My eyes opened to the sight of the top of Jamie’s head. I was holding him in my arms like a teddy bear, spooning into the back of him. My cock was stiff against his ass, even through our underwear under the blanket – maybe especially because of that. There was something special about the feeling of being snuggled close to someone in that kind of relaxed situation, somehow just as intimate as being in bed together.

As soon as I stirred, Jamie did too, and he sleepily turned around to look at me with that soft smile on his face. Fuck, he looked hot when he was first waking up. He always did, but there was something so comfortable and human about him when he was vulnerable like that. His eyes were still glassy when he cracked them open and murmured softly, but they brightened up as soon as he saw my face.

“Morning,” he said in a sleepy voice, and it made my heart race.

I wanted more of this. Hell, I wanted it to last forever. Everything about it was so comforting and refreshing, and it was all just Jamie. It didn’t matter if he was a billionaire or if he was even more broke than I was. I liked every little detail about him, every odd habit he had, all the conversations we had, every word that came out of his mouth…

No. Like wasn’t the L-word I was looking for.

And in that moment, just after Jamie rubbed his eyes while I felt his hardness pressing against my inner thigh, I knew I had to tell him as much. There was no time like the present, when both our guards were down and we didn’t have time to fuck around with any foolishness.

“Jamie,” I said, voice still thick and scratchy from last night. “I’m falling for you.”

The stunned look on Jamie’s face was like the face of an angel. We stared at each other for a long time, just long enough that I thought I had said the wrong thing. But as soon as that terrible thought crossed my mind, Jamie’s soft lips smiled, and he leaned in to kiss me. It was long and deep, but more emotional than sensual.

“Damon...” he half laughed when we broke apart, but I cut him off.

“I mean it. I know it’s not like me to be so...open about something, I guess, but I know myself. We haven’t known each other long, so it should be even more obvious that you’ve changed me since we met. In a good way. You…” I struggled. “You soften out parts of me that have been hard too long. I…I want more of that. More of you. Shit, am I making sense?”

Jamie laughed, and he snuggled closer in to me, sighing softly.

“Damon, I’ve already fallen for you so hard I couldn’t get up if I tried,” he breathed with that tender face of his, and I felt my heart melt. I wrapped my arms around him, and I started kissing his neck without even thinking about it. At the same time, I started grinding my hips against his ass, making my cock pulse and awaken sweetly. He sighed, delighted, so I brought my right hand around his waist down to his boxers.

I slipped my hand into them and took hold of his shaft, feeling it pulse in the warmth of my strong, firm grip. I started massaging his cock. I brushed my thumb over its bulging tip, teasing the slit before letting my fingers wander down the thick shaft and down to his balls. They were so soft and warm that I couldn’t help but toy with them idly while I ground into him.

We were almost dreamy together. Jamie pushed his ass back against me. He knew just how his round, tight ass made my cock feel, and he definitely took pride in it. It was adorable, feeling him work my cock like he knew what he was doing. Hell, he did know, but I found myself so comfortable with the male form that it barely made a difference. I was more than comfortable touching him. I loved him and everything about his body.

I felt a bead of precum throb out of my cock as I rubbed against him through our clothes. I thought he felt it too because he let out a soft moan, and I felt his cock grow even stiffer. What we were doing was going to make a mess, but I didn’t care. Hell, that thought was pretty hot. Everything about Jamie was adorable, from the way he whimpered and tried to clench his legs to the way he moaned in delight every time my grinding got more vigorous.

My lips drifted across the soft flesh of his neck, then up to his jaw and his soft cheek. Stubble was so faint and soft on him that it was almost laughable. He felt so warm and soft that I wanted to sink into him right then, but neither of us was willing to break the lazy, lustful grinding we were inflicting on each other.

My hand pumped Jamie’s shaft harder, and I started feeling shivers of pleasure from him. I felt him starting to get less controlled, less coherent as he moaned and squirmed against me.

“I’m gonna make sure you start the day right,” I growled into his ear in such a tone that made him shudder, and I felt him getting so, so close…

The fucking phone rang.

We froze, both of us wondering whether to just ignore it and keep going. But the phone was on the arm of the couch, and I could see the name on the caller ID as easily as Jamie could.

It was the mayor of Oakview.

“Fuck,” Jamie said, squirming away from me, and I reluctantly let him go. “Can’t not take this.”

“I’ll get you for that,” I growled, winking at him.

He blushed and picked up the phone, holding it up and giving it a shake.

“Speaker phone,” he mouthed to me, then set the phone on the arm of the couch again and answered the call before setting it to speaker. “Good morning, Mayor Wade, glad to hear from you.”

“Jamie, please,” came the young man’s voice through the phone with a soft laugh. “Nolan is fine. We’ve only met once, but I haven’t forgotten your help getting my wife’s charitable foundation off the ground.”

“Well then, good morning, Nolan,” Jamie chuckled.

