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  Guarding His Heart

  Bad Boy Security, Book One

  R. Cayden

  Copyright © 2020 by R. Cayden

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  Cover artist: Black Jazz Design

  Proofreader: M. A. Hinkle

  Beta reading by Jill Wexler & Megan Dischinger

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  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Content note

  Summary

  Bad Boy Security

  Declan

  Sebastian

  Declan

  Sebastian

  Sebastian

  Sebastian

  Sebastian

  Declan

  Sebastian

  Declan

  Sebastian

  Declan

  Declan

  Sebastian

  Sebastian

  Sebastian

  Declan

  Sebastian

  Sebastian

  Declan

  Sebastian

  Declan

  Declan

  Sebastian

  About the Author

  Also by R. Cayden

  Content note

  Content note with mild spoilers: This novel includes scenes with gun violence, arson, and home invasion.

  Summary

  A battered man, down on his luck and forced into a job he never wanted…

  * * *

  After a couple decades playing bodyguard for mobsters, Declan thought he’d finally managed to retire. Too bad his former boss had another idea.

  At least the gig looked easy. Watching over some scientist with a rich father, secluded off in a mansion in the woods. Declan didn’t expect much more than quiet, boring days.

  Then came the intruders. Home invaders with secret conspiracies? Those he could handle.

  But love? Never saw the damn thing coming.

  * * *

  A reclusive scientist, determined to do right in a dangerous world…

  * * *

  Sebastian’s path in this life was set the second his father shipped him off to schools for the gifted.

  Devoted to his research, he could pretend the outside world didn’t exist at all. It was the perfect life, until the day a threat surfaced: a plot to kidnap Sebastian and demand millions in ransom for his release.

  Enter the bodyguard. Twenty years older than Sebastian, with silver hair, gleaming eyes, and tattoos inching over his muscles. A man who growled when he talked and swore that he could keep Sebastian safe.

  Declan might act tough, but the more time he and Sebastian spend together, the more Sebastian feels the truth.

  Something burns between them, and it’s only getting hotter.

  * * *

  Guarding His Heart is the first book in Bad Boy Security, a steamy new M/M series. Enjoy!

  Declan

  Sometimes, Declan felt like he had fucked his life up so royally, he might as well just burn the whole thing down.

  And down in the basement dive bar where he had been drinking the past seven hours, he could almost forget that the sun was probably up by now, a new day starting while he flushed his savings down the toilet, one bet at a time.

  Big Paolo grinned. He had a cigarette dangling from his lips and five cards fanned in front of his face. “Full house, asshole. Looks like you’re screwed.”

  Declan kicked his foot up against the table as he rocked back on the legs of his chair. He considered making a run for it, but the hulking men standing behind Big Paolo with blank expressions probably wouldn’t have gone for that.

  You’d think they’d crack a smile. He’d just lost all the money he had in the world, and about three times over at that.

  Some people were so damn serious.

  Big Paolo took a sip from his scotch, then coughed and laughed as he scooped up all the cash and chips and papers in the middle of the table, making a nice pile right in front of himself. “I got to say, Declan. I’m impressed. You lasted all night.”

  “Sure, but those other guys took off with a lot more cash in their pockets.” Declan fumbled for his cigarette, lighting it up in the smoky, dim room. There was no one left in the bar at that hour, just the men with guns watching the door for the poker game.

  Big Paolo’s face had a sheen of sweat, and a small brown hat cast a shadow over his eyes. “Now that you’re cleaned out,” he said, “there’s the little matter of settling up.”

  In Declan’s head, he traced over everything he owned. There was his ranch, where he should have spent that night, instead of locked up in this Vegas basement with a man who ran his own crime syndicate. Declan had a couple of muscle cars, one that actually worked. Some guns, some cash… Lots of shit, actually, but nothing that would add up to what was owed.

  “About that,” Declan said, casting his eyes around for another exit and debating whether he could spend the rest of his life on the run from Big Paolo’s reach. Unlikely, although he’d gotten away with plenty worse in his time. Hell, it had taken him most of the last decade to shake a hitman with a particularly nasty grudge.

  He snapped his eyes back to Big Paolo, then rubbed his thumb across his stubble, thinking carefully. “How soon do you want me to pay up?”

  Big Paolo took another drag of his cigarette as he glared. “Declan, I’m disappointed. A few hours ago, you were swearing up and down that you were good for it. Are you trying to back out now?” He clicked his tongue a few times. “I don’t take nicely to liars. You know that.”

  Declan thought back to the bleary moment he had put his life on the table, doubling down on one bet after the next, writing checks his ass couldn’t cash. The tequila shots he’d gulped around one in the morning probably had something to do with it, although big money on the table always got him horny and thinking crooked. He struggled not to kick himself for making mistakes when he knew better, mistakes he never would have made back when his head was in the game, and he was still employed by men like Big Paolo.

