Page 22 of Just a Bit Guarded

Sometimes it did get boring.

Sometimes he wanted to shake things up. But unlike Scott, he didn’t have the luxury of doing whatever he wanted. He’d always had to do the smart thing. The safe thing. The boring thing.

It was fine. Not all people had exciting lives full of drama and romance.

Will was… content with what he had.

***

When he returned to Gadiel’s penthouse, it was nearly midnight. The apartment was dark and quiet.

Will walked over to Gadiel’s bedroom and cracked the door open, to check that his charge was safely in bed.

He was.

The kid was lying on his side, curled up around...

Frowning, Will stepped into the room to get a better look.

He smiled involuntarily when he did.

Gadiel was snuggled up with a big plush cat. It was ridiculously fat and ugly, and even in the dim light coming from the hallway it was obvious that it had seen better days.

Looking at the way Gadiel was clutching the old toy, Will was suddenly hit with an unsettling thought: had he ever been hugged by anyone?From everything Gadiel had told him, his mother had been distant and his father wasn’t any better. Although Zain seemed to care for his younger brother, he didn’t seem like the hugging type, and it was unlikely that the other brother was any different.

It was none of his business. It didn’t matter.

But the thought kept coming back even after Will left the room.And he couldn’t help but wonder why Gadiel had felt like sleeping with that old toy. What had upset him so? He’d seemed all right when Will had dropped him off. Unless it was about the upcoming family dinner. It had clearly made Gadiel anxious. He seemed—

Enough, Will snapped at himself, grimacing. What the hell was wrong with him? He spent too much time worrying and thinking about that kid. Gadiel was just his client. Nothing more.

Professional distance. He seemed to have forgotten what it was.

Chapter 12

Will wasn’t a stranger to strained family dinners. During the course of his career, he’d seen his share of them.

But this one had to be one of the most uncomfortable, tense family evenings he’d ever seen.

Like all the other bodyguards, Will was stationed some distance away from the table the Al Rahim family was seated at. Since they were dining on the patio of Gadiel’s father’s mansion, the bodyguards hadn’t been dismissed. One could be assassinated even in the privacy of one’s garden, after all.

Will didn’t understand the conversations in Arabic, but he didn’t need to. It was obvious that there was nothing pleasant being said.

Sheikh Mustafa ibn Mohammed Al Rahim wasn’t a likable man. His dark, heavy gaze flicked between his three sons, not a shade of affection on his face as he addressed them. His tone was hard, ranging from dismissive to critical.

Gadiel seemed to become smaller every time his father as much as glanced at him. His face was pale and tense, his shoulders stiff. He held his body like someone who was bracing himself for a hit.

It rubbed Will the wrong way.

He tried not to look at him too often. It shouldn’t have been difficult. He’d perfected the art of standing by the wall andblending into the scenery a long time ago. It was a skill every semi-decent bodyguard possessed. He usually had no trouble detaching himself from the situation.

But not this time.

Every time Gadiel as much as fidgeted, Will’s gaze was drawn toward him, evaluating him for any sign of—

Of what?Distress? The boy was hardly in danger here. It wasn’t his fucking job to protect him from emotional hurts. Only physical ones.

But no matter what he told himself, Will couldn’t stop paying attention. Couldn’t stop looking. Couldn’t stop caring.

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