Jaxon held his breath as he approached the man inspecting Obstacle X. Thankfully, Xavier had put a “Private Session Only” sign by the room’s entrance to ensure he and Bryce had some privacy.

He’d followed Holly to her manager’s office, and he need not feign shock at seeing his brother here, because he couldn’t help the rounding of his eyes and the slackening of his jaw. Even his heart hadn’t slowed its rapid beating since seeing Bryce leave Christine’s office with Holly.

Jaxon hadn’t expected Holly to hire Bryce so quickly, but he wasn’t surprised either. Aidan had sent him and Xavier a copy of Bryce’s resume that the IR had managed to obtain. With stellar references from some well-known people, it was certainly impressive. On paper, Bryce was the perfect bodyguard for famous people.

From observing Bryce while he’d walked with Holly back to the gym, Bryce had indeed shown signs of being an experienced security detail. He appeared to have perfected the art of surveilling the surroundings without attracting attention to himself. He’d even looked relaxed and casual while walking alongside a superstar like Holly, whom he’d just met.

Still, Bryce wasn’t that good. He’d failed to notice Jaxon trailing them.

To be fair, Jaxon was great at blending in the crowd. The Indie Rebels had taught him well. Now he had to apply some of his acting skills to make this look like a chance encounter.

He took a deep breath before calling out, “Excuse me.”

His brother turned around and stared at him as if he’d seen a ghost.

“Bryce?” he asked in an almost whisper.

Bryce blinked rapidly. “Jax?”

Jaxon exhaled heavily, unable to keep his eyes from misting.

Bryce looked around furtively, then approached. And—to Jaxon’s surprise and delight—drew him into his arms. “Jax. My God. I Googled you the other day, and I was just thinking what a coincidence that you work in this very building. I’ve been meaning to contact you, and here you are. I can’t believe this.”

Jaxon held Bryce tight, willing to keep the tears from falling. He hadn’t expected to feel this emotional. He pulled away to search his brother’s face. “So where have you been all these years? I’ve looked for you, you know.”

Bryce glanced around again. “Is this room private enough? I’m surprised it’s empty.”

“It’s booked for my one-on-one session with Xavier Stirling. I’m supposed to practise while I wait for him.”

“Oh, so you know Xavier well?”

“We’re friends.” He led Bryce to the benches on the far end of the room and stared at his brother. “We should be okay to talk here. Part of me’s afraid this is all a dream.”

“I know,” Bryce said with a sigh.

“So what are you doing here?”

“I’m a bodyguard, and my new client’s in there.” Bryce indicated Xavier’s office.

Jaxon pretended to be surprised. “Your client? Who? Holly Stirling?”

“Yes. Are you friends with her too?”

“Yes. So you’re a bodyguard to the stars, huh?”

Bryce’s lips curved up in what looked more like a grimace than a smile. “Hey, um… Holly obviously doesn’t know I’m related to you, and it will bring up lots of stuff if she finds out we’re brothers. Can you do me an enormous favour and keep our relationship to ourselves for now? I don’t want Holly—and my new employers, for that matter—questioning my character. And they think my surname’s Green.”

“Green? You changed your surname?”

“Yes. I knew you and Mum would try to find me, so I covered my tracks. Sorry, bro.”

“Right. Sure,” he said slowly. “But where on earth did you go? It was like you disappeared out of thin air.”

Bryce stared at his hands for a long moment before meeting his eyes. “I joined three Belgian tourists in their rented car on a road trip to Darwin the day after I left home. About two weeks from arriving there, a nice couple gave me a job playing security guard for their variety store.”

“I hired private investigators to look for you three years ago. I think they would have found out if you’d legally change your surname to Green. I take it you haven’t made it official?”

Bryce gulped. “No.”

“So how did you manage to get a job with Smith Security? I know for a fact they’re very thorough with background checks for prospective employees.”

Bryce’s chest heaved as he raked his hair with all ten fingers. He lapsed into silence again, the wheels in his mind clearly turning. Finally, he smiled in resignation. “I was introduced to someone who was able to give me a fake driver’s licence.”

Jaxon frowned. Whoever had the technology to fake an Australian driver’s license had to be a sophisticated criminal. The built-in holograms and special inks used on those cards made them almost impossible to duplicate and forge.

“Jax…” Bryce gazed at him imploringly. “Please let this be between you and me alone. Please. I had to change my name because that bastard stepfather of ours threatened to make me unemployable.”

Goosebumps formed on Jaxon’s arms. He knew it. That conniving Joseph Bridge had been involved in Bryce’s disappearance.

Since marrying their mother when Jaxon was fourteen, Joseph had immediately shown he wasn’t interested in playing happy family with his bride’s sons. Their mother had asked them to give Joseph a chance, stating he was a much better partner than their real father, who’d died before Bryce was born. According to their mother, their biological dad hadn’t been worth knowing. Well, neither was Joseph. Unfortunately, their mum was loyal to him.

“Jax, come on, bro. Please, don’t say anything.”

Jaxon smiled. Right now, all he wanted was to wrap his arms around his brother. But he had a job to do, and he needed to gain Bryce’s trust. “Sure, I’ll keep this a secret. But I’m still mad at you. You could have told me you were okay.”

“Well, I’m here now,” Bryce said with a grin. “So you own JC Tax Franchise, huh? I’ve read every single page of your website. You’ve done really, really well. So proud of you, big bro.”

“Thanks,” he said with a laugh. “There’s this fire in my belly to do well so I won’t have to rely on anyone for anything. What about you? How long have you been working as a bodyguard?”

“Five years. Anyway, look at you. You’ve built up some serious muscles since we last saw each other.”

