Out of Nowhere (Balls and Brawn Bodyguard #4)

2. Chapter Two Seo-jun

Chapter Two: Seo-jun

A fter a swim in the mansion’s pool, Seo-jun headed to shower in the locker room. When he noticed Dex in the rec room playing a game on the TV screen through his Steamdeck, he paused. As Seo-jun’s interest in martial arts took up most of his free time, he knew very little about gaming, but he recognized this one as the one Dex played the most online. Seo-jun had once caught a glimpse of Dex’s username: tyrannasaurus-dex. Seo-jun thought it was cute. As was the virtual assistant Dex had created and called Gary that constantly did the exact opposite of what it had been asked to do.

Over the past two years, Seo-jun had slowly come to terms with the fact that he was attracted to Dex. It had been a long time since anyone had caught his eye, and Dex wasn’t exactly what Seo-jun thought his type was—not that he’d given it much thought. Dex was quiet, friendly, and modest in a way that Seo-jun found endearing. He was good-looking—hot, even, in an understated way—looking so innocent with his dark, wavy hair and brownish-green eyes. He made Seo-jun wonder what it would be like to take him apart, make him lose his mind in bed—something else Seo-jun hadn’t thought about in a long time. Then again, Dex had a nice body, leanly muscular from years of mountain climbing. His toned legs were long and sprinkled with dark hair. All that made Seo-jun want Dex to take him apart. And Dex was highly intelligent—something Seo-jun found extremely appealing—he knew his way around computers and the Web, as well as its less accessible dark web.

Dex made Seo-jun want to know him, to invite Dex to run with him in the mornings, to take time out of his day to stand and stare at him playing a game Seo-jun knew nothing about.

And since Dex was the first person Seo-jun’s bosses had ever seen him take an interest in other than his clients, they’d asked him to train Dex in self defense so he could take on some cases. So, Seo-jun, a level five black belt, began teaching Dex Taekwondo. Dex excelled at the martial art, but the same couldn’t be said for the knife-throwing Seo-jun tried to teach him. He’d realized after only a few lessons that Dex was hopeless at it, but the way Dex shivered every time Seo-jun stepped behind him to guide his throw—the only way the knife would have some hope of hitting the target—had kept Seo-jun from suggesting they stop the lessons.

As though he could feel Seo-jun’s eyes on him, Dex looked over his shoulder, a broad smile splitting his face that quickly morphed into something more heated as his gaze moved down Seo-jun’s bare chest to the black Speedo he was wearing. Dex quickly turned back to his game, the tips of his ears bright red.

Rattled by Dex’s reaction, Seo-jun pulled his towel from around his neck and wrapped it around his waist before turning and walking straight into Kasey.

“You okay there, Seo-jun?” she asked, hands shooting out to grab his arms so he wouldn’t topple over as his towel slipped from his waist.

Embarrassed, Seo-jun mumbled in the affirmative and, yanking up his towel, hurried past her.

After a quick shower, Seo-jun dressed in clothes from his locker and went upstairs.

Being so affected by Dex confuse Seo-jun, who had been in only two romantic relationships in his thirty-three years. The first had been when he was only fourteen, with Ae Ri, the girl in the apartment next door to the one he and his parents occupied. Two years older than Seo-jun, Ae Ri had instigated the relationship after a year of friendship. She and Seo-jun would sit on the bridge that ran over the creek behind the apartment building and talk past sunset. Ae Ri was Seo-jun’s first kiss and his first sexual encounter. Their relationship ended within two months when everything fell apart for Seo-jun’s family, but during that time, they’d had a fair amount of sex.

Seo-jun began his second romantic relationship with Haru, a man he’d met on the internet and eventually traveled to America from South Korea to live with. Originally from Tokoyo, Haru was twenty years older than Seo-jun and had lived in San Francisco for years. He was the one who had taught Seo-jun the art of throwing Kunai, a type of Japanese throwing knife. Haru taught Seo-jun a lot of other things, too, but those were memories Seo-jun hadn’t examined in years. Seo-jun moved to the East Coast and settled in New York City where he began teaching martial arts. Occasionally, he did some modeling, which was where he met Jase, who remembered him later when his uncle started up Falcon Security and Jase was recruiting employees.

Other than Ae Ri and Haru, Seo-jun had only slept with one other person—a guy he’d met at a club. He’d only done it because he felt different than his friends, who hooked up on the regular. Seo-jun quickly realized that meaningless encounters weren’t for him.

As the years went by, Seo-jun had begun to think he’d never connect with anyone again.

And then Dex had started working at Falcon Security.