Page 41 of Just a Bit Guarded

“I am denying it. Stealing implies intent. I didn’t expect that he’d...”

“Get a giant crush on you?”

An image of Gadiel on his knees flashed to the forefront of Will’s mind. Pretty blue eyes looking up at him in a way that could only be called besotted. Soft, full lips stretched around his cock—

“Will? You there?”

“I mean,” Will said, clearing his throat a little. Christ, he needed to put what had happened out of his mind. “Surely you can’t blame me for something I can’t control.”

Scott sighed. “I guess you can’t help looking the way you look. I doubt he started crushing on you because of your personality. You’re so damn boring compared to me.”

Will shook his head with a smile. “Sure, buddy.” Whatever made Scott feel better.

“Don’t patronize me! I kind of hate you right now.”

Sighing, Will stretched out on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “You know I’m straight, Scott. I never expected this to happen.” That was putting it mildly.

“But it happened.”

“I’m sorry,” Will said, though truth be told, he didn’t feel particularly sorry—at least not whereScottwas concerned. He felt no guilt over getting in the way of Gadiel and Scott’s romance. Gadiel didn’t belong to Scott—had never belonged to him. Willwassorry that Scott’s hopes hadn’t materialized, but that was it. Scott and Gadiel were poorly suited for each other; Will had always thought that—that opinion had nothing to do with what had happened tonight. Scott and Gadiel were better off without each other.

“Yeah, whatever,” Scott grumbled. “But I’m still pissed at you. Now I’ll never see those pretty lips wrapped around my cock.”

“Don’t be gross,” Will said tersely, determinedly not thinking about how Gadiel had looked with his lips wrapped aroundhiscock. He’d been trying to get the image out of his mind for the past half an hour. Fuck, part of him still couldn’t believe it had happened. He couldn’t believe he’d allowed Gadiel to goad him into it. There were other ways he could have handled the situation. Much better, and certainly more professional ways.

In the years he’d been a bodyguard, Will had never fucked a client, and not for lack of opportunity. He’d bodyguarded some stunningly beautiful professional models—femalemodels—and he’d never even considered crossing the line, no matter how attractive and seductive they had been. He didn’t do the thinking with his cock.

But that fuckingboydid something to his higher brain functions, making him act in a way that was completely out of character for him: recklessly and irresponsibly. What he had done tonight was beyond irresponsible. And he couldn’t even blame Gadiel for that. He could blame only himself. He was theadult here. Gadiel might be legally an adult, but he was still a teenager. A vulnerable, lonely teenager under his protection.

Will grimaced, shame twisting his stomach into a tight knot.

All right. What was done was done. One mistake could still be written off. As long as he didn’t repeat it and kept his relationship with Gadiel strictly professional from now on, it would be fine. Well, not fine. But something.

“So should I buy tickets for the next flight home?”

“What?”

“I mean, we’re going home, right?”When Will didn’t immediately reply, Scott said slowly, “You do remember that you took that job only as a favor to me, right? You wanted to go back to the US. We can return home now. There’s nothing holding me here, thanks to you.”

The subject shouldn’t have surprised him. Gadiel had brought it up, too.

“I can’t leave like that.”

“Why the hell not?”

Will searched for an answer that was more rational thanI promised him.

It didn’t matter that he’d told Gadiel that he would stay for a while. That had been before the blowjob. It had changed everything. The truth was, the longer he stayed, the murkier his relationship with Gadiel might become. It would be better to leave before the kid could develop... feelings that weren’t as easy to dismiss as a teenage crush. Will didn’t want to hurt him. The boy had been hurt enough already.

And the truth was, after what happened this evening, Will didn’t trust himself. He’d already demonstrated that Gadiel had a worrying effect on his ability to think and act rationally. Leaving was safer. Smarter.

And yet, Will heard himself say, “I can’t leave like that.”

For fuck’s sake. What was wrong with him?

“Why not?” Scott sounded baffled.

“It might be a foreign concept for you, but people who work for a living care about their professional reputations.” He felt like the worst sort of hypocrite as soon as he’d said that. People who cared about their professional reputations didn’t fuck their clients.

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