Misha might’ve gotten out of it in one piece if Riley had been on the same page, looking for a quick fuck, some meaningless fun between the sheets. Alas, this particular bartender didn’t give it up for strangers, much less customers. He was perfectly happy doing for himself and turned out to be an expert at keeping people at arm’s length with an airtight smile and unreadable eyes. Sociable as he could be, Riley Cooper was a tough man to befriend. Even tougher to seduce, as it turned out.

It was exactly the kind of situation that usually made Misha bow out gracefully and go looking for an easier hookup. Instead, he’d broken his rules. Still didn’t know why, but looking back, he thought it’d been inevitable. He’d been a goner the second he’d met Riley’s eyes for the first time. Misha had left the bar in the early morning hours with blue balls and his belly aching with a weird, kindled hunger that wasn’t slaked by anything but Riley’s company. It had driven him to come back, to spend time with this strange someone who was neither part of Misha’s violent world nor an anonymous ass to fuck.

For the first time ever, he’d made an effort, had ditched common sense and followed his baser instincts. He’d given up pieces of himself so Riley would reciprocate and they’d become tangled up in the process, all those tiny barbs and burrs of their lives catching and holding until Misha forgot why it was such a bad idea to let it happen. By the time he had finally gotten in Riley’s pants, everything that remained of Misha’s ability to care had already latched on to Riley like crazy. The sex had become a bonus, no longer the prize.

The sad truth was he was neither willing nor able to give up. Not unless he was dead sure Riley didn’t want him back… frankly, probably not even then. It was a matter of pride and passion and the visceral knowledge that he’d never meet another Riley. Most people spent their entire life

looking for that kind of certainty without ever coming close. Misha wasn’t about to let it slip away without one hell of a fight.