Declan
Of course,the same damn thing happened to Declan the next morning. Right when the sun came peeking through the blinds, he woke up and found Seb there in his arms.
Declan smacked his lips together and tried not to think about his morning breath. In the night, Seb must have made his way across the bed and right up in Declan’s arms, and Declan, fast asleep, had probably been more than happy to oblige.
Way, way more than happy, in fact. He tried to ease his hard dick away from Seb’s soft, warm body, holding his breath as he rolled his hips back.
Seb hummed, then grabbed Declan’s arm and pulled him closer.
Declan’s heart shot into his throat. It was one thing to sleep in the guy’s bed, and he wasn’t fooling himself into thinking either of their thoughts were totally innocent. But Seb was in a delicate state, and only an asshole would take advantage of someone like that. Declan had more than one good reason to play it safe with this one, enough that he tried to list them off while he lay there, tempted by every breath that crossed Seb’s lips.
But of course, Declan wasn’t always the best at listening to reason.
“Seb,” he grumbled quietly, his voice like tires on gravel. Seb was pulling Declan close, and Declan didn’t know how to get out without waking the younger man.
Suddenly, Seb released his grip while his muscles tightened against Declan’s body. He was clearly awake and clearly as surprised by their embrace as Declan had been.
“Morning, sunshine,” Declan mumbled as he retrieved his arm.
Seb gasped in a soft breath, then rolled to the side, pulling the blanket with him. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he sputtered. “Did I…?”
Declan rubbed his hand over his face, trying to wake up. “We both did, looks like. No need to apologize.”
Lying there across from each other felt like a new level of intimacy to Declan. It wasn’t just that he was face to face with Seb while their eyes were still half-closed and their faces all puffy with sleep. That alone felt different than crawling into opposite sides of the bed at night with the lights dimmed, sure.
But Declan didn’t usually find himself lying around in the morning with other men in the first place. He had spent his life hooking up with guys he met in bars. Sometimes, he would carry on with the same guy for months at a time, and he’d tried to keep a boyfriend when he was younger. Pretty soon, though, he had accepted that he was happier with a quick fuck than he was with a steady boyfriend. Things were just less complicated that way.
And the line of work Declan was in—there wasn’t time for distractions. When you had someone else counting on you, it was much harder to take the risks you needed to take.
Not that Declan had ever felt about Big Paolo the way he felt about Seb. It was one thing to throw a punch for a paycheck, but when it came to the guy blinking and rubbing his eyes in bed that morning, Declan felt like there was a fuck of a lot more on the line.
Seb relaxed a little, then curled forward. “I think that’s the first good night of sleep I’ve gotten this week,” he said. He blinked a few more times, and the way his long eyelashes fluttered tugged at Declan.
“Must be the guard dog,” he answered.
Seb smiled, then leaned up on his elbow to peer over the bed. Declan did the same and caught a glimpse of Ellie, lying on her side and licking the air through a dream.
“Must be,” Seb laughed.
Declan kept thinking about how warm Seb’s body had felt, which wasn’t doing a damn thing to calm his dick down. Instead, he battled down his urges and convinced himself it was possible to just relax in that bed. Like this was a totally normal thing for a bodyguard to do with his client.
“I guess it’s just nice to feel safe,” Seb said.
The way he said it, letting the words drop out of his mouth all soft and sweet, Declan had no trouble reading between the lines. He kicked himself to stop acting like such a blockhead, making jokes about the dog, when Seb was right there, telling him what he needed.
Declan raised his arm. “Want to crawl back in? I’ve got a little time before I should do my first perimeter check.”
Seb’s mouth parted, his eyes wide with surprise. “Sure,” he said. “That sounds nice.”
Declan held in a groan as Seb pulled himself back across the bed, then gently slid into Declan’s embrace. Just like before, the soft curves of his body fit together with Declan like puzzle pieces. Seb traced his delicate fingers along Declan’s wrist, and Declan tightened his arm around Seb’s chest.
They stayed like that, not saying a thing, their breath aligning in its rhythm. It gave Declan a surge of pride that as long as Seb were there with him, he knew that nothing truly bad would happen, all the fights that came before worthwhile if they gave Declan the skills he needed to keep Seb safe.
Seb pulled Declan closer, then arched his back, his ass brushing Declan’s crotch. Declan caught his breath, but there was no hiding his thick erection and the way his body reacted to Seb’s touch.
Seb laid his hand over Declan’s hand, and they laced their fingers together.
“Is this okay?” Seb asked softly.
