His expression didn’t shift. “You need funding. I have money. I could write the check.”

My heart stalled, a dozen emotions slamming into me at once—shock, excitement, disbelief, suspicion. Because this wasn’t how things worked. I set my glass down, narrowing my eyes. “Just like that? No questions asked?”

“Oh, there are questions,” he murmured, tilting his head slightly. “Along with terms and conditions.”

And just like that, the heat between us shifted. Something darker. Something… unspoken. I swallowed hard. “Terms?”

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the bar. “You want the funding? You spend the rest of the weekend with me. No distractions. No outside world. Just us.”

My breath caught. He wasn’t talking about business meetings. He was talking about me and him. Physically. Sexually. Every possible way. I stared at him, heat pooling between my thighs, but my brain was racing. Because he was fucking insane. I mean, yes, it was the easiest way to get what I wanted but damn.

“That’s not exactly a traditional investment agreement,” I said carefully, taking another sip of my drink.

He smirked, slow and knowing. “No, it’s not.”

I exhaled, gripping the edge of the bar, my mind spinning. “You don’t even know me,” I pointed out.

“Not yet,” he said, his eyes gliding over me in a way that made my pulse skyrocket. “But by the end of the weekend, I will.”

I swallowed hard, narrowing my eyes. I could say no. I should say no. But I was drowning in debt from spending so much of my full-time paycheck as a receptionist, my business was on the verge of either thriving or dying, and this man—whoever he was—had the kind of wealth that could change my entire future. All I had to do was surrender to him.

Oh, hell no. Bitch, walk away, I told myself. Instead, I took a slow, deep breath and whispered, “What happens after the weekend?”

His gaze darkened, his smirk sharpening. “After the weekend, we go back to our lives.” A pause. Then, in a voice that was dangerously smooth, he added, “But for the next couple of days… you’ll be mine.”

Silence stretched between us, thick with something I couldn’t name. My heart was thumping in my chest, my drink forgotten, my pulse thrumming at the base of my throat. His offer sat between us like a loaded gun. No strings. A deal. A business transaction wrapped in something crazy, something seductive, something that made my mind race with possibilities I had no business considering.

He was offering me a world I’d never stepped into before. And if I said yes, I had no doubt he would take me under in every possible way. I forced myself to meet his gaze, steady, even though my breath was uneven. “And what if I don’t accept?”