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“You sure?”
“I’m sure,” I said with a nod. “Go get ’em, boss.”
Mike grinned and then he was gone.
Fuck.
So much for thinking I was going to be getting out of watching over Jude Archer anytime soon. Hell, how was I going to keep my hands to myself for however long it took for Mike to secure more business from Clifton Hayes? And worse, if I screwed this up and managed to piss off Jude, what would that do for the contracts Mike was supposed to be getting? My goal had been to save Mike's business, but if I fucked things up with Jude, I could just as easily be its downfall. Smithfield Security would be the laughingstock of the industry if it lost the business of someone like Clifton Hayes mere days after getting it. Word like that got around and even if the business wasn't ruined entirely, it would never be more than a B-list company.
I sighed and left the locker room.
As I returned to where I’d left Jude, I mulled over the fact that I was going to have to figure out how to keep my hands off the man for however long it took to make sure he was safe. Since I couldn't pass Jude off onto someone else, that meant I had to figure out how to deal with the threat against him. There hadn't been any additional letters sent to Hayes, but that didn't mean that whoever was behind all of this had just given up. At the same time, though, there was nothing in the letters that would serve as hard proof to merit something like a police investigation. As frustrating as it was, my hands were tied until the individual behind the threats made a mistake.
As I approached the corner where Jude and I had worked out, I saw that he was talking to Dannie. The young woman had her cell phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. She was wearing a flowy little skirt that showed off her shapely legs as well as a snug camisole number that emphasized her cleavage. She was talking animatedly to Jude, who, surprisingly, seemed to be talking back. Hell, he was even almost smiling.
Had I actually seen the man smile before?
Ever?
If I had any doubts that Jude was gay, they were eliminated by the fact that, like me, Jude's eyes never strayed below Dannie's neck. We were the only two men in the place who had no interest in Dannie's brand of assets.
As I neared the pair, Jude glanced my way. He still had a smile pasted to his face so when he looked at me, I got the full wattage of it. It actually softened a tiny bit, causing something inside of me to tighten up.
But not in a sexual way.
No, it was a strange sense of calm; it was warm.
Like that feeling you got when you snuggled up beneath a super-soft blanket on a cold, wet day.
I was so entranced by Jude's expression that I actually tripped on the edge of the workout mat. Jude reached out his arm as if to catch me.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said with embarrassment. "I'm good."
"Nik," Dannie said with a big smile and then she was pushing into my arms for a hug. I wrapped my arms around her, even though my hands were still full with the towels and bottles of water.
"How you doing, sweetheart?" I asked.
Dannie pouted a little and said, "Missing you. Mike takes it too easy on me. He treats me like a doll." She looked toward Mike's office. "When are we going to get together again, Nik?" she asked hopefully.
"Soon," I promised.
"I'm holding you to that," she said with a wink. She turned back to Jude. “It was nice finally meeting you, Jude," she said with a genuine smile and then, to Jude's surprise, she was hugging him as well. The gesture clearly made him uncomfortable, but he put his arms around her anyway.
"Yeah, you too."
With that, Dannie released him and sauntered away from us. Predictably, most of the eyes in the room were on her as she made her way upstairs.
I only had eyes for Jude, though. And he was darting his all over the room as if not sure what to settle them on.
"Here," I said as I handed him a towel and one of the bottles of water.
"Thanks," Jude murmured.
The warmth that he’d exuded around Dannie was gone, along with his gorgeous smile. He was once again uncomfortable and agitated. I felt the loss keenly.
I sighed and said, "Ready to go?"
Jude nodded and stepped off the mat. As we left the building, I could feel the distance between us growing once again. Once we were in the SUV and on the way back to Jude's place, I said, "What's the plan for the day, boss?"
