Page 48 of My Bodyguard’s The Boss

“The stabbing doesn’t factor into it,” Dominic assured him.

“Uh-huh,” Ben grunted, his eyes fixed on the beach stretching out ahead of them. They both found it easier to have these conversations when they weren’t looking at each other. “Any reason why you didn’t tell me you were fucking him until now? You only do that with shit you don’t want to talk about.”

“Yeah, and I didn’t want to talk about it until I was…” Dominic sighed. He’d gone over this in his head on the way over and still wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. “I don’t know. Until I’d decided something. Everything was up in the air before.”

“And now?”

Dominic wordlessly picked up the pace. Ben groaned but followed suit, glaring at him resentfully as he fell back into place beside him.

“Let me know if your knee is giving you trouble,” Dominic said.

“Fuck off,” Ben replied. “So, you decided on quitting? He’s not giving you a good reference after all this, I don’t care how good you fucked him.”

“I said I’m quitting. Didn’t say I was leaving him.”

Ben snorted. “Oh, so there’s something to leave? You said this was a fling.”

“It is. But he wants it to be more.”

“You said you weren’t getting close.”

“I did.”

“But you got close.”

“Obviously.”

Ben cackled. “Told you. You sleep with someone more than once or, god forbid, sleep over, and you get all moony and stupid. That’s why you didn’t tell me about it. You knew I’d call you on your bullshit.”

Dominic picked up the pace again. Ben cursed, legs pumping to keep up.

“Maybe,” Dominic allowed. “Maybe I want more, and I’m sick of telling myself to get over it. But I’m not dating my boss. Which means⁠—”

“Quitting time,” Ben panted. “Sure. I don’t see why you can’t just sneak around⁠—”

“I just said I want something more serious.”

“You can be serious and sneaky,” Ben said. “But sure. You don’t wanna be a side piece. You want to be front and center. You big fucking drama queen.”

Dominic thought about turning their jog into a full sprint. But Ben would probably trip him up again, even if Dominic was watching out for his leg. Speaking of Ben’s leg, he didn’t actually want to put extra stress on Ben’s injury, even if he was talking back in ways that Domnic didn’t hear from anyone but Austin.

He slowed down instead. Ben sighed in relief.

“That’s not the only thing I wanted to talk to you about,” Dominic said once he had made sure that they were jogging too far away from any stray passerby on a morning beach walk.

“Don’t tell me,” Ben said flatly. “You want me to be a bridesmaid.”

Dominic jabbed his elbow into Ben’s side. Ben fended him off, slapping him so close to his chest bandage that Dominic let out a shocked laugh.

“We’re not there yet,” Dominic assured him. “I just wanted to know about your old flame who makes those custom collars.”

Ben’s greying eyebrows rose. “Rick? Why?”

Dominic shrugged. He’d heard about Rick’s work when Ben dragged him to a BDSM club for the first and only time, when they were both adjusting to life outside the army. Rick, a middle-aged switch, ran a small business out of his garage where he sold custom-made BDSM equipment. He showed Dominic his range on his phone: supple leather and O-rings in all shapes and sizes, plus a range of other gear that mostly didn’t spark Dominic’s interest. Dominic had politely excused himself, but Ben ended up sleeping with Rick for a week or two before their fling faded into a friendship where they got coffee every few months.

“I was thinking about picking one out for Austin,” Dominic explained.

“Jesus Christ,” Ben muttered. “How long have you been fucking him? A week?”