Seth reached out and stroked a hand through the hair on his chest. “I knew you’d look like this under your clothes. Give me a few minutes, and I can go again.”
“Well, this forty-eight-year-old may need more than a few minutes.” He gave Seth a wry grin. “But as hot as you are, I’m sure I’ll get it up again soon enough. Maybe you can return the favor this time?”
“Definitely.”
Turned out Liam was up for two more times before Seth finally stumbled out in the early morning hours. Exhaustion and sore muscles rode him as he walked the man to the door and clasped his face between two hands. “I had a great time.”
Seth stood on his toes and kissed him. “I did, too. You take care, Liam.”
He watched him walk down the hall, ignoring the small voice in his head telling him he should have at least gotten a last name.
Chapter Two
Seth sipped some champagne as his eyes skimmed over the gathering of happy, well-dressed people. The classy rooftop terrace offered an amazing view of downtown Cincinnati as the sun sank into green Kentucky hills. Geoffrey and Sven’s May wedding had been blessed with warm temperatures, blue skies, and a breeze. In short, a perfect evening.
He was still a little sluggish after a late but very enjoyable night out. He’d managed to catch a few hours of sleep before heading to the gym and then to Ward Security for some light paperwork. He still couldn’t believe he’d lucked into a free night to attend Sven’s wedding.
Getting the night off for the event had been done lottery style, which explained why billionaire Marc Foster was there without his Ward Security bodyguard boyfriend, Royce Karras. Even Rowe Ward was flying solo. His boyfriend, Noah Keegan, was filling in for another bodyguard who was there.
But even if all of Ward Security couldn’t attend to support Sven as he made this big step in his life, the party was filled with the who’s who of Cincinnati. Billionaire Lucas Vallois was there with his husband, Andrei Vallois, the COO of Ward Security. They were talking in one corner with Rowe, and Ian Banner, the chef and owner of Rialto, the hottest restaurant in the city.
Seth had met them all in the past. They liked to pop into Ward Security and visit with Rowe. Seth had even flown out to Oklahoma to help Lucas and Andrei on a personal matter. But these people weren’t his crowd. They were all nice and funny, but Rowe, Lucas, Ian, and their other friend Snow had run together for years. There was an old history that took up space in the room with them. A closeness Seth only found with his fellow bodyguards.
Which explained why the goofy grin directed at him from across the terrace had Seth chuckling to himself. Lifting his champagne flute to the smiling redhead making his way across the room, Seth shook his head. Dominic Walsh was a great bodyguard and a good friend, but he was also a lunatic with a wicked sense of humor.
“Dude!” Dominic cried when he was standing just a few feet away from Seth. “I thought you were going to meet us last night.”
“I said I might,” Seth hedged. He looked around Dominic and smiled at the older gentleman with salt-and-pepper hair beside Dom. Abe Stephens and Dom had been dating for a few years now. “Hey, Abe. How’s it going?”
Abe smiled. “Good to see you again, Seth. I’m good.”
“Abe is finally expanding his woodworking business. He’s going to be supplying a local furniture shop with some exclusive pieces. Demand has been through the freaking roof.” Dom shone with pride for his boyfriend, while Abe blushed lightly but still looked up at Dom like he’d hung the moon.
Yeah, they weren’t the only ones around Ward Security like that either. But they were one of the few that didn’t meet on the job. Well, Dom had met Abe while doing a favor for a coworker, by protecting Abe, but it wasn’t technically a job.
Unlike Royce and Marc.
Or Ward Security IT Specialist Quinn Lake and his private investigator boyfriend, Shane Stephens, aka Abe’s son. Oh yeah, that was a source of endless teasing for both Quinn and Dom, but neither minded. Both men were hopelessly in love.
But the ultimate and probably first example was the couple getting married that night—Sven and Geoffrey.
While Geoffrey had developed a thing for Sven months before hiring him, it wasn’t until Sven started protecting Geoffrey from a violent stalker that they finally got together.
And the rest, as they say, was history.
There was something in the fucking water at Ward Security. It seemed like they were dropping like flies as fast as Rowe and Andrei could hire new bodyguards. And Seth had zero plans to join their ranks.
A boyfriend. Settling down into domestic life with someone was not a part of his grand plan.
Ward Security was just a pit stop. After college, he joined Ward as a security agent. The job gave him a chance to travel the world, meet some interesting people, learn some new skills, and gain some valuable experience.
His ultimate goal was to return home to Bridgeport, Connecticut and take over running his father’s very successful jiu-jitsu training center.
Yeah, okay…maybe his original plan had him returning to Bridgeport last year, but Rowe had needed him for some jobs. He couldn’t leave his boss shorthanded like that.
And well, Sven, Royce, Dom, Garrett, and so many of the other employees at Ward had become close friends over the past few years. He had a comfortable, good life in Cincinnati. He wasn’t in any rush to leave them.
It didn’t hurt that the pay was really good as well.
His father wasn’t exactly banging down his door to drag him back to Connecticut. That man never stopped moving or doing. He was still overseeing classes, competitions, and running the business just as he had been for the past couple of decades. It wasn’t like he was waiting on Seth to return just so he could retire; his dad planned to keep going for at least another ten years.
But even with all that, Seth was not in the market for a boyfriend. Who the hell would want to pack up and move to Connecticut with him?
Oh no, he loved his free and easy life. No drama. No stress at the end of the day. If he wanted to pick up and leave Cincinnati, there was nothing holding him back.
“But really…” Dom started again, nudging him with his elbow. “Royce said you dragged into the gym this morning looking like dog shit while wearing a shit-eating grin.”
“Nice image, idiot,” Seth said with a roll of his eyes.
But he couldn’t deny it. Last night with Liam had stretched way later than he’d expected, but it had been damn hard to crawl out of that man’s bed. So fucking amazing.
So, yeah, Seth had looked like death after only a few hours of sleep, but Liam had been worth the sleepless night.
“If you weren’t out with us, where were you?” Dom kept prodding. The man was absolutely incorrigible, but Seth was still smiling.
“Don’t worry about it,” he mumbled, directing his gaze to the crowd of people milling around them.
“You hooked up!”
Seth smacked him on the shoulder while shushing him. Abe’s shoulders were shaking like he was trying hard to suppress his laughter.
“Say it a little louder next time. I think there are some people on the other side of the river who didn’t hear you,” Seth complained.
“Sorry,” Dom muttered, though he didn’t sound remorseful in the least. “You know if you were looking to hook up, you could have come out with us. We’d have loved to see you work your magic.”