“Your father sure did find new guards quickly,” Declan said. He was standing at the tall laboratory windows, his hands folded behind his back as he stared over the trees, and skepticism dripped from his voice.
“Like I said,” Seb answered, “he waves his hand and things happen. I’m just glad no one died.” Another shiver hit his skin at the thought of it. Both of the on-duty guards had been injured, which was bad enough. Had something worse happened, Seb would have fallen apart.
Declan stalked slowly along the windows, peering over the property. “Sure. I’d still like to run some background checks on these new hires, though. Something here isn’t adding up, and I’m not sure your father’s assistants are paying enough attention to keep things secure.”
Seb nodded, but when he caught the scowl on his face, he cleared his throat. “The police are still here,” he said. “I’m sure you can take a break from watching.” He agreed that something wasn’t adding up, but the need to touch Declan was trumping any other concerns he might have at the moment.
Declan shook his head, then looked back just long enough for a glance. “Better safe than sorry,” he grumbled.
Seb returned to the task in front of him. The people had grabbed some equipment on their way and ripped apart a couple of cabinets. The mess made Seb’s stomach churn, and trying to recall what all was stolen was giving him a headache.
He rubbed his temples, then scribbled down a few hard drives, an unnecessarily powerful microscope, and some electrochemical cells. That finished off the list, almost entirely things his father would replace as soon as he received it.
Seb looked up again, then noticed that the arm on Declan’s blue flannel looked wet. He took in a soft breath when he realized that it was blood. “Declan,” Seb said, rising to his feet. “Your injury.”
Declan glanced down. “Damn it,” he said, like it was a minor inconvenience. “I’ll go clean it up.”
He turned to walk to the door, but Seb stepped forward. “I have things here,” he said quickly. “In the lab. Stay.”
Declan nodded, and Seb gathered together some bandages, antibacterial soap, and a small white cloth. He approached Declan, the nodded at his flannel. “Off with it, then,” he said.
Declan smiled and seemed to finally relax, at least a little. He ran his tongue across the bottom of his lip, then tugged up his shirt. His muscles were thick, tense from the day.
With everything that had happened, the flame of desire inside Seb hadn’t grown any weaker.
But no matter how much he wanted to throw himself at Declan and bury his face against his bodyguard’s chest, he didn’t know how to reach through the tension that was wrenching Declan’s shoulders and casting shadows in his eyes.
“Is that a paper towel?” Seb asked, pointing at what appeared to be the previous dressing.
“It’s what was handy,” Declan answered.
Seb smiled, glad for the occasion to actually do something helpful. “Here,” he said, taking Declan’s arm as he sat at one of the stools. “Let me.”
Security lights bounced off the trees outside as Seb went steadily to work cleaning Declan up. He moved slowly, tenderly. As with any job that he cared about, it felt very important to Seb that he do this right and that every little detail was handled with care.
Declan had been injured for him, after all.
“Does it hurt?” he asked, breaking the silence.
Declan shook his head, his eyes out over the trees. “If it had been a different kind of bullet?” He whistled. “I’m lucky. This will heal up in no time.”
Seb nodded, then wrapped a thin layer of gauze around the wounded arm. “Thank you, again.”
Declan chuckled. “I told you, kid. You don’t have to thank me.”
Seb smiled. “And I told you. I’m going to anyway.” He finished wrapping the wound, then laid his hand on Declan’s arm. His skin was hot to touch, and Seb felt another pang of desire, needing so much more from him than he could ever ask.
“I should say thanks, too,” Declan said, then patted his bandage. “For this.”
“Anytime,” Seb answered. “Although I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Declan nodded. He stood and pulled on his shirt, then squeezed Seb’s shoulder as he walked back to the window. Seb tried to turn back to the list, telling himself it was silly to feel rejected by Declan splitting his attention, that it only made sense for his bodyguard to focus on security at a time like that.
There were much more urgent things going on, after all, than whatever tricks his heart was playing.
“If you’re going to keep watching out the window, can I at least get you something? A drink? A snack?” he asked.
Declan folded his hands behind his back again. “No. And I’m sorry if I seem distracted. It’s just…”
