“I hope you’re hungry,” Tor said, as we entered his penthouse a short time later. He keyed in the code, turning off the alarm we’d set off, and then headed straight for the kitchen, flipping on the light as he went.

“Starving,” I said, as Tor opened the refrigerator and began pulling out several dishes. He hadn’t told me anything about what to expect that evening. He’d only said we’d be celebrating, so when he’d pulled up at his building, I was surprised. “Are we cooking?”

Tor set a cutting board on the granite countertop and then pulled out a large knife. As he began to sharpen the blade, he said, “I’m cooking, yes.”

“Ah, so this is a solo activity, then?” I sidled up next to him and looked over the items he’d pulled out. Some kind of steak marinating, potatoes, and ingredients for a salad. My stomach growled.

“You’ve had a long day, so I thought I’d take care of you tonight.”

My heart melted, and I didn’t bother hiding my smile. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Tor pointed his knife at the barstool closest to us. “Sit.”

“That hardly seems fair to make you do all the work while I watch.”

“On the contrary; it’s entirely selfish.” Tor set down the knife and took my chin between his fingers. “I want you where I can touch you,” he said against my lips, before crushing my mouth to his in a kiss that brooked no argument. Those damn butterflies unleashed in my stomach again, and when Tor pulled away and swatted me on the ass, I took my place on the barstool without complaint.

If he wanted to cook for me, I would never put up a fight. Seeing Tor slicing potatoes like he’d done it a few hundred times before showed me a different side of the man I found myself falling for more with every day that passed. He was such an intimidating presence that watching him roll up his sleeves and do something so…normal proved to me that even though he said he wasn’t a relationship kind of guy, his actions were showing me otherwise.

“Thank you,” I said, and his dark eyes looked up at me.

“For?”

I gestured at the spread before me. “I’ve never had someone make dinner for me before. This is…nice.”

A wry grin crossed Tor’s face as he went back to slicing potatoes. “Nice,” he repeated. “I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that term. Perhaps you can give me a demonstration after dinner.”

“I have to show you my thanks somehow, right?” I said it in a teasing way, but I was dead serious. I barely recognized the insatiable creature inside me, the one who wanted his hands and mouth on every part of Tor he could get.

Tor seemed to grasp my meaning, because a low hum sounded in the back of his throat. That sexy growl was all for me. Somehow, he found me attractive, and though I didn’t understand it, because a man like him could have anyone he wanted, I craved the knowledge that I was the one to make him hard.

My dick was leaping to attention, and I shifted uncomfortably on the seat as I changed the subject to something that wouldn’t have me coming in my pants. “What are we having?”

“Chef’s salad, Black Diamond-style steak marinade, and herb-roasted fingerling potatoes.”

“Mmm, sounds delicious,” I said, my lips twisting. “Especially that part about fingering.”

Tor cracked a smile as he tossed the potatoes with some kind of herb mixture. “I see where your mind is tonight, little lamb.”

“Does that mean you approve?”

Shaking his head, he set down the bowl, and then he came over and placed his hands on either side of the barstool back. His thigh wedged in between mine as he lowered his face to my neck and sucked on the skin there. My head fell back as I gave him easier access, and my hands moved to his waist, looping through the belt buckles to tug him in closer. Tor’s tongue teased a path up to my ear, and then he bit down on my lobe, hard.

“Food first. Fucking later,” he said, and then his body left mine, and he returned to prepping our dinner.

I reached down to adjust my erection, which was at full mast now, and tried to get my mind off the feeling of his mouth on my neck. I didn’t have to try too hard, though, because Tor broke the silence.

“I saw your friend Brayden this evening.”

“Yeah, he came by to raid the muffins one last time.” I chuckled. “Poor guy’ll have to pay for them now. Not that he can’t afford it, just…friend perks.”

“Friend…perks,” Tor murmured. “Any other perks between you two I should know about?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve seen Brayden at the den. I know what he is.”

“A sex connoisseur?” I joked, using the term Brayden would always say when I called him a slut.