  “Oh, I got it, don’t you worry,” he said, glancing down at the pathetic hand that had cost him. “Just have to move some things around, you know? Call in some debts.”

  Big Paolo stared hard, smoke drifting in the air as he nursed his drink. He held two fingers in the air and made a small gesture, and one of his men hurried forward to whisper in his boss’s ear.

  Probably arguing about the best way to break his fingers, Declan figured.

  Big Paolo leaned forward as his henchman stepped back. “You know, Declan, considering all you’ve done for me in the past, I’m not looking forward to throwing you off a roof.”

  “Considering the mess that would make, who would be?” Declan asked, cocking up a grin as he leaned back in the chair again. It was always best to come at these things light. Much less roof-tossing that way. “But Paolo, you’re not even giving me a chance to pay you back? That’s bad business.”

  Big Paolo grinned. “Actually, I think I have the perfect compromise. After all, you were one of my best bodyguards back in the day, before you retired to the poker tables. Let me ask you, Declan, do you like it here in Vegas?”

  “Meh,” he answered with a shrug. “The air’s a bit dry.”

  Big Paolo coughed a laugh. “Fuck right it is. Me, I think that it might be time for you to take a vacation. Maybe a long one.”

  Declan stubbed out his cigarette. “If this is a vacation with the fishes or a hole in the middle of the desert, I’ll pass.”

  “Upstate New York,” he answered.

  Declan squinted t
hrough the alcohol that blurred his vision. “Say that again?”

  “A security job came across my desk. A lucrative one, too. Just need someone to go up to New York for six months, maybe a year. Problem is,” he gestured backward to his men, “I can’t spare a guy from my crew right now.”

  Declan had run security for Big Paolo since he moved to Vegas a decade ago, fresh off a career with his family’s crime syndicate back in Seattle. He’d guarded a few poker games when he first got to the city and quickly found himself promoted high enough that he watched after the big man himself on special occasions. He’d taken more than his share of punches to keep Big Paolo and his crew safe, but Declan had finally given up that work years ago, after coming a little too close to losing his head.

  He was pretty damn fond of his head, after all.

  “So what, you want to give me a job, Paolo?”

  Big Paolo barked a laugh. “Declan, don’t be an asshole. If this were a job, I’d be paying you out at the end.”

  Declan frowned, scratching his chin. “Right.” He started to work his tired mind over the offer, trying to figure out what the hell his move was. “This is a security gig? I walk around and wave my gun and scare people off, just like old times?”

  “Something like that. There’s an unconfirmed threat on some kid with a rich daddy. They’ve already got security where he lives, but Daddy Dearest is looking for someone with a bit more muscle to stay close at hand if things get rough.” He shrugged. “Just some twenty-something in a mansion. I don’t imagine it will come to much.”

  Declan grumbled to himself. It sounded pretty damn boring. And a year in New York meant a year he wasn’t running his hustles here in Vegas, a year with no income. Even if he was able to keep Big Paolo’s hands off some of his cash, those savings wouldn’t last Declan long.

  “I’m sorry, I see from the expression on your face that you’re not understanding me, Declan. So let me make this clear…” Big Paolo leaned across the table, and when he tilted his head up, Declan finally saw the beads of his dark eyes. “If you don’t work off your debt, I’ll fucking kill you.”

  “New York!” Declan said with an instant grin. “How about that shit? Maybe I’ll even get a chance to visit the big city while I’m there, get in a little shopping.”

  Big Paolo chuckled. “That’s what I thought.” He held his hand in the air, and two of his men stepped forward. They stood on either side of Declan, their hulking bodies casting shadows over the table.

  “What, is the date over already?” Declan asked. “I didn’t even get my kiss goodnight.”

  “My men will see you home,” Big Paolo answered. “As soon as you hand over your lease, your stash, whatever else I might need to cover this debt, they’ll get you on a flight.”

  “This fast?” He almost coughed on the words, and the tequila sloshing in his gut threatened to spill out. “Fuck, Paolo. We’ve known each for how long now?” You’d think the guy would give Declan a little time to wrap up loose ends, take care of business.

  Grab the money he had buried in the backyard. Maybe even run away and avoid paying the debt altogether…

  Big Paolo waved his hand. “Don’t test me, Declan. You knew you were betting out of your league. Small time guys like you shouldn’t even sit at this table.”

  His men took Declan’s elbows, then jerked him to his feet. He cast his eyes to the bartender, a young woman who was pretending not to pay attention, then back to Big Paolo. Declan wanted to spit fire, but he could barely manage to steady his wobbly knees as the men dragged him toward the harsh morning, tequila still sloshing in his stomach. Instead, stumbling forward, he just felt like a loser, dragged out like the trash.

