Chained to My Bodyguard Until the Trial novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Navy Tie

Ray read the text four times.

Then he put the phone down on the glass table and walked to the window.

Nico had been in the shower, and he came out toweling his hair, and stopped.

"What is it?"

"Someone knows we're on thirty-one."

"Who knew we were here?"

"Joan." Ray said it slowly. "And Vera. Nobody else."

"Both of them are on your side."

"I know."

"Then somebody's phone is bugged."

Nico crossed the room in his bare feet and put a damp hand on Ray's arm.

"Or a tail followed us. Or the van. It doesn't mean the worst thing."

"No."

"Ray. Look at me."

Ray looked.

Nico's hair was dripping onto his shoulders and his glasses were off, and his eyes were dark and clear and calm.

"You put a man through a shelf today," he said, "and I laughed."

"I haven't done that in months."

"I want to do something stupid and good before whoever it is shows up."

"What kind of stupid?"

Nico reached up and tugged at the knot of the navy tie at Ray's throat.

"This kind."

He worked the knot loose slowly.

He drew the silk out from under the collar an inch at a time and held it between his fingers.

"Tie me up."

Ray's breath stopped.

"Nico."

"They taped my hands in that van, remember?"

Nico's voice stayed level.

"That was theirs. This is mine. I want to be held by somebody I picked."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You can't. You're the one man alive who can't."

Nico leaned in until their foreheads touched.

"The key is on the nightstand. Look, it's right there. I'll say when."

Ray looked at it.

Then he looked at the man in front of him and knew he was lost.

He kissed him.

It was deep and rough, with a hand sliding into wet curls to tilt his head, and Nico opened under it.

They went backward to the bed, and the towel fell.

Nico lay on the mattress naked and flushed, with his hair spread on the white pillow.

Ray stood over him and slowly folded the tie in half.

"Hands up."

Nico lifted his wrists above his head.

Ray laid the silk across them, wound it twice, and tied it off to the iron rail with a firm, neat knot.

He tested the pull with one finger.

"Perfect," Nico said.

His chest rose and fell fast.

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