Xavier (Vigilance 4)

I held up a hand. “I might have some things here you could use.”

“I need more than—”

“Trust me.”

His eyes widened. “You’ll let me stay?”

“I thought you were refusing to leave.”

He looked confused for a moment, then he nodded. “That’s right. I am.”

I fought the urge to smile. He was so fucking cute when he was trying to be defiant.

Could I really send him away and trust his safety to someone else? I needed Niall and Giorgio, and Leo was in no shape to be Emilio’s bodyguard. Despite what I said to Niall, I did need Emilio’s help.

“I already put your life in danger by pushing you, and now—

“And now I’m volunteering to help. If I’ve already got a target on me, what difference does it make if I get myself in a little more trouble?”

10

Emilio

I held X’s gaze, somehow managing not to flinch. When I was focused on work, I could talk to clients with a hell of a lot more confidence. Even when those clients had just laid me down on the floor and… No, I couldn’t think about that, or I’d get so tongue-tied I wouldn’t be able to say a single word.

Not to mention that my dick had finally gone down. Was he serious about not kissing me again? I wanted to do that again and again and so much more.

But what about the fact that he was supposedly straight? Had he just come to terms with his sexuality? Was he experimenting? Maybe I was just an island fling allowing him to find out what it was like to be with a man with no consequences.

I’d take that if it was all I could get. I’d already known I’d be fucked up over him when I left the island. If I was going to get myself in more trouble, I might as well go all the way. Literally.

But why would he want me? Why had he… Was it just a moment to let off steam? If so, I needed to figure out how to scare him again. Of course he didn’t actually know he was scared, just that he was in protective mode.

“What happened out by the pool? Why did you bring me in?” I knew it wasn’t so he could ravish me on the floor as much as I’d like that to be the reason.

“I saw movement in the trees. I thought someone was out there, so I got you out of the line of fire.”

“But there wasn’t anyone?”

“No, I think it was just a damned cat. I have security reviewing video footage to look more closely.”

“You raced in here with me because of a cat?”

His expression went defensive, and he looked like he might be about to stomp his foot. “I’m not taking chances with you.” He abruptly strode toward the door. “Come with me.”

“Back to giving orders?”

“Continuing to be sassy?”

Did he think I needed to be punished? That would totally play into some of my favorite fantasies, but I didn’t need to be fantasizing now. We needed to prepare to fight sex trafficking killers. This was not the time to find out how far X would take his dominant tendencies.

Would I ever have a chance to explore those fantasies with another man, one I trusted who could make me feel as good as X did? When he’d had me under him on the floor, I would’ve let him do anything to me. I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t care about anything going on around us. If only that moment could have lasted.

I followed X until he turned and pressed his hand against the wall. Before I could ask what the hell he was doing, the wall opened up, revealing an elevator.

I huffed. “Of course you have a hidden elevator in your house.”

“It gets better.”

We stepped into the elevator, and when X pressed a button, we descended. The elevator opened into a small room with concrete block walls. The only thing in the room was a door that looked like it belonged on a vault.

There was no way he’d had time to have this constructed since he’d bought the island, but it hadn’t been in any of the schematics I’d found. “Has this been here all along?”

“It has. One of Arlington’s former household staff was more than happy to tell us all about some aspects of the house Arlington had altered.”

X punched in a code, and the vault door began to open. “This room was created by closing off part of the basement. Now it can only be accessed from this side.”

His words faded into the background as I stepped into the room, and my jaw dropped. It wasn’t just a bunker; it was a fucking command center, and it was decked out with top-of-the-line tech. “Wow.”

“Do you think maybe there’s enough equipment down here for you?”