LOGINChapter 4 By the fourth week the secrecy had its own rhythm. I still walked three paces behind him through every terminal and hotel lobby. I still spoke only when the job required it. In elevators filled with assistants and label reps I kept my face blank and my hands off him. The second we were alone the distance disappeared like it had never existed. Tonight we were in a converted farmhouse an hour outside Lyon. No adjoining rooms, no overnight staff, just high stone walls and a bed large enough for the kind of noise we no longer bothered to keep quiet. Lennox had been quiet all evening—post-show adrenaline crashed hard, the usual label messages piling up unanswered on his phone. The moment the last car left the driveway he locked the door, turned to me, and said, “I need you to take me apart.” I did. We didn’t make it to the bed on the first try. I had him bent over the heavy wooden table in the main room, jeans shoved down to his thighs, my cock buried in him before either o
Chapter 3 Three cities later the pattern was set. I stayed three steps behind him in public, expression blank, earpiece in, scanning every crowd and exit the way I was paid to. In elevators and back seats of black cars I kept my hands to myself and my eyes forward. The second a suite door locked behind us, the professional distance collapsed. Tonight it was a private villa outside Milan instead of a hotel. High walls, no adjoining rooms, staff dismissed for the evening. Lennox had been on edge all day—press still circling the outing, label calls he refused to take, a performance that had gone technically perfect and emotionally hollow. The moment we were alone he shoved me against the entryway wall and kissed me like he’d been holding it in for twelve hours. I let him. His jacket hit the floor. Mine followed. We left a trail of clothes down the short hallway to the main bedroom. By the time the backs of my knees hit the mattress I was fully hard and already done pretending I
Chapter 2 I cleaned up in the bathroom without looking at myself in the mirror. When I came back out, Lennox had stripped the rest of the way and was stretched on the large bed in nothing but the city light coming through the windows. He watched me with open satisfaction, one arm folded behind his head, the other resting low on his stomach. My marks were already starting to show on his hips. “You’re still dressed,” he said. “Someone has to stay functional.” “I don’t want you functional right now.” He patted the mattress beside him. “I want you back over here.” I should have checked the perimeter. Should have reviewed tomorrow’s schedule. Instead I unbuttoned my shirt, dropped it on a chair, and stepped out of the rest of my clothes. Lennox’s eyes tracked every movement. When I climbed onto the bed he reached for me immediately, pulling me down until I was braced over him. “That first time was rough,” he murmured against my mouth. “I liked it. I want the next one slower.” I kis
Chapter 1 I was supposed to stay professional. That was the only rule I gave myself when the agency assigned me to him. No personal involvement. No reactions. Just keep the principal alive and out of the press for the next six weeks of private European shows. I’d done protection work for politicians, CEOs, even a couple of minor royals. None of them had ever looked at me the way he did the second the suite door closed behind us. His name was Lennox Vale. Twenty-six. Recently outed in the most public way possible after a leaked video. The label wanted him shielded, controlled, and still able to perform. I was the shield. He dropped his bag by the couch and turned to face me, still in the black stage jacket from the flight, hair slightly messy from the car. The suite was all dark wood and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city, but I wasn’t looking at the view. “You always this quiet?” he asked. “I’m paid to be quiet.” Lennox’s mouth curved. He walked closer, slow, like he
Chapter 5 Two weeks later the pattern had become deliberate. They never risked the office again during regular hours. Instead they used Adrian’s apartment on the nights his roommate stayed with a girlfriend, or the rare evenings Elias’s small house on the edge of campus felt private enough. The secrecy required constant calculation—timing, exits, the careful management of campus sightlines—but neither of them suggested slowing down. On a Thursday night Adrian’s apartment was empty again. Elias arrived after nine. The moment the door locked, Adrian had him against it, mouth hungry, hands already working open Elias’s belt. They made it only as far as the couch. Adrian dropped to his knees, freed Elias’s cock, and took him into his mouth with the focused attention that had become familiar. Elias’s hand settled in his hair, not forcing, just holding on as Adrian sucked him deep, tongue working the underside, spit running down his chin. The wet sounds filled the quiet apartment. Elias’
Chapter 4 Monday arrived with the ordinary weight of a regular teaching day, except nothing about it felt ordinary anymore. Elias stood at the front of the seminar room and watched twenty-three students take their seats. Adrian walked in three minutes early, dropped into the front-row chair he always claimed, and opened his notebook like the previous seventy-two hours had not happened. Their eyes met once. The contact lasted less than a second. It was enough to send a low, tight pulse of heat straight through Elias’s body. He taught the class on automatic. His voice stayed even. His analysis of the assigned text remained sharp. Only the occasional glance toward the front row threatened to break the performance. Adrian never looked up longer than necessary, but the set of his shoulders, the way he turned a page, the faint mark still visible at the edge of his collar—everything registered. When the hour ended, students filed out in the usual loose clusters. Adrian stayed seated unti







