“Both,” Nolan said calmly. “He’s fetching some equipment I want to install, but I sent him right now because I figured you needed your space.”
Fynn ate his curry silently. Nolan wasn’t wrong. Finding Sheridan gone had slowed the panicking butterflies in his head. He wasn’t sure he liked being so obvious. No, scratch that, he was positive he didn’t like it. Even so, he hoped Sheridan wouldn’t walk back in the door any time soon. Eating a meal with Nolan in companionable silence was too close to his occasional wistful dreams for safety, but he wasn’t ready to give the moment up.
“Tell me about you,” he said, when they’d finished half the food and Nolan made a move to get up. “Why security? Who is Nolan Stone?” He’d babbled all kinds of things at Nolan and now realized how one-sided that’d been. “You know a lot about me, but I don’t know you.”
“Bodyguarding’s like that. We have to learn about our clients to protect them, but we’re just employees.”
I don’t think of you as an employee.
Fynn was ready to take the comment as a refusal when Nolan went on, “I was a cop for seven years. That’s a tough job. I was better at some parts than others. Police work grinds a guy down, not least because the brass claim we’re there to protect and serve, but secretly believe civilians matter less than cops. In every situation, in every way, no matter what they say in public. Too many guys got away with bad shit, too many cops got reprimanded for doing the right thing if it hurt the force.”
“You quit?”
“Yeah. Had a friend on the force, a Black woman. She put in a complaint, excessive use of force, on another cop who beat up a teenager. She had body cam and everything. They put that guy on paid leave for a week, but they forced her out.”
“Theywhat?” Fynn wasn’t naive. He knew justice was hard to come by, but that sounded open and shut. “I hope she sued them.”
“She wanted to, but a similar case took twelve years for the courts to give the woman back her pension rights. Toya was almost fifty and had a kid with disabilities. She needed the money. She signed a nondisclosure and they retired her on some bullshit reason so she’d get her benefits and pension.”
“That sucks!”
“I agree. She didn’t want me to go to bat for her because that could void her nondisclosure, but I couldn’t keep working for the bastards. So I quit. Worked for a security firm for five years, then bought out the owner when he decided to retire. Changed the name to Stone Security and here we are.”
“Well, I’m glad.”Was that too eager?“I mean, who knows if someone who wasn’t Amelia would’ve saved me today?” He thought about that. “Of course, you would’ve done the same if you’d been there. Or probably your other people.” Fynn stopped before he dug that hole deeper.
Nolan chuckled. “Possibly, although Amelia’s the best driver among us, so you lucked out. I’m glad I quit, too. I like being my own boss.”
“You must be extra good at it, to rise to the top of the firm so fast.”
Fynn thought he was giving Nolan a compliment, so he wasn’t prepared for a slight wince. “No, see, that’s more about having the money than talent. Sure, Warren wouldn’t have sold to me if he didn’t think I could handle it, but Charlie has more skills, more background as ex-Special Forces, and more years in the biz. What he didn’t have was the cash.”
“How did you get the money?” Fynn eyed him. Hadn’t he said something about growing up poor? Or was Fynn misremembering? “Cops don’t usually have money unless they’re on the take. Which, if you were, you wouldn’t have quit over the bosses being corrupt. Unless—” He broke off his babbling as Nolan put a hand on his wrist. No reason that touch should shake him, but he stared down at Nolan’s wide tanned fingers on his own paler skin and felt a tremor shudder through him.
“Sorry.” Nolan pulled his hand back.
Fynn managed not to protest the loss. He snatched up his soda and took a long drink which did nothing to slow the pounding of his heart.
“It was family money, of a sort,” Nolan said, as if he hadn’t felt anything when they’d touched.“My great uncle Nolan died. My parents had hoped he might like a namesake, and he did. I didn’t inherit a fortune, but enough to cover some of what Warren wanted for the business and he floated me a personal loan for the rest. Warren liked the continuity of selling to one of his own people.”
“That’s good. I’m glad.” Fynn had lost track of his thoughts. “Um, what do your parents think about you doing this line of work? Wouldn’t they rather you did something safer?”
“They’d have rather I stayed on the force. We Stones embody the thin blue line. I’m from generations of Irish Catholic cops, firefighters, paramedics, soldiers. They couldn’t understand why I quit, especially when I couldn’t tell them any details.”
“Catholic? Do they care that you’re gay?” Fynn realized he was getting awfully personal. “Never mind, scratch that, none of my business.”
“It’s okay.” Nolan turned his water glass in his hands. “They’re not thrilled, but they love me. I’m pretty lucky. We play a kind of don’t ask, don’t tell, where the topic never comes up. I’d bet my grandmother prays for my soul every chance she gets, but she still sends me cookies on my birthday.”
Fynn wasn’t sure if he should say that was good or he was sorry. A man like Nolan deserved a family who’d support everything about him. At the same time, Fynn knew Catholic acquaintances in college who’d been disowned. “Micah’s my only family. Now, anyway. He doesn’t care that I’m gay, as long as I don’t fall for some fortune hunter. Ha. Joke’s on him because I don’t fall for anyone, ever, so he’s wasting his time worrying.”
“Never? Did your college ex burn you that badly?”
I didn’t care that much about Leo.Fynn met Nolan’s gaze, about to claim aloofness was his natural state, and was caught in the pure blue of Nolan’s eyes. A wave of everything this man was hit Fynn— of steady hands and deep voice and calm competence, of muscled arms and broad chest and strong jaw under the close-cropped beard. This was the man who’d helped him through a panic attack when they’d barely met, and who’d sent Sheridan out at the smallest hint Fynn was uncomfortable. As their stare lengthened, Nolan’s mouth curved up. Fynn already knew that smile, full of humor but without malice.
I could fall forhimlike a ton of bricks.
He pushed away from the counter. “I should head to bed. After I clean up the kitchen, I mean. You cooked.” So much for his dignified exit.
“I microwaved,” Nolan said. “I can handle cleanup. I didn’t have nearly the day you did, although I admit my heart stuttered when Amelia reported to me.”
