I wanted to kiss him desperately. Augie’s lips were right there in front of me, soft and full. I’d never seen a man’s lips so naturally tempting. Just one quick taste. I knew it was a bad idea because of the work connection. But god, those lips.

Before I had a chance to decide either way, Augie brushed his lips across mine and I was gone. His mouth was soft and tentative, so I leaned forward and grabbed the back of his neck to keep him from changing his mind. My mouth took charge, eliciting a moan from Augie as my tongue sought entry into his mouth.

He tasted so damned sweet, and I felt his hands fist the front of my shirt. As he stepped in to my body, I wrapped my free arm around his waist to pull him in closer. Our mouths explored each other, tongues tangling as our breathing quickly turned into panting.

Finally I pulled away and leaned my forehead against his to catch my breath. I brought both hands up to cup the sides of his face and tilted it so I could look into his eyes.

His eyes were dark with need. The intensity was so much, I took a step back to catch my breath.

I closed my eyes and breathed in. Before I even had a chance to open my eyes, Augie’s body pushed against mine, forcing me back against the bedroom door until our entire bodies were pressed together. Slender-fingered hands came up to hold my face still, forcing me to look at him.

When he spoke, his voice was deliberate and held a definitive tone I hadn’t heard before. “More.”

My stomach dropped and my eyes flicked to his lips, still red and moist from the previous kiss. Augie’s hands pulled my face down until our mouths met.

The kiss started off sweet and tentative, the way I thought of the man himself, but it wasn’t long before I couldn’t keep it soft anymore. I wanted him. When my mouth was on his, all rational thought flew out of my head and I lost control. Gone were responsible reminders of my job security. Gone were warnings about moving too fast with someone who probably didn’t have all that much experience with guys. The only thing in my mind was getting more—getting inside of his delicious mouth and devouring him.

I reached around and cupped his ass, pulling him even tighter to me until I could feel the hard ridge of his erection shift against mine through our clothes. A groan escaped me, and I heard him whimper in response. His hands moved from my face to the sides of my neck, and within moments, I felt him begin to climb my body, pulling himself up until his legs were around my waist. I stepped away from the door and began moving toward the bed.

I didn’t want to move too fast, so instead of lying him down, I turned and sat, landing with him in my lap and pulling our faces away from each other long enough to look at him.

“What do you want?” I asked in a gruff voice.

He just looked at me, caught in a haze of lust for a few beats before speaking.

“You.”

I rubbed my hands up and down his thighs where they straddled my own. Lean muscles curved under my hands, and I was itching to feel them without the barrier of his clothes.

“Augie, I don’t want to rush you…”

His jaw tightened and his eyes shuttered. “That’s fine. We don’t have to.” As he spoke, he began shifting off me, but I moved my arms around his back in time to stop him.

“That’s not what I meant,” I said gently. “I just want to understand what you’re thinking—what you’re feeling. Talk to me. I don’t want to do something you’ll regret later.”

He seemed to relax against me again until I felt like I could move my hands back to rubbing his thighs without him escaping.

Augie’s own hands came up to my chest, and he seemed to lose himself in tracing a finger over my collarbone as he gathered his thoughts. After a few moments, he looked back up at me.

“I’ve been with other men, Saint. Just no one I cared about. And I’ve never… had anal sex. Just blowjobs and hand jobs. I’ve never been with someone long enough for more than that.”

“Why not?” I asked, although I had a pretty good idea.

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “If I actually dated someone, then I’d have to eventually introduce them to my family, you know? And I always assumed it would be impossible to get someone to understand the way I was raised. My mom has a brother. Did you know that? His name is Eric, and his son, Brett, is basically my nemesis. He and his friends made it their mission to treat me like the runt growing up, and when they found out I had a crush on a boy? God, it was hell. Anyway, my crazy family, childhood bullying, the expectations of my family’s reputation, just… typical bullshit. My grandfather’s voice is so loud in my head, Saint… God, it sounds so ridiculous saying out loud right now. It’s so embarrassing.”

He was rambling, but I thought it was better for it all to come out than stay crammed in.

“It’s pretty common, Augie. I get it.”

“It’s pathetic. I’m an adult and I’m still making decisions about my love life based on my goddamned family? Jesus Christ.”

I leaned forward and brushed a kiss across his lips. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. But thank you for saying so anyway,” he said, leaning in for more kisses. They turned light and playful until I glimpsed a smile tilting up the edges of his lips. Just the sight of it made me smile too, and I finally leaned back to grin at him.

“You’re smiling,” I said in surprise.

“You’re really fucking fun to kiss. Don’t stop.”