“So have you! You know, I’ve always hoped I’d just bump into you somewhere. Now I have.”

Bryce chuckled. “You couldn’t have bumped into me in Sydney before today. I worked in the Whitsundays in the last five years.”

“Really? Wow. How was that?”

Bryce shrugged. “It was good. I liked the job, but I was missing Sydney. Hey, I’ve been eyeing this obstacle course since getting here. Are you any good at it?”

“Not bad. I’ve been training on it for a while now, but I still can’t beat Xavier’s time. I’m getting closer, though.”

Bryce positioned himself at the start of the course. “We were both lanky the last time we saw each other. Now let’s see who’s better at this. Time me.”

Jaxon laughed. He called up the timer on his watch and said go.

This unexpected reconciliation was going great. In just a matter of minutes, he’d felt that pull of brotherly love. Now that Bryce was in front of him—alive and well—he hoped complications wouldn’t get in the way of them continuing to rebuild their relationship.

But first, he had to be sure that Bryce wasn’t a threat to Holly. Much as he wanted his brother to be innocent, he couldn’t simply assume—or hope—that that was the case. Still, all the question marks against him could simply be from Joseph’s manipulative acts.

Bryce finished the course, and Jaxon opened his mouth to call out his time, but a clapping from behind startled him.

“That’s great, Bryce!” Holly said. “How did he do, Jax?”

Jaxon stared at Holly for a long second before answering, his heart pounding heavily with…whatever it was. “Three minutes and twenty-three seconds.”

“See? He’s strong, fast and capable,” Holly said with a meaningful look to Xavier.

Jaxon suppressed a sigh. Holly was obviously set on having Bryce as her bodyguard.

“Hope you guys didn’t mind me using this,” Bryce said. “I just met Jaxon here and I said I’d always wanted to work out on an obstacle course.”

Jaxon exchanged a quick glance with Xavier, silently confirming that he was going along with Bryce’s pretence that they’d just met.

“Of course it’s okay,” Xavier said with a smile at Bryce. “Mind if I speak with you?”

“Not at all.”

Jaxon watched as the two men went into Xavier’s office. He wished Xavier would chat with Bryce out here, but he guessed it would look too suspicious.

“So what do you think of my new bodyguard?” Holly asked.

“He seems like a nice guy.”

Ugh. He should be encouraging her to consider other candidates. But Holly had already caught him and Bryce enjoying each other’s company. Besides, he realised he wanted people to like his brother.

Damn. Would he have to ask to be excused from this assignment if he couldn’t be objective?

No. No other Indie Rebel was in a position to get the kind of information he could get out of Bryce.

“Could you tell Xavier that you like him?” Holly pleaded. “You know Xave—Mr. Overprotective.”

“He just wants to make sure you get the best security, not the first one suggested to you.”

“I know. But Bryce is experienced. And I like him already, so I’m not going to interview anyone else.”

His heart thumped harder, instantly bothered by Holly’s statement—not about her refusing to check out other candidates, but that she liked Bryce already. What did she mean by that?

“And he’s so easy to get along with,” Holly continued. “Even the two of you hit it off straight away, by the looks of it.”

He forced out a chuckle. “We just got to talking about workouts and who could have the faster time on Obstacle X.”

“Ah, you just gave me an idea! That topic would definitely endear Bryce to Xave. I think I’ll go in and raise it.” Holly bounded to Xavier’s office, then entered after tapping her knuckles on the door twice.

Jaxon frowned. Was it his imagination or was Holly taking a shine to Bryce?

Worse, for the first time since they’d met, she wasn’t flirting with him anymore.

Why should she, when you turned her down again less than an hour ago, you moron!

He exhaled heavily. Yes, he’d rejected her again, much as it had pained him.

But, hell, Bryce was wrong for her too. Would his brother be able to keep his hands off Holly if she turned on the charm?

He rubbed his face as his heart constricted. Now, not only did he have to discourage Holly from being interested in him, but he’d have to make sure nothing developed between her and Bryce.

That was important for everyone’s safety.

And not just because he felt fucking jealous.

Ah, damn it. What a disaster this was turning out to be.

He walked to Obstacle X, turned on his timer, then went as fast as he could. But his hands slipped from the pull-up ladder.

He started again from the beginning and didn’t even complete the first segment.

Shaking his head, he tried again. He made it to the horizontal logs, but lost his grip and landed on the cushioned floor.

Good thing Holly wasn’t watching him right now—not when Bryce had completed the whole course right before her eyes.

Ugh!

Xavier’s office door opened.

Jaxon grabbed a towel and wiped his face. It looked like Holly had succeeded in getting Xavier’s grudging acceptance of Bryce.

“Hols,” Xavier said. “Now that you’ve let Bryce in on the threat, I think we should let Jax in on it too. You need all the protection you can get, and if we tell some people we trust, they can help keep an eye on you too.”

“What threat?” Jaxon feigned curiosity—and hid his annoyance that Holly had looked at Bryce for approval. So she was trusting someone she’d just met over him?

“What Xavier said makes sense,” Bryce interjected. “But I suggest we limit who knows to a handful of trusted family and friends only.”

“Okay,” Holly said. “I’m happy for Jax to know.”

Bryce nodded and proceeded to tell Jaxon about Anna’s kidnapping and the threat against female Australian celebrities.

Jaxon listened attentively for the sake of keeping up appearances. His chest felt heavy, though. He seemed to be losing Holly.

She was never yours, you idiot.

He repressed a sigh. That was true.

He cared about her a hell of a lot. He wanted the best for her.

Which wasn’t him.

Or Bryce, for that matter—thank God.