Chapter 2
“One day you’re going to have to quit or fuck him,” said Ben dismissively.
Dominic huffed a laugh as he lifted himself over the bar.
He didn’t look down at the phone on the garage floor, even though that was his instinct.
He’d smacked his chin too many times during his phone calls with his old army buddy Ben, who worked out around the same time as him on alternate days of the week.
“Right,” Ben continued dryly, sounding so out of breath he had to be doing cardio. “I forgot. You’re not gonna do either. You just want to bitch at me while your balls turn blue.”
“Excuse the fuck out of me for answering honestly when my friend asks me how I’m doing,” Dominic said.
“I don’t see the point in complaining if you’re not going to do something about it,” Ben replied. “You have two options. Well, three if you want to sue his ass for harassment and get a good payday out of it.”
“I’m not suing him,” Dominic said. “He’s harmless. If I ever told him to stop, he’d stop.”
“Right,” Ben said. “Because he’s not scary like they say. He’s a— What did you call him? A puppy who wants his belly rubbed, but everyone gets intimidated by his shitty growling?”
“I was drunk when I said that,” Dominic panted. “You can’t hold me to it.”
His arms burned. He hauled himself up over the bar again, slow and steady.
He hated slow and steady, but it got the best results.
He’d watched Austin work out more than once, and his speed made Dominic wince.
He worked out like he was dying to get it over with.
Everybody felt like that at some point, but speed brought mistakes.
Speed brought injuries. Austin’s careless form was going to get him injured.
It made Dominic pissed off at his trainer, who should have drilled this shit into Austin’s head better.
“Jesus Christ,” came Ben’s breathless voice down the phone. “You’re thinking about the kid right now, aren’t you?”
“I’m feeling the workout,” Dominic lied. He dropped to the ground with a grunt, stretching his arms over his head and wondering if Austin had a stretching routine. He had to, right? Or did his trainer fuck up on that front, too?
“And he’s not a kid,” Dominic continued, stooping to grab his water bottle from its spot next to his phone on the garage floor. “He’s a few years younger than me.”
“Yeah,” Ben said. “And you’re a kid.”
Dominic snorted. “You talk like you’re one foot in the grave, Ben. You’re barely forty-five.”
“And feeling every bit of it,” Ben muttered.
Dominic cocked his head, listening. Did Ben’s breathing sound more labored than usual? Were his army injuries acting up? He didn’t take care of them as much as he should.
“Quit that,” Ben said, like he could see him through the phone. “I’m fine.”
“Wasn’t doing anything,” Dominic insisted.
He headed over to his bench and lifted a dumbbell out of the rack, starting in on his bicep curls.
He immediately lost track, but that didn’t matter.
Today was a full effort day. He kept going until he hit failure.
If he didn’t walk out of his home gym feeling like his limbs were noodles, he was doing something wrong.
Luckily, that faded fast. He was due at work soon.
He wasn’t just the evening shift bodyguard; he also accompanied Austin to events.
This one was coincidentally in the evening, but he followed Austin to events no matter the day.
According to Austin, this was because Dominic was his most trusted bodyguard: a fact that filled Dominic with pride and fierce protectiveness.
Some of Austin’s team didn’t take his security seriously enough.
Or worse, they did take it seriously; they just weren’t good at it.
Leaving gaps in the timeline where he wasn’t covered or letting him go off to the bathroom alone.
Austin was good at talking people into things. That included convincing security guards he was okay to go wherever he wanted, no security needed. Dominic was the only one on his team who had never given in to that.
“I need to head out soon,” Dominic said as he switched his dumbbell to the other arm. “How are things at the gym? You out and about, or are you on a treadmill again?”
Ben groaned. “Treadmill. Gotta stick around in case these idiots come to me with problems.”
“Wow. Almost sounds like you run the place.”
“Running the place doesn’t give these jackasses an excuse to come up to me every five minutes,” Ben replied huffily. “Who doesn’t know how to change a water cooler?”
“You, Ben. Two years ago, when you took over the place.”
“Yeah, well, the army doesn’t teach you about water coolers,” Ben replied.
Dominic tilted his head in acknowledgement.
The army had taught them a lot, but not much they could use when they were civilians again.
Hence why Ben took over a gym, and Dominic went into security.
