Page 55 of My Bodyguard’s The Boss

Then he closed his eyes and let the darkness pull him under.

CHAPTER 19

“You’re going to hurt your joints.”

Dominic looked up. He must have been more tired than he thought. Levi was back in the hospital room, perched on the plastic chair beside him.

“Your posture,” Levi explained, rifling through a tiny bag of kale chips. “You’re old, right? If you sit like that, you’ll get a crick in your neck or something.”

Dominic sat up straight, ignoring the protesting in his joints. “I’m only thirty-six. Aren’t you almost thirty?”

“I’m twenty-five,” Levi said with an icy smile.

Dominic didn’t push it. He knew how models could get about these things. Besides, Levi was probably just as tired as he was. He’d flown in from New York and hadn’t left his brother’s side since he got to the hospital twelve hours ago, when Austin was still in surgery.

Dominic took Austin’s hand, careful of the IV in his wrist. He couldn’t get Austin’s pale face out of his head, staring up at him from the grass. Those two little words he’d mumbled before he passed out.

Love you. For those heart-wrenching hours Austin was in the ambulance, and then in surgery, Dominic thought he’d never get the chance to say it back.

Levi crunched noisily on a kale chip. “Anybody else try to snap a pic while I was gone?”

“A couple of nurses,” Dominic said. “They stopped when I brought up lawsuits.”

Levi snorted, and for a moment, Dominic could see the brotherly resemblance. They both had this cheeky air about them. Austin covered it up, but Levi wore it on his sleeve. Dominic wondered if it was hiding things, just like Austin’s badass act.

“You’re very devoted,” Levi said. “For someone who was going to quit.”

“Quit,” Dominic repeated. “I was never going to break up with him.”

Levi snapped his fingers. “I did tell him that! In his defense, it really sounded like you were. Like, your tone and all.”

Dominic’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He reached for it with his spare hand, rubbing Austin’s knuckles with the other.

It was Ben. Another text: is he out of the woods yet?

Dominic blinked. He’d forgotten to send Ben an update. He texted back a thumbs up, too tired to say anything useful. He’d call Ben later.

“He’s cute,” Levi said.

Dominic looked up to find him peering over Dominic’s shoulder at Ben’s contact photo. “He’s forty-five. If you think thirty is old, he’s ancient.”

“Ancient and hot,” Levi said. He sat back in his seat, munching on what had to be the last of the kale chips. They fit maybe twelve of them in that tiny bag. “So, he’s not your boyfriend? Everyone was saying you had somebody else.”

“What? Why?”

Levi shrugged. “Who better to talk about an impending breakup than the guy you have on the side? Besides, it makes for a good story.”

“He’s a friend. And you should know not to believe anything you read on those sites.” Dominic pocketed his phone and went back to concentrating on Austin—his warm knuckles, his sleeping face, his chest moving gently up and down.

For a minute, the only noise was Austin’s heart monitor. Levi balled up the empty bag of kale chips and tossed it into the trash can near the door. It went in easily.

“Nothing but net,” Levi said triumphantly, and sighed. “Is he going to wake up anytime in the next hour? Because I need to find a hotel and wash the plane smell off me.”

“The doctors said it could be anytime tonight,” Dominic said. “You can go. I’ll be here.”

Levi squirmed. Then he settled back in his seat.

“Nah,” he said dismissively. “I’ll stick around a while longer.”