Seb nodded, relieved that Declan seemed to want to go straight to business. “You’ve got the south wing,” he said as he started to walk Declan over. “You have your own bathroom and living quarters, and the technology is already hooked into the security apparatus up front.” He paused at the double door that opened to Declan’s wing. “You have some bags with you?”
Declan nodded his head toward the front. “In the truck, but not much. My team is sending along equipment that should arrive the next few days.”
“Good. Well…” Seb flexed his fingers, feeling anxious and uncertain. “The main kitchen is in the middle of the house. You’re welcome to use it, too, including all the groceries that get delivered. I’m almost always in the lab. Did they tell you about that?”
“You’re a scientist.” Declan’s voice was gravelly, like the way a motorcycle sounded.
“Right,” Seb answered carefully. “Let me show you.” He started walking back across the house. Even though it was his home, he suddenly felt self-conscious and out of place, like Declan was going to cast judgment on everything—the weird artwork he had framed, the books he left scattered around, his unkempt hair…
Not that he cared what the security thought, really. His focus was on his experiments, not impressing some stranger with intense eyes.
“This is where I work,” Seb said, leading them into the lab. “If you ever need me, just knock.”
Declan nodded. He’d taken his jacket off, and Seb was unsurprised to discover that dark tattoos of flowers and birds snaked up his arms, curling around the ropes of his muscles. “I won’t need to bother you,” he said flatly as his eyes drifted across the room. “I’ll do perimeter checks every couple of hours to keep an eye on a short radius around the house, but outside of that, just think of me as your secret weapon, hidden away in case anything gets bad.”
Seb chuckled awkwardly. “I highly doubt that will happen.”
“Me, either,” Declan said, turning his eyes from the lab equipment. “Hard to imagine a local gang would care about all this.”
Seb bristled. “That’s not entirely true. There are lots of valuable things here, both the electronics themselves and the data I’ve gathered and processed—”
“Not the point,” Declan interrupted. “The threat against you comes from some local group who are trying to make a name for themselves. They call themselves the Blue Devils, which makes them sound like a bunch of jokers to me.” He licked his teeth, studying the room once more. “Amateurs like them? They wouldn’t know what to do with this mess of stuff, and they wouldn’t have a damn clue how to kidnap a guy like you, either.”
Seb grumbled, even though he had used to the same logic to argue against Declan being hired in the first place. For some reason, he felt an urge to convince the bodyguard that his work mattered, to tell him about the important steps Seb had made in recent months, even though he knew none of that would be relevant to the older man. If Declan hadn’t looked so grumpy, Seb probably would have slipped into a lecture about alternative energy sources right there, explaining in detail why his unique work had proven him such a valuable scientific mind.
Instead, he bit his tongue. “The household staff will be in tomorrow,” he said, stepping slightly back. “They’ll be able to show you around, answer your questions, that kind of thing.”
Declan nodded, then pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket. “I’ll go check the place out,” he said. “Get settled in.”
“Right,” Seb answered, a strange mixture of relief and disappointment washing over him. “Welcome, I guess.”
“Sure,” Declan answered, then walked away.
Seb let out a breath he felt like he had been holding since Declan pulled his truck up to the house, then leaned back against the wall. He felt shaken, like the earth had just shifted under his feet.
“Pull it together,” he muttered to himself as he returned to his desk. Sure, a lot of people would think Declan was hot. He had that bad-boy vibe, with a weathered glare, but he was handsome, too. He smelled like leather and gasoline, and his face was chiseled into sharp lines. But like Seb told Alexandria, he wasn’t about to let himself get distracted pining after some man, especially someone who was probably straight anyway.
“Back to the research,” he grumbled, eager for the ridiculous threat to pass and his solitude to return.