Why was I not surprised? I should have known Jamie had his hands in various pots around the state. A connection like that sounded like enough to get a foot in the door, but maybe not enough to make it a done deal that Nolan would only entertain Jamie’s bid for the water purification contract. It was a personal connection that was just barely not enough to cross into professional favoritism...but it was an angle we could work in other ways, I thought. My detective training hadn’t been for nothing.

“Glad I could catch you early,” he said. “I wanted to talk to you about some worrying news I just heard.”

“Lay it on me, by all means,” Jamie said, “just be aware you’re on speaker phone, but there’s nobody here but me and my bodyguard, Damon Hunt. He can hear anything you need to tell me, as far as I’m concerned.”

“That’s fine by me,” the mayor said. “I was calling because I heard a prototype had been stolen from your labs. If that’s true, I’m sorry that happened, but I hope you understand why that has me anxious about whether you’re still going to be bidding for the contract with the city.”

Jamie’s eyes were wide, and his eyebrows raised, and I could understand why. How had the news spread so fast? Something didn’t sound right.

“That’s...interesting news that you’ve heard,” he said. “I can confirm that my labs had a break-in, but I can also assure you that nothing important was stolen. I’m still in the game, as planned.”

“That’s good to hear,” he said, though I could still hear uncertainty in his voice. This wasn’t great. Even if he believed nothing important had been stolen, a break-in was a sign of vulnerability that could influence the mayor’s decision. “Pardon the call, then, I’m just trying to keep abreast of everything, you understand.”

“Oh of course, you don’t need to explain yourself to me, Nolan,” Jamie chuckled. “But if you don’t mind my asking, where did you hear that I had a prototype stolen?”

“Came to me through an email,” he said, his tone a little vaguer than I liked. “You know how the press works.”

“Mayor Nolan,” I said suddenly, sitting up and leaning closer to the phone. “This is Damon Hunt. I’m also involved in managing Mr. Davenport’s security systems alongside his CSO. If your IT person is on hand this morning, would it be a hassle for you to ask them to try tracing that email?”

“I think I could swing that,” the mayor said. “Do you suspect something unusual is happening?”

“I don’t want to say anything just yet,” I lied mildly. “But I like to have my bases covered.

“Agreed,” Jamie said, “and I’d like to add to that, would you mind moving our meeting up? I think in lieu of this news, it would be good to update you in person sooner rather than later.”

“I can meet over the weekend, yes,” the mayor said. “I’ll have my secretary coordinate with yours and move us to sometime tomorrow or Sunday.”

“We’ll be on the plane in a matter of hours,” Jamie said, already standing up and racing for his clothes. “Can we make it tonight?”

“I forget how fast men like you move,” the mayor chuckled. “Yes, I can make that work. I think my evening meetings will understand if I’m taking time out to help solve the city’s water crisis.”

Decent guy or not, Nolan was still a politician. At least that worked to our advantage.

“Fabulous,” Jamie said as we threw our clothes on. “I’ll keep you posted.”

We had the plane ready to roll in a little over an hour. It never ceased to amaze me how easily Jamie could make things like this happen. We got onboard, the stewards shut the door behind us, and in short order, we were taking off and flying northward.

My mind was racing as we flew, and I found myself staring out the window a lot. All signs pointed to Barry. He wasn’t just uppity and clearly jealous of Jamie’s success. He was downright hostile.

“You’re letting your good nature get in the way here, Jamie,” I said after a few minutes of silence on the plane while Jamie paced and I sat, watching him.

“You’re still on about Barry, aren’t you?” he said as I stood up and swept over to him to fix his tie, which was bothering me. “...thanks. But anyway, I think you’re the one thinking into this too much. I know Barry better than that. He can be petty, but if you’re trying to pin the robbery on him, you also have to pin the kidnapping and the SUV attack on him too. That’s...that’s just not Barry. I’m a good judge of character.”

“I don’t doubt that,” I said, still in a firm tone. “But people change, Jamie. Barry has the most to gain, he has the grudge, the spite, the bitterness, and the money to make all this happen. There aren’t exactly any other competitors you have who have been following what you’re doing in Oakview, much less ones who stand directly to gain if something bad were to happen to you.”

“You don’t know that,” he said.

“No, I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I’m your bodyguard. It’s my job to be paranoid for you.”

He smirked at that as I finished fixing his tie, and I gave him a peck on the cheek. Before we could say more, the phone rang, and Jamie moved over to it and put it on speaker.

“Hello?”

A nervous woman’s voice came through the receiver. “Hi, Mr. Davenport?”

“Speaking.”

“This is Jane McCoy, head of IT at city hall in Oakview,” she said quickly. “Mr. Wade wanted me to update you on the email trace.”

“Wonderful. Let’s hear it,” Jamie said, pacing again.

“I was able to trace the email to Manhattan,” she said, “but I can’t pinpoint it. That’s all I was able to turn up, and the way it was encrypted, that’s all I’m going to be able to give you.”

Jamie and I locked eyes, and I could tell he knew why I was glaring at him meaningfully. It had to be Barry.

“Thank you, Jane,” he said softly, and he ended the call.