Page 11 of Just a Bit Guarded

Will heaved a sigh but nodded, giving in once again. It was becoming a pattern. A bad one.

But the food was surprisingly good.

In the past half a year in this country, Will had struggled to find local food that he actually liked and ended up resorting to fast food and pizza. When he’d told Gadiel that, he’dseemed to take it as a personal challenge and ordered for both of them, completely ignoring Will’s protests. Spoiled little thing.

“You like it, admit it,” Gadiel said, with his chin propped on his hand, blue eyes fixed on Will intently.

“Stop watching me eat,” Will said, dabbing his mouth with a napkin. “Don’t you have any manners?”

Gadiel shook his head, all wide-eyed innocence.

“So,” Will said pushing his plate away and studying the kid. “You promised to tell me more once you secured my loyalty.”

Gadiel cleared his throat. “Right. The thing is, there’s this guy I like. Like, really, really like.” He shot Will a quick look, as if evaluating his reaction. “His name is Scott. It’s kind of new, but I think I might be in love. He’s perfect. The man of my dreams.”

Will barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. If Gadiel started spouting foolishness about The One too, he was walking out. He’d had enough of that nonsense.

“Does your brother know about him?” Will said, frowning a little when the thought occurred to him. Sheikh Zain had run a background check on him; he knew he had a gay cousin. Why would he hire Scott’s cousin to guard Gadiel from Scott?

Gadiel shook his head. “He saw him only for a moment outside my building and it was pretty dark. I don’t think Zain got a good look at his face. I never introduced them.”

Ah. That explained it.

“So you’re bribing me to let you hook up with him,” Will said, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest. Privately, he was far more amused than he let show on his face. Scott had needled him into accepting this job so he could see Gadiel, Gadiel’s brother was paying Will a small fortune to keep men like Scott away from Gadiel, and now Gadiel wanted topay him even more to let him see Scott. It was beyond ridiculous at this point.

“Hey, I resent that you’re reducing my feelings to a hookup,” Gadiel said, pouting.

Will huffed.

“Oh,” Gadiel said, gasping. “It was almost a laugh!”

“Very funny.”

Gadiel reached over the table and brushed his thumb against the corner of Will’s mouth. “Is that a hint of a smile I see?” he cooed exaggeratedly, grinning. “Can my perfect, emotionless bodyguard actually crack a real smile?”

This time Will did roll his eyes.“I hardly claim to be perfect,” he said. “And no wonder your brother hired me to babysit you if you feel men up in public.”

Gadiel’s wide smile disappeared as if it’d never existed. He opened his mouth and closed it, looking at his own hand with something like bewilderment before a faint blush appeared on his high cheekbones. He snatched his hand away. “I wasn’t feeling you up!” he hissed, glancing around before glaring at him. “I was making fun of you for your emotionless behavior! You’re like a—like Spock! You never smile!”

“I’m surprised kids your age even know who Spock is.”

The outraged look on Gadiel’s face almost made him laugh, but Will kept a blank face just to ruffle his feathers further.

“Don’t call me kid,” Gadiel said. “You’re so condescending! You aren’t that much older than me!”

“That’s simply not true unless nine years is nothing to you.”

Gadiel pouted. “Fine. You aren’t much older than the man I’m in love with. He’s around your age and he definitely doesn’t consider me akid.”

“He should,” Will said grimly. Having gotten to know Gadiel, the idea of his cousin having fun with him and then moving on to another so-called The One made him... a little uneasy. Gadielwasyoung. And fragile. There was a softness to him, a vulnerability that lurked behind his pretty eyes. He should stay very far from men like Scott. Will loved Scott like a brother, but he wasn’t blind to his faults.

Scott was a good guy at heart, but he was also careless. He’d had countless relationships in the past and he’d gotten over them quickly. He didn’t have a responsible bone in his body. He wouldn’t know what to do with Gadiel once his infatuation passed. On the surface they might seem alike—both rich, spoiled, good-looking, and gay—but they were completely wrong for each other. Will wasn’t sure why he was so certain of it, but he could tell that Gadiel was looking for something steady; Scott wasn’t. Frankly, Will had always thought that Scott needed a firm man who would take him in hand and make him less frivolous. Gadiel wasn’t that man.

But it was none of his business, was it? He was here to help them get together, not to make them see how wrong they were for each other.

“Oh, please,” Gadiel said, rolling his eyes with a smile. “I don’t get this strange obsession with age difference. If a couple has more than five years of age difference, people in the West start side-eyeing them and accuse the older person of grooming and being gross. I think it’s a bit ridiculous when they’re both consenting adults. As long as the partner isn’t old enough to be my father and didn’t actually groom me as a child, there’snothing wrong with some age difference. Let people be. A relationship can be toxic even when people are the same age.”

“That’s true,” Will conceded, looking at him curiously. From the way Gadiel talked about the West, it was obvious he considered it something foreign.“Do you think of yourself as Arab?” Had he met Gadiel in the US, he wouldn’t have been able to identify him as an Arab. His features were almost Caucasian, only something about the shape of his blue eyes suggesting a Middle Eastern heritage.

---