Nolan came along, moving to stand beside Fynn.
“Take hold of the tube. It’s soft right now, but will become hard once the suction begins, so don’t let that surprise you. Keep a firm but gentle grip.”
Fighting not to smile atit will become hard once the suction begins, Nolan picked up the end of the tube.
“Hold the length between your fingers. Try not to be rough with the sensitive head.”
Nolan gritted his teeth and breathed through his nose, treating thesensitive headgently.
“Now, you’ll place the head against the surface of each avocado in turn. I’ll press a button and there will be gentle suction. Don’t let the tube’s response surprise you. We will do a five second count on each piece of fruit. Angle is important, but don’t overthink it. I want to replicate a real-world experience.” Fynn glanced at Nolan and licked his chapped lips, obviously a totally unconscious move.
One that didn’t help Nolan’s gravity. “Gentle suction.” He controlled his tone. “Don’t overthink the angle.”
Fynn gave him a narrow-eyed stare, as if sensing something was off.
Nolan widened his eyes innocently in response.
After a few seconds, Fynn nodded. “Right, let’s begin. Do one, then two, then three.” He pointed at the number pads in front of each piece of fruit. “Remember, a gentle touch is best.”
Nolan swallowed back a grin and began gently touching a row of fruits with his hose.God help me.
Chapter 3
Fynn tossed and turned in his bed. His room was no doubt at the precise temperature he’d set on his AC, the sheets were silky organic bamboo, his nightlight glowed with precisely the same golden-green diffused LED illumination as always. But sleep eluded him.
Nothing new, of course. Some nights, he would get up for a couple of hours and work or build with his LEGO sets. Tonight, though, he’d been shaken by bad dreams of a looming truck, not a mere pickup but ten thousand pounds of semi bearing down on him. He’d woken right before the crash gasping Joe’s name, his heart pounding. And heresentedthat.
Whoever’d tried to grab him, or possibly kill him, had failed. Which should be the end of the problem. Full stop. The driver of the truck that bumped them had fled the scene before the cops arrived. The disabled truck had been stolen from a parking lot with no surveillance. If there’d been fingerprints or other evidence, no one had told Fynn. Maybe a near miss didn’t even warrant dusting for prints. Or whatever the cops did to get prints these days.
Did they still use powder? Surely there should be a better technique. Maybe lasers. Or a vapor that bound to skin residues? Stone might know.Nolan.“Stone” fit the man all too well, but Nolan made him seem more approachable. He’d been pretty patient in the lab. Not everyone was, when Fynn got going in lecture mode.
He moved restlessly, letting the sheets glide against his bare skin. He always slept nude, because clothes in bed made no sense. Simply a way to cause binding and annoyance. He wondered if bodyguards ever slept naked. It’d look pretty funny to jump up with your dick flapping and run after someone with a gun. Althoughfunnywas perhaps not the way to describe a naked Nolan Stone. Fynn could only guess what lay beneath the snug T-shirt and comfortable chinos Nolan wore, but he liked his guesses.
He moved again, more purposefully this time, turning on his stomach to rub against the sheet. His dick enjoyed the friction, and for a few minutes, he let himself indulge.Would it be even better to do this against Nol—a man’s skin? To feel hair and ridged muscles and heat?Not Nolan, of course. Crushing on the bodyguard was a terrible cliche, and he’d known the man how long? Twelve hours?
Fynn glanced at his clock.Three a.m. Crap.
Since he wasn’t getting back to sleep, he’d get up and do something useful. Swinging his legs out of the bed, he put on his glasses and took down the robe he’d draped on a bedpost. The whisper of silk around him soothed his senses.
Coffee. LEGO.
He pulled open the bedroom door, stepped out, then yelped loudly as something moved in his dim apartment.
“What?” Nolan rolled up off the couch, pushing to his feet and peering around. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Fynn was glad the darkness would hide his red face. “I forgot you were here.”
“It’s the middle of the night. Is something wrong?”
“No. I’ll go back to bed.”So much for my coffee.
Nolan switched on a lamp and came over. “You don’t have to. This is your apartment. Did you get the munchies? Want a drink?”
“Thought I’d make coffee.”
Nolan blinked a couple of times. “Sure. If you want.”
“It calms me down. I know I’m weird.”
