Page 54 of Protecting Mr. Fine

He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I remember asking one of the other guards about the law once. We’d just coordinated a visit with the head of the Norwegian royal family’s security, and Kasper had politely asked after the woman’s wife like it was no big deal. So I said, since Kasper seemed fairly accepting of gay marriage, did he think the Ventdestinian laws about homosexuality should be changed? You should have seen the look on his face. ‘The winds of fate don’t look kindly on change.’”

I shook my head. As confining as my career sometimes was, I realized how privileged I was that I’d never had to hide my sexuality. But mostly, I was still stuck back on… “Twelve years?”

Bear chuckled. “Yes. I’ve hooked up with men in the past. But I haven’t been with one in a very, very long time.”

I stared at Bear as the image I had of him was shaken like a snow globe in the hands of a toddler on a sugar high… which was maybe why I sounded like one when I voiced my reaction.

“B-but…why? You’ve been back in the States for over a year! You could have been sleeping with tons of guys!”

He glanced away before shrugging. “I didn’t want to jump into anything.”

“Okay, but like… youcould. You could jump into…me, for example.” My face burned with pre-embarrassment, but I wasn’t about to lose my shot at getting Ryan Galloway’s hands on me again.

I’d developed a crush on my bodyguard pretty much the moment we’d met. When the tall, muscled man with dark brown hair, darker brown eyes, shadowy beard, and the sexiest broody expression I’d ever seen walked into the reception area of the recording studio, I’d nearly swallowed my tongue.

And apparently, my deepest fantasy—that Bear was into men and found me physically attractive—was also coming true. My heart felt like it was attached to electrodes set to shock over and over with an unpredictable irregularity.

Bear looked hesitant. “I want to. I want a repeat more than anything…”

“But?” I cocked my head.

He blew out a breath. “ButI worry that it’s not a good idea to cross a professional line?—”

“No one would need to know. And you could… finally get…” I didn’t know how to say what I was thinking because my thoughts were like multicolored bumper cars being driven by hamsters on speed.

Very horny hamsters.

“Laid?” he finished, eyes bright with teasing.

I closed my eyes and nodded maniacally. “So much laid. The laid-iest.”

The soft huff of his laugh made me grin.

“Zane…”

“Unless… unless you don’t want to. Sleep with me, I mean,” I added after seeing his hesitation.

He tilted his chin down and looked up at me through his lashes like I was being obtuse. “I told you already, there’s no gay man on Earth who doesn’t want to sleep with you.” Bear reached out to brush a strand of hair off my forehead with the back of a finger.

I wanted to close my eyes and revel in the moment like a cat in the sun, but I didn’t. I needed to focus. I’d never been in Debate Club in high school, but I imagined this was the kind of high-stakes pressure those kids had felt during competition. What could I say to convince him I was right?

I swallowed. “Okay. So you’re in… ah… need. After a very long dry spell. And I’m in… well, you could say I am also in need after a very long dry spell. Thirty-three years, as a matter of fact. So, I propose we take advantage of this isolated, secure location and the downtime we have here to, uh, douse the spell.”

“Douse the spell.”

“Wet it. Make it not dry anymore. Quench it? Whatever.”

Bear’s eyes continued to dance. “I know what douse means. I’ve never heard it used like that.”

I winced. “There’s a distinct blood supply shortage to my brain right now.”

He reached out again and ran his thumb across my cheek and down the side of my face. “You’re doing fine,” he murmured with a smile.

“Bear,” I breathed. “Please.”

He sighed. “Are you sure you don’t want to save yourself for someone special?”

You are special, I wanted to scream. But I knew better than to scare him off with the implication I would expect more of him than simple physical release.

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