He’d even bulked up for it. Not that size mattered a huge amount for being a bodyguard.
It was much more important to be able to assess a situation with one glance.
To know where his charge was at all times.
Having fast reflexes, thinking on your feet, knowing how to diffuse a tense situation—so many things transferred over from his army days.
But one aspect more than the others, the thing his commanding officers pointed out in every evaluation: Dominic’s protective instinct was strong. Being a bodyguard was a natural fit.
“Been meaning to tell you,” Ben said, his breathing ragged. “I finally looked him up. You sure he’s all bark and no bite? Even in the interviews, he seems pretty intimidating. And I’m good at seeing past this shit.”
“He’s an incredible actor,” Dominic said. “You’d see it if you spent time with him. Trust me, he’s not scary at all. He just wants—”
Dominic forced himself to stop. He’d already said too much with that drunken “puppy” comment.
Never mind that it was true. Austin was a good actor, but Dominic had clocked him within a day of working for him.
Austin wanted someone to tell him what to do.
It was the only time he finally relaxed.
It was why he wanted certain types of directors, why he got along so well with his agent, why he liked Dominic so much.
They told Austin what to do. Sometimes they even praised him for it.
Dominic slotted his dumbbell back into place and reached for his water bottle, taking a deep pull to distract him from the memory of last night.
Good boy. It had just slipped out. He’d been wanting to say it all year, and Austin had submitted for him so beautifully. It felt so natural to say it. And Austin had reacted wonderfully, his footsteps stuttering and his voice catching as he called after Dominic.
Too bad Dominic couldn’t do anything about it.
It wasn’t the boss thing holding him back; it was the idea of getting too close.
Dominic had a rule about keeping his distance.
But they were stuck together most evenings.
It was Dominic’s job to be attuned to him.
If Dominic gave in to Austin, there was no other way this would go.
Dominic would fall. And Dominic never let himself get that far.
A fuzzy voice sounded in the background of Ben’s call.
Ben sighed. “I need to go. Some bastard peed in the men’s lockers. Do me a favor?”
“Sure,” Dominic said, sinking into a stretch. “What is it?”
“Shit or get off the pot,” Ben said. “I’m sick of hearing you moon over him.”
With that, the line went dead.
Dominic huffed a laugh. Then he straightened and headed for the shower. He had forty minutes before he had to be in town, and he was never late.
Austin’s limo pulled up to the charity gala to a chorus of excited screams. There was a small crowd behind the barrier, which wasn’t as reinforced as Dominic liked. The physical barrier was sturdy enough, but there wasn’t enough security to back it up.
But that wasn’t Dominic’s problem right now. His number one priority was Austin.
Dominic ignored the shrieking crowd and walked around the limo, pulling the back door open to reveal Austin beaming up at him.
Dominic had to school his features so he didn’t smile back. He’d never been much of a smiler, especially on the job, no matter how much Austin tried to change that.
“It’s my favorite bodyguard,” Austin said, climbing out onto the sidewalk. “You weren’t in the car. I was worried you’d called out sick.”
“I meet you at the events sometimes.”
“Only when it’s not in the evening,” Austin replied. “I’m supposed to get you all evening. That includes the car ride. What if I got gunned down?”
“Then your other security guys would have handled it,” Dominic said simply.
He could see the other bodyguard climb out of the car, but he didn’t look at him.
He was too busy scanning his surroundings, looking for possible threats.
They always had deranged fans to worry about. Austin attracted them like flies.
“Come on,” Dominic said. “Let’s get you inside.”
Austin hummed, leaning back against the closed car door and folding his arms. He was wearing another well-fitting suit, the sleeves rolled up to expose the tattoos that made so many people buy into his tough guy schtick: knives, flames, and skulls dotted around his toned arms, emphasizing the muscle.
“I don’t know,” Austin said lazily. “Kind of loving the breeze out here. It’s really getting warm, huh?”
He stretched, his untucked button-down riding up to expose that flat stomach that Dominic wanted to bite.
Austin caught him looking and grinned. He was being a shit. They both knew it. He was trying to get Dominic to touch him, a fact that Dominic had caught onto pretty damn quick. It was hard not to notice how Austin’s eyes lit up every time he grabbed him to guide him somewhere.