“Something like that.” Tor’s jaw bunched, and then he said, “Have you two ever fooled around?”

My mouth fell open. “Me and Brayden?” I began to shake my head. “No. Definitely not.”

“Why? He’s an attractive guy, and you already know what I think about you.”

Holy crap. Was he… Was Tor jealous? It was almost laughable, because the thought of crossing the friendship boundary with Brayden had never even occurred to me, and I was positive it had never occurred to Brayden either. But there was something undeniably hot about Tor’s possessive tone as he questioned me. I liked it. A lot.

“We’re just friends,” I said. “No other benefits there, unless you count Charlemagne’s cooking.”

“Who’s Charlemagne?”

“His housekeeper-slash-chef. She makes these spinach feta pastries to die for.” I was drooling now, the smell of the steaks being seared on the stove almost more than my stomach could handle.

“How long have you two been friends?”

“We met our freshman year. He always tried to get me to go out, but I rarely took him up on it because I was studying. So he’d invite me over for movies, low-key stuff, and then it just became our thing, I guess.”

“And your visit with him to the Wolfe’s Den?”

“That was called peer pressure. But I guess it didn’t turn out all bad. I wouldn’t have met you.”

Tor hummed again, and I couldn’t decipher what that one meant. Then I remembered my conversation with Brayden from earlier, and I hesitated, wondering if I should even bring it up, but Tor glanced in my direction, as if he sensed it, and I found myself asking anyway.

“So, um. Brayden mentioned he went back to the den last night.”

“Yes. I saw him there.”

“Right.” I chewed on my lip. How to broach the subject? “Did something, um…happen there last night?”

“I’m sure many somethings happened last night. You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Like something bad? Something you got upset about?”

Tor picked up a dishtowel and wiped his hands slowly, taking his time to answer. “If you’re referring to my altercation in the hallway, then yes.”

“What happened? Did you get hurt?”

Tor let out a humorless chuckle as he faced me. “I don’t take kindly to rules being broken and disobeyed. The man who decided to drug a fellow patron knew what he was doing, and he took the risk anyway. Those consequences are his to deal with.”

“So you were protecting someone. And your club.”

Tor cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Do you think I’d attack without provocation? Is that what Brayden told you?”

“What? No, of course not. I knew there had to be more to it.”

“And this friend of yours. Brayden. He came to you tonight to warn you off me. Is that it?” Tor looked downright pissed, and I stood and went over to him, trying to defuse the situation before it escalated.

“No, he’d never do that. I mean, he looks out for me, but we both knew something must’ve happened for you to do what you did.”

“And why would you assume that?”

My mouth fell open at his question, my thoughts coming to a halt. He was right: why would I assume that? It wasn’t as though I knew him that well…but then the serious line of his mouth twitched and he said, “I got you worried there for a minute, didn’t I?”

He was joking. Of course he’d been joking. “You have a really good poker face. Anyone ever tell you that?”

Tor looked back at the steaks and turned them over with tongs, then he began chopping the ingredients for the salad. “I might’ve heard that a time or two. In my businesses, both at the den and outside of it, it’s important to keep the client or patron on their toes. Keep them in line, so to say. And the best way to accomplish that is by being—”

“A scary motherfucker?” The words slipped out before I’d thought them through. Tor turned his head in my direction and arched an eyebrow. I held my hands up and chuckled. “Brayden’s words, not mine. But you have to know how intimidating you can be.”

Tor lowered his gaze down over me, and when he brought his intense stare back to mine, he nodded. “Yes. I do. It’s something I’ve honed over the years.”

“So you like scaring people?”

“Maybe. Do I scare you?”

I looked at the large knife in his hand and the way he was eyeing me, and some part of me, something deep inside, thought that maybe he should. But a stronger part of me was adamant that this man would never hurt me. Look at what he’d done for a complete stranger. Who knew how far he’d go for me?

“No, you don’t scare me,” I said, and raised my chin for good measure, and the sexy curl to Tor’s lip told me he didn’t believe me for a second. So I added, “Except when you’re trying to.”

