Page 54 of My Bodyguard’s The Boss

Larry started mumbling something into the grass. It sounded like prayer. Austin wished that Dominic would shut him up, but from what Austin could see out of the corner of his eye, Dominic was too busy staring at him to do anything about Larry.

Gail licked her lips. She was wearing bright red lipstick, like always. Her Harley Quinn lipstick, she called it. Austin wondered how she felt about that recent movie where Harley broke up with Joker and went on to live her best life.

“Yeah?” Gail whispered. “What’s that?”

“You,” Austin said smoothly. “I’ve fought against it. Everyone says it’s a bad idea. But you know me. I’ve always loved bad ideas.”

Gail smiled. It was small and gone in a flash, but it was there. She finally tore her gaze away from Dominic, but the gun stayed pointed at Dominic’s chest.

“You’re not just saying that?” Gail asked. “You’re not just trying to protect him?”

“Why would I bother?” Austin grinned, his stomach curdling as he strode slowly toward her. “You’re the one I want. I’m tired of fighting it. I just wish that glass had struck home the other week. You know I love scars.”

Gail beamed. “We can make that happen.”

She reached out, touching his chest just above his shirt collar. Her hand was hot and sweaty. Austin hid a flinch, thinking of that nurse pushing stitches into Dominic’s skin, of smoothing a bandage over them in the days after.

Gail stepped closer. So close that the gun was within reach.

“Say he’s nothing,” she told him.

“He’s nothing,” Austin said automatically. Then, mostly because he was in character mode and ignoring all his preservation instincts, he reached up and stroked a thumb down Gail’s razor-sharp cheek.

“You’re what I want,” Austin said, letting his tone go soft and genuine in ways that few ever heard. “Nobody sees me like you do.”

It was true. Just not about Gail. How many times had Austin thought those very words about Dominic, who was kneeling on the lawn with a gun trained on him?

Austin squeezed Gail’s chin gently. “Give me the gun. Let me get rid of him for us.”

Larry whimpered. Dominic shushed him, and Austin let himself give him a distracted glance. Dominic was kneeling up on the grass, ready to charge. He was just waiting for Austin to give him a window of opportunity. He didn’t do anything obvious, like nod. He was too smart for that. He just watched Austin, his eyes dark and expectant.

Austin turned back to Gail, still smiling in a way that made him feel sick.

Gail beamed back at him, disbelieving and wondrous. A drop of blood ran down her chest tattoo and into her shirt. The gun lowered.

“For us,” Gail repeated.

Then she raised the gun back up and centered it on Dominic’s head.

Austin didn’t think. He just moved.

Another deafening shot rang out. Pain exploded through his lower stomach, so huge it blotted everything else out.

Gail stood frozen, her mouth open and her eyes welling. She looked like she was screaming, but Austin couldn’t hear it. His ears were ringing.

Brent, the world champion at appearing to emergencies thirty seconds late, barreled out of nowhere and tackled Gail to the ground. The gun went somewhere, but Austin didn’t see where. His world was shrinking, spots dancing at the corners of his vision.

He touched his shirt. It was soaked with blood, but at least the pain was fading. Even if that was probably because he was barreling toward unconsciousness at an alarming rate.

His knees hit the grass. But before his head could follow, a familiar pair of hands caught him.

Dominic knelt over him, his beautiful face twisted with shock. He placed his hands over Austin’s wound, pressing down so hard the pain from before flared up, agonizing and unbearable. Austin must have made a noise, because Dominic shushed him.

“—going to be okay,” came Dominic’s voice, seemingly from very far away. “Austin? Hey! Stay with me, baby.”

Austin wet his lips. They tasted like copper.

“Love you,” he mumbled. “Asshole.”