  “Enjoy New York,” Big Paolo sneered after him. “I hear it’s beautiful this time of year.”

  Sebastian

  The snow fell against the floor-to-ceiling windows, and when Seb glanced over the mountainside that sprawled beneath his house, the green winter trees were blanketed in snow. He let his eyes linger on the view for just a minute, then turned back to the computer, tapping away at the keyboard in hopes of finishing his project before this new security guard arrived.

  Equations floated in front of his eyes, algorithms he had been squinting at all morning, but as he concentrated, the numbers found life and danced through his mind. Lightning crashed, particles combined, and Seb rode the edge of revelation, the tedious scientific work giving way to something pure, thrilling, and new.

  He was a man with a plan, filled with ideas that might set the world right and undo some of the horrible legacy he had inherited from his father. He just knew that he had to keep that plan a secret, at least until he was ready to act.

  A soft ring hummed from the speakers, pulling Seb from his work. He hit a couple of buttons on his phone, and his best friend, Alexandria, appeared on the massive screen installed in the wall across from him.

  “Are you always working?” she asked. She was still in bed, lying horizontally with her hair splayed across the pillows. They had been best friends since meeting at an exclusive school for science and math. Although they were total opposites in many ways, they’d bonded over how gross they thought it was that everyone’s parents had bribed their way through admissions.

  “Why would I have my dad buy me a million-dollar lab if I wasn’t going to use it?” Seb asked. Around him, large open tables were scattered with computers, some carefully chosen laboratory equipment, and piles of research. “How was the party last night, by the way?”

  “Boring,” she said with a yawn, then pulled herself up and fixed her laptop to give Seb a better view. “There weren’t any single girls for me to flirt with. Everyone was in a relationship.”

  “I like being single,” Seb said. “Less distractions that way.”

  Alexandria rolled her eyes. It was a discussion they’d had a million times before. They were both gifted scientists, graduate degrees in hand by the time they were twenty-one, but now, a few years later, Seb was buried in research while Alexandria ran around Manhattan, looking for love as a full-time job.

  “You’re hiding from your heart,” she teased.

  “You’re hiding from your brain,” he teased back. “You’re too smart to not do something with it.”

  “I am doing something with it,” she said, tapping the side of her head. “I’m tracking down hot women to date.”

  Seb laughed. “Next time you’re ready to take a break from that, why don’t you come up here for a weekend? That new bodyguard is about to move in. I feel like I’m going to want company.”

  “I know you like your quiet and privacy,” she said. Seb wandered out of the laboratory where he spent his days, and Alexandria’s voice hopped across the speakers, following him through the house. When he entered the kitchen, the small screen there flipped on, broadcasting Alexandria’s face. “But honestly, Seb, I’m glad that you’re going to have some extra protection. If your dad thinks that there’s a threat against you, it’s worth taking that seriously.”

  Seb rolled his eyes as he punched on the coffee machine. “There’s already a huge fence and security system around the property and an armed guard on duty twenty-four hours a day. What more protection do I need? Anyway, things like this happen. It’s not like it’s a secret that my father is a top executive at Horizon Zed. His wealth is public knowledge. But that doesn’t mean someone is going to actually try to kidnap me and extort him.” The coffee machine gurgled, and he pushed a hand through his hair. “They’d probably have more luck kidnapping his investment banker or his chauffeur anyway. Those are the people he actually cares about.”

  The speakers beeped, and the lights flickered, letting Seb know that someone had passed through security up front.

  “Whatever,” Alexandria replied. “Just stay safe, okay Seb?”

  “You too. Gotta go. I’ll call you later.”

  Seb walked from the kitchen to the front of the house. From the seating area, he watched as a big red truck lumbered down the
driveway, then backed up near the house. The door opened, and when the man jumped out, Seb’s heart leapt into his throat.

  “You can’t possibly be…”

  He had expected someone sophisticated, a guard from the corporate world where his father resided. Maybe a man in a dark suit or a woman with army tags hanging around her neck. But the man who was skulking toward the front of the house looked like he would be more comfortable in a motorcycle club than an office, more likely to break your arm than to save your life.

  He must have stood a couple inches over six feet tall. His legs were thick, like tree trunks, and as he stomped his heavy boots across the driveway, he casually spit a wad of saliva into the snow. Seb couldn’t imagine that the black leather jacket he wore was insulated enough for the biting cold, but maybe thick muscles were warmer than he realized. As the man reached the door, Seb kept catching glimpses of more through the window, like the peek of a tattoo on his neck and the rough silver stubble on his chin.

  Sharp pounding on the door made Seb jump in place. He started to freak himself out that maybe this man wasn’t the bodyguard. Maybe he was the kidnapper, sent to grab Seb and steal him away. Maybe the security up front was bleeding to death while Seb stood there, his hand lingering on the door handle, ready to let his own killer inside.