Out of Nowhere (Balls and Brawn Bodyguard #4)

4. Chapter Four Seo-jun

Chapter Four: Seo-jun

H e winked at me.

Seo-jun couldn’t stop thinking about it as he lay in the double bed in Brand Nichol’s apartment.

Before their run, Seo-jun had overheard Dex tell Brand that Seo-jun’s smiles were worth the wait. Did he really smile so seldomly that people noticed? He supposed he’d hardened a little over the years while he’d struggled to acclimate to a new country. He’d learned to protect himself emotionally as well as physically.

Seo-jun knew that Dex was gay. If he hadn’t gotten the clue from the hours Dex had spent dancing at Cockatoo with a big muscular guy one night months ago when the whole team had gone out together, he definitely knew it when Dex announced it over and over while he and Colt put his drunk ass to bed that night. Dex would be mortified if he remembered that, but the next morning he seemed to recall very little about how he’d gotten home. But after that, he’d been open about his sexuality, and Seo-jun had watched him blossom over the past several months. And he couldn’t help but wonder—had that wink meant Dex was flirting with him?

No, he’d probably just been teasing. Seo-jun liked it when Dex joked with him. He realized that he could be a little unapproachable and maybe even intimidating. Dex had probably just been having fun with him when he winked at him. It hadn’t been flirting. If the very large, very muscular guy at the club had been an indication of Dex’s type, Seo-jun was not it.

But you could work on smiling more.

A sudden shout from the bathroom had Seo-jun tumbling out of the bed and running for the hall. The bathroom door wasn’t locked, and he rushed in, skidding to a halt in front of the shower curtain.

“Dex!”

Dex’s head popped around the curtain, wet hair plastered to his skull. “What?”

“You yelled,” Seo-jun said.

Dex wiped his face. “The water suddenly went frigid!”

Slowly, Seo-jun’s heartbeat returned to normal. “Oh. Sorry. Brand and I must have drained the hot water. I’ll just…” he backed out of the room and closed the door.

Fuck.

“I should have warned you that might happen.”

Startled, Seo-jun swung around in the hallway, already moving into a defensive stance when his mind connected that it was Brand standing behind him holding an aluminum baseball bat.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” Brand said, lowering the bat and taking a wary step back. “I came out when I heard Dex yell. I should have realized earlier that the hot water probably wouldn’t last long with the three of us using it in succession. I’ll just go back to bed.”

Remembering what he’d just been telling himself about smiling more, Seo-jun grinned widely as he said goodnight.

Brand looked a little freaked out as he slipped inside his bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Well, that wasn’t exactly the reaction I was going for , Seo-jun thought, scratching his head.

Back in bed, Seo-jun could hear Dex drying his hair. When Dex walked in a few moments later, Seo-jun panicked and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep, listening as Dex put on his pajamas in the dark before climbing into the other side of the bed. The fresh, clean smell of him wafted over Seo-jun, then, seconds later, as Seo-jun began to drift off, Dex shifted on the bed and Seo-jun gasped when what felt like an ice cube brushed his calf.

Startled, Dex sat up. “What? What is it?”

“Your foot is fucking freezing!” Seo-jun curled up protectively under the covers.

“Oh. Sorry. I can’t seem to warm up after that cold shower.”

Sitting up, Seo-jun took the extra blanket at the bottom of the bed and doubled it over Dex.

“Thanks,” Dex said, head half-buried beneath it.

“Next time, you can shower first and I’ll get doused with freezing water,” Seo-jun told him.

Seo-jun had slept with members of the team before, the most recent a case two months ago where he and Hawk had to share a bed in a motel room for two weeks. It was always awkward. Seo-jun had been very careful not to let any part of his body stray to the other side of the bed where it might encounter Hawk. When he’d shared a bed with Colt for two nights, he’d awakened to the other man spooning him and had gotten up and moved to the other side of the bed. The following morning, Colt hadn’t even noticed they’d traded places. Seo-jun realized that having Dex next to him in bed didn’t make him uncomfortable as it did with the others.

As he was drifting into sleep, he thought he heard Dex whisper, “Sleep well, Seo-jun,” before moving slightly closer to his body heat.

Seo-jun didn’t mind that at all.