine felt.
As soon as he stepped out of his pants, I seized him by the waist. He gasped as I lifted him onto the counter.
“You can’t… This is…”
“You’re going to learn I can do whatever I want. You can clean the fucking counter when we’re done.”
I’d only intended to have him strip off his clothes so I could look at him, maybe touch him a little, enough to make him want me even more than he already did. Then I was going to walk away like it didn’t mean anything to me, like my cock wasn’t about to break through my pants because it was so fucking eager to be inside him. I’d intended to leave him imagining what I would do to him that night, but as soon as he pulled off his shirt, I knew there was no way in hell I’d make it through the rest of the day if I didn’t get to watch him shatter under my touch. I needed to see him come like I needed to breathe.
He glared at me as I shoved his legs apart and settled between them. “You really do enjoy this, don’t you? Forcing me to do your bidding?”
I ran a single finger along the underside of his cock and gathered precum from his slit. He shuddered as I licked my finger clean. I took hold of his cock again and gripped his chin with my other hand, making him meet my gaze. “Am I forcing you? Or am I just encouraging you to give in to what you want?”