I’d never seen this side of him. The smiling, happy Augie whose nose deliberately poked me in the ticklish spot below my ear and whose fingers began seeking my armpits for the same reason. When I couldn’t stop laughing, I pulled away again.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked through the laughter. “The quiet shop owner was body snatched and replaced by a goofball.”

His face bloomed red, and he looked down. “I’m sorry. I’m just so… giddy.” He put his hands over his face, but I could tell he was still smiling through his embarrassment.

I wrapped my arms around him in a big bear hug. “Don’t be sorry; I like giddy Augie,” I said softly into his ear. “He’s sexy as hell.”

He moved his hands away, and his lips started kissing again—this time on my neck, trailing a path to my ear to suck on my lobe. My heart stuttered in my chest, and my dick pressed painfully against my pants. I wanted release. I wanted to get naked. I wanted to shove my cock into Augie’s tight little body.

But want and need were two different things. And what I needed was to get my head on straight. The image of Lanny’s disappointment in me, the entire team’s disappointment in me, if I lost this client and his influential family for the company, came roaring back to the forefront of my mind. I pushed it down, desire for the man in my arms taking over from any rational thought. We kissed and teased for a long time until we were rolling around on the bed dry-humping each other like teenagers.

“What’s that?” Augie asked when the phone in my pocket vibrated.

I dropped a quick kiss on his nose and rolled off him to pull it out. I hadn’t intended to look at it, but when I pulled it from my pocket, it vibrated again and the image of my boss flashed across the screen.

“Fuck,” I muttered. “It’s Lanny. I have to take this.”

I sat up and stepped off the bed, making my way out to the hallway for privacy while accepting the call.

“Saint Wilde,” I answered in a clipped tone.

“Why is Rex looking into two police reports involving August Stiel? And why, pray tell, did you not think to inform me of this development?”

Shit. Fuck. Damn.

“Rex told you?” I realized how petulant that sounded and quickly moved to take it back. “I mean, yes, sir. It turns out his house was broken into as well as his car.”

“Well, apparently Rex tapped into the surveillance of the parking deck where the vehicle was and saw something quite interesting. Mr. Brett Stiel, your client’s first cousin, was also present in the parking deck during that time.”

“That would make sense. I believe Augie was in town for a family dinner,” I said.

“Let me clarify,” Lanny said in a concerned voice. “His cousin’s vehicle wasn’t noticed; the man himself was seen approaching your client’s vehicle with another unidentified man forty-five minutes before the break-in. It appears he was pointing August’s car out to the other man.”

I glanced at the bedroom door I’d closed behind myself when I stepped into the hall. Surely Augie’s own cousin didn’t have anything to do with the vehicle break-in?

“Could you tell who actually broke the window when it happened?”

“No. The man was wearing dark, nondescript clothing and a ball cap, but to me—and Rex agrees—it very well could be the second man. The shoes look the same, but it’s too fuzzy to tell conclusively.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Augie’s own cousin arrange for his car to be broken into?”

“That’s the million-dollar question. And by million, I mean billion. Understand? We’re going to get to the bottom of this because these two events can’t be random. Not when that home invasion happened in Hickville where the crime rate is at Barney Fife levels.”

“I don’t know what that means,” I said. Which was a lie. But all of us enjoyed making Lanny feel old. It was left over from serving together when he was our team leader.

“Shut the fuck up. Yes you do,” he grunted. “Are you at a computer? I want to send you this surveillance video and see what you think.”

“Um, no. I’m not at home.”

“Well, get somewhere you can pull it up and call me back ASAP. Actually, no. Come here to the office if you don’t mind. I’ll pull together a crew to start work on this tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir.”

After disconnecting the call, I opened the door to the bedroom again and saw Augie lying back in his bed with his head on the pillow. His glasses were folded neatly on the bedside table, and his eyes were closed. I had to force myself not to go to him. The minute I touched him, I’d break all the unspoken promises I’d made to my boss.

This was ridiculous. I was skating on such thin ice as it was, and this job with Lanny was all I had. It was the only reason I’d left the navy in the first place. I’d wanted to go home when Otto had decided he was done, but I wouldn’t have felt like I could if Lanny hadn’t been there offering me a job. Being one of his trusted men at Landen had given me something to focus on, something to take the place of my identity as a SEAL. I was a personal security specialist. And my job was to keep Augie safe, not to get him naked and do naughty things to his body.

I sighed and cursed the act of maturing. It was so fucking overrated.

“Augie, I’m sorry,” I said, holding back all the things I really wanted to say. That he was beautiful and kind, sweet and sexy. “I have to go.”