“Good to know,” he said, and then looked behind him again to check on the steaks. “How about you go and wash up? Dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes.”

I hopped off the barstool and nodded. “Okay. I’ll be right back. And Tor?” I flashed him a smile, letting him know whatever I was going to say wasn’t bad. “Thank you for being honest with me.”

I thought I caught something flash in his eyes at that, maybe shock, but instead he said, “Anytime. Now go, or these will be cold before you get back.”

And without another word, I hurried off to wash up for dinner.

* * *

After dinner, I directed Jesse into the spacious living room, where I was able to open one of the large sliding doors that led onto the penthouse’s balcony. The rain had started around an hour ago, and with a fire going and Jesse moving down to stretch out on the plush rug, I grabbed two pillows and tossed them down beside him.

Romancing the little lamb tonight wasn’t that much of a task. He made it easy to want to look after him. Almost as easy as he made it to follow him. He was open and inviting with his smiling eyes, and the purity that poured off him was detrimental to his health around me—but I wasn’t about to tell him to go. Instead, I was going to do everything in my power to make him stay. Even if Brayden is trying to fuck with that.

I crouched next to Jesse, and as I did, Faolán trotted over beside him. Jesse sat up and reached out to stroke a hand over his head, and I watched with great interest as my fiercely loyal dog hunkered down beside him, paying little to no regard to me. It appeared that Jesse’s gentle nature appealed to both the beasts in this house.

“You’re so handsome,” Jesse said as he scratched under Faolán’s chin, and the dog raised his head to let him have better access. Jesse looked over to me and grinned. “Don’t get jealous. I promise you’re handsome too.”

“Somehow I’m not too concerned. Though I will say, he doesn’t usually take to anyone other than me. I’m surprised he lets you that close to him.”

Jesse removed his hand, and Faolán actually whimpered from the loss of it until I clicked my fingers and pointed toward the fireplace. Faolán got to his feet and moved down to sit by it on his bed, and once he was settled, I stretched out on the rug beside Jesse and propped my head up on my palm.

Open.

Inviting.

Making him feel comfortable in my home. That was the key.

Jesse chuckled and relaxed back against the cushions. “Well, you didn’t have to send him away.”

“Maybe I didn’t want you stroking anyone other than me.”

Jesse’s eyes wandered down the length of my body and then back up to my face before he scooted in a little closer to me. Yes, come to me, I thought as his eyes sparkled with the reflection from the fire.

“I’d love to stroke you,” he said in a soft voice as he brought a hand up to place it on my chest. “If that’s what you want.”

I reached for his wrist and drew his hand down to where I was hard behind my zipper, and when I pressed his palm to me, Jesse groaned. “Shouldn’t that be my response?” I said even as his fingers curled around me the best they could.

“I guess so… But feeling you like this”—he squeezed me a little harder, and I clenched my teeth, biting back a growl—“reminds me how full I am when you’re inside me.”

I pressed my hand over the top of his and massaged myself with his palm. “And you like that? Being filled by a thick cock?”

Jesse’s mouth parted and he let out a shaky sigh, but he nodded quickly.

“Words, Jesse, use them.”

“Yes. I like that.”

I couldn’t help the growl. From the second I’d met him, I’d known Jesse would make a perfect sub. He was sweet, gentle, and so quick to apologize for every little move he made, and his need to please was right there on the surface for anyone looking—and I had most definitely been looking. He was clueless when it came to what he did and didn’t like in the bedroom, but one thing had become blatantly obvious over this past week—size for this man most certainly mattered. He liked the pain that came with that.

“And what do you like most about it?” I asked.

Jesse lowered his eyes, but I leaned forward and nipped his bottom lip, hoping to ease any discomfort he might have felt. I needed him to acknowledge his desires, because then it was less likely he’d bolt at the first sign of something…darker.

“I like the way it kind of…” Jesse’s words faded as I moved my hand off the top of his and flicked open the button of my pants.

