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“To answer your question more simply: yes, it’s real.”
John’s lips parted, but no words ever came out. His eyes darted up past Jin’s shoulder, narrowing a little as he stared at some distant point. Jin turned to see what had caught his attention.
Strong arms wrapped him up and spun him wildly. He sucked in a harsh gasp and attempted to raise his hand to grip the front of John’s jacket, but John had his arms pinned to his sides. All he could do was lift them enough to rest lightly on John’s hips. His heart hammered in shock. Yet there was no fear. He felt safe in John’s arms.
In a blink, he found his back pressed against a tree while John’s larger body covered him, shielding him from whatever threat John perceived. Raising his eyes, he watched John glaring over his shoulder, searching the thick woods that surrounded the path.
“What’s wrong? What did you see?” Jin whispered.
“Release him! Release Dianxia this instant!” Qin screamed, his assistant melting down in a pool of panic each second Jin remained in John’s arms.
Jin might have rolled his eyes. “Hush, Qin. I’m fine. Mr. West is protecting me.”
“I know! I saw…I saw…”
“What did you see?” John snapped.
“I-I don’t know. It was so fast. But it would have hit Dianxia, and then there was this plop in the water. What was that?” Qin was racing toward hysterics with every word he spoke.
“I’m sure it was nothing. A stray rock or a bug,” Jin answered.
That earned him a very hard, icy glare from John. “Rocks don’t fly on their own, and it’s late in the season for bugs. Particularly at that speed.” He lowered his voice so that Qin could not hear him. “Why don’t you ever travel with a security team?”
“Because I have no need of one,” Jin whispered in return.
John continued to glare at him as he spoke. “Qin, what’s the fastest way to the car from here?”
“Um…um…we just continue along the path we’ve been walking. It’s a loop. We’re near the end now.”
“Okay.” He paused, his lips hardening into a tight frown, and Jin had the feeling he had the man’s full attention again even though his eyes had never moved from his face. “I know it’s a lot to ask when we’ve only just met—”
“I trust you,” Jin blurted out. Sure, it was quick, but there was something about him that was very trustworthy and honorable. Come on! The man was shielding him from harm with his own body. What more did he have to do to earn his trust? Bleed for him? Absolutely not.
That frown cracked. “You frighten me,” John stated, but those words had such an intimate feel. “We are going to walk swiftly to the parking lot. You will allow me to stay on your right to protect you. If I tell you to get down or hide—”
Jin nodded. “I will do as you say.”
“Good. Qin will cover your back.”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Qin agreed. “What else can I do?”
“Are there security cameras in the parking lot watching over the cars?”
Jin shook his head. “No. We don’t have cameras everywhere. Mostly just at the airports, banks, and some government buildings.”
To his surprise, John’s grin grew even wider. “I’ve got a friend who…” He broke off and frowned. “Never mind. Qin, is there someone you can call at the palace to come pick you and the prince up now?”
“Yes, but I have a car here.”
“Are you really in any shape to drive?” John quipped, but there was something in Jin’s gut that left him thinking that his concern for Qin was not his reason for requesting a new ride. He thought someone had tampered with the car while they were walking.
“Yes. Okay. You’re right. I’m calling.”
As soon as Qin began talking to someone back at the palace, John wrapped an arm around his shoulders and started them walking down the path. They were close enough that Jin could feel the brush of John’s leg, the rise and fall of his chest with every breath. He had not expected John to continue to hold him as they hurried. Now this was the type of photo that Qin had feared the newspapers getting ahold of, yet he didn’t care if anyone saw them right now.
“I’m sorry for holding you like this, Dianxia.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry. You’re keeping me safe,” he reassured him. “Besides, I’m sure it was nothing at all. We’re all overreacting to a bit of nothing. We’ll laugh at this silliness later.”
John shot him a skeptical look.
It was a shame that their meeting had to end like this.
They walked the last part of the path in silence. The only sound they made was the brisk patter of hard-soled shoes on the sidewalk and Qin’s frantic voice as he demanded that someone get their ass to the West Gate Gardens this second to pick up Dianxia.
