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"You father was a police officer as well?"

"Yeah"

"And even though you lost him you wanted to follow in his steps?" He sounded puzzled by my career choice and he wasn’t the only one My ht when I was accepted into the acadeh all I had ever wanted to do was follow ina cop was the only option forelse That’s part of the reason why I’et back to it I don’t have a backup plan, Lando This is it fora little more raw and desperate than I intended it to, but it was the truth I didn’t knohat I was going to do with

"Hht and had a leg bent in front of me and my entire torso wrapped around it like a pretzel I narrowed my eyes at hi heavily and sweating buckets and not just from the temperature in the room "Why was that it for you? You lost your father; you had to see how it hurt your mother and sisters and I bet they worry about you all the tiood question One I wasn’t sure I had an answer to "I wanted to make my dad proud I wanted to help people I wanted a job where no one would question h protested I rolled over and ended up back on my back as I looked up at him He was shiny with sweat from the heat in the room and his eyes were intently focused on me

"Your masculinity or your sexuality? You wanted a job that was associated with being a man even if you just happened to be attracted to other men?"

I crossed my hands and rested them on my abs as my breath whooshed in and out "Maybe that was part of it as I got older but as far back as I can ree I wanted to make a difference" I closed my eyes and drifted back in time "I wanted to rave holding their mother’s hand while she sobbed and sobbed"

"She very easily could be standing next to your grave next, Dominic" The words were so quiet it was almost like he breathed the I could say to argue that he rong because he wasn’t

"I know, but I’m a cop It’s part of who I ale part of me It sounds like we’re both lucky that way"

He put his hands on his hips and see my words over in his head After a couple of minutes where I just laid there and sweated he finally spoke "Why don’t you take five and then e out of the way and see if we can work that shoulder out so that on Wednesday we can get back on track"

I struggled back into a seated position and lifted an eyebrow at hie?"

His eyes flared hot at the center and the corners of his e "I shouldn’t, we have techs, but I’ to" The look on his face turned entirely predatory "I have a feelingas badly as your shoulder is by the tiroaned as I watched hi and going "No pain no gain, Mr Fancy-Pants"

Chapter 6

Lando

I was setting myself up for failure

I knew it as soon as I walked into the tiny, sequestered rooe therapy I had a tech on staff who I could very easily call to handle this forto do, the professional thing, but I wasn’t going toto walk in that room with a naked Dominic Voss laid out on the table in front ofmy hands all over the miles andbody, knowing that it couldn’t lead to anything Well, knowing that it shouldn’t lead to anything, but my self-control felt paper thin and stretched as tautly as it had ever been I couldn’t recall a point in nawed onto be fed It was hard to concentrate on anything else with this ravenous need pulsing inside ofinto that roo er cared

He was lying facedown on the table and he didn’t look up when I entered the sage-scented rooe music that was typically piped in for relaxation was turned off, so the only sounds that filled the tiny space were the alternate sounds of both of our heavy breathing His sounded like he was getting ready to fall asleep Mine sounded like I had just run a marathon His hair was damp from his shower and I took a ht up in hts that I hadn’t bothered to spruce a session All I did was throw on a white T-shirt and hts I probably sym, but there wasn’t any time to fix it or worry about it now

I made sure the door clicked shut behind me so that he kneas in the room, but he still didn’t move I wondered if he actually had fallen asleep I clearedto focus et that reat at the beginning and you need to make sure you hydrate e’re done"

My voice was huskier than it typically was and I had to shake ether so I could doa fool of myself I picked up the bottle of oil infused with different essential oils and approached the table I almost jumped when he finally turned his head, which was directly in line without of his olive-green eyes "Do your worst"

I sucked in a sharp breath at the blatant challenge and toldits close proxiether to warm the oil up and when I put them on his skin we both jolted at the initial contact I’d had my hands on bodies worth millions, on ones that were sculpted and honed to perfection, ones that belonged to et aith e in this private little space None of them made me react the way Dominic did