“The way it…what? Tell me, Jesse, and I’ll unzip my pants so you can touch what you really want.”

Jesse let out a shuddering breath, and the warmth of it washed across my lips.

“I like the way it feels like I’m totally and utterly full. It burns a little, but it’s like you’re as far inside of me as you can get. And even then…”

“Yes?” I said as I unzipped my pants and brought his hand up to slip it down inside.

“Sometimes I crave more.”

I fucked my hips forward, shoving my dick through his fist, and Jesse clamped his fingers around me, determined now to touch what I’d been taunting him with. I rolled him to his back and followed, bracing my hands by his head and wedging myself between his spread legs as I thrust up and down in his hand again.

“I wonder what else you might like. Things you haven’t discovered yet.”

Jesse’s head was flat on the pillow now as he stared up at me, eyes dilated, cheeks flushed, his pretty mouth parted as I continued to use his hand. Then he moistened his lips and asked, “What do you like?”

Jesse pumped his hips up, and I reached down to take his hand away from me, then pinned both hands by either side of his head.

“You’re a brave little lamb tonight, aren’t you?”

“Not so much brave as intrigued. What does a man who owns a sex club like? What does the Wolfe crave?”

I rocked my hips over the top of his, aligning our covered cocks in a sensual slide of fabric and frustration, and then I scraped my teeth up his jaw to his ear and sucked his lobe, causing Jesse to arch up harder against me. “Other than you?”

“Yes,” Jesse said, panting. “Well, no, I mean, what do you want to do with me?”

“You are feeling brave tonight.”

Jesse shifted under me and whimpered when I lowered my body and effectively pinned him to the floor, exactly where I wanted him.

“I want to know.”

I raised my head until my lips were hovering over his. “Are you sure about that?”

He blinked a couple of times. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, Wolfe.”

“I like to push limits,” I told him, and trailed the back of my fingers down his cheek as I secured his free hand in the manacle-like grip I had on his other wrist. “I like to get you out of your comfort zone and thrust you into mine.”

I once again began a slow grind over the top of him, wanting Jesse to be on the ragged edge by the time I was done. Wanting him to promise me everything just to have me inside him. His uneven breathing was a good indicator, and so was the way his cock was a rigid length against mine.

“And what’s your comfort zone?” Jesse asked, and I turned my hand over and stroked the pads of my fingers under his chin and down the long line of his neck until I reached the base, where I pressed a little harder.

“Fucked. My comfort zone is totally fucked, which is why I usually don’t go near it.”

Jesse’s eyes had grown large but were glazed over with lust as the steady thump of his heart thrummed against my palm.

“But you’re near it now?” he whispered, and the tentative question had my fingers digging into the soft flesh of his neck, making him gasp right before I released him and said, “There was no escaping it from the first night I saw you.” Then I crushed his lips under mine and slid my tongue deep inside his mouth.

Jesse strained against my hold as he pushed up off the rug, but I held him down, showing him that between us, I was the one in control, not him, and he would only be able to move if, and when, I allowed it—something that should’ve terrified him, but apparently turned Jesse on even more.

He groaned against my mouth as his body relaxed under mine, and once he was completely pliant, I raised my head. “Still want to know what I crave? I can take you to the den and show you firsthand, if you like.”

Jesse’s chest rose and fell before he finally said, “Can I think about it a little more?”

“Yes. In fact, I think that would be wise.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t.” Jesse bucked up against me, and I tightened my fingers on his wrists. “Or that you won’t finish this, right?”

I wondered what he would do right then if I released him and got up, telling him he had to wait until he made a final decision on the den. But those eyes, that mouth, and, fuck, his very resemblance to Lee made my desire to keep him as close to me as possible one I couldn’t deny, so I rolled to my back, put my hands behind my head, and said, “Not if you hurry up and strip.”

Quicker than I thought possible, Jesse was on his feet and naked before I had my pants and boxers shoved down my thighs.

“Very good,” I said, and then crooked my finger at him. “Now sit.”

And like the good little lamb he was, Jesse obeyed and straddled my legs.