🛡️Protecting His Life is Live 🛡️
💫🛡️ Series is Complete! 🛡️💫
https://books2read.com/protectinghislife
→ Guarding Royalty Book 4 by Elouise East
His past proves deadly, but can his heart take the continued denial?
Brett has a highly stressful job, but he is dedicated to it and the people he works for. As the son of a drug lord, Brett has fought every day to be a protector rather than a criminal. The people who depend on him have been targeted by someone trying to take them out, but so far, they’ve kept one step ahead. But now, as clues point towards someone closer to home, he is haunted by the fear that he has "barely anything to give" and that a relationship with his right-hand man would only lead to a devastating "imbalance" in the line of fire.
Felix has been pining for his boss since the day he started working for him. It’s unrequited, but Felix can’t help but torture himself every day. His secrets are coming out, and so are other people’s, convincing him that his blood-stained training could never provide a stable life. He doesn’t have any intention of leaving. At least until someone physically removes him from the vicinity, and when all hope is lost, he clings to the memories of Brett and the whispers of what-ifs.
When one of their own is taken, the Royal Bodyguards will take down anyone to get them back.
Protecting his Life is a kinky, friends-to-lovers romance with a security boss who doesn’t believe anyone would want him with his past and a cheerful computer genius who wants anything and everything his boss will give him.
~~~~
EXCERPT
When they arrived in the main room of the club, the heavy bass of the music reverberated through the floor, mingling with the slightly raised sounds of nearby conversation as people tried to talk over the music and the occasional crack of a whip or moan of pleasure or pain. It was a place where boundaries blurred, where power was given and taken in the most intimate ways. And it was the last place Brett needed to be right then, standing next to Felix, with their protectees wrapped around each other on the other side of the room.
Brett kept his eyes forward, his face locked in the neutral expression of a royal bodyguard, but his mind was far from focused on the job. He’d lost count of the number of times he’d already refocused his attention back to the princes. The club’s atmosphere had always tugged at something deep inside him, stirring a restlessness he’d long thought buried, an uneasiness about where he might find what he needed.
A sharp sound cut through the music—a slap of leather against flesh. Brett’s attention snapped to the scene unfolding a few feet away. A man, bound to a cross, his wrists and ankles spread, his body exposed and vulnerable. Another man wielded a whip with practised ease, each strike precise, each movement calculated to elicit the perfect response from the one submitting—and although it wasn’t the purpose for the participants, also from the crowd. The man on the cross arched his back with every lash, his moans reaching above the noise, a mix of pleasure and pain that made Brett’s pulse quicken.
He shouldn’t be watching. Not at that moment. Not with such intensity. And not with Felix so close. But he couldn’t look away.
“What do you think?” Felix’s voice was low, almost lost in the music, but it cut through Brett’s thoughts like a knife, and he straightened, snapping his gaze away and back to where it should be—on Christian and Oscar.
Then, unable to stop himself, Brett turned his head slightly, just enough to catch Felix’s gaze. Those dark, knowing eyes; Felix had always been able to read him too well, just like he could read Felix, and tonight was no exception.
“About what?” Brett asked, keeping his voice steady.
Felix’s lips curved into a small, teasing smile, his eyes darting to the scene and then back to Brett. “About what you’re watching. Does it…interest you?”
There was a challenge in his tone, subtle but unmistakable. Felix was baiting him, trying to draw out a truth neither of them had dared to voice, but why?
Brett swallowed hard, turning his gaze back to the princes they were supposed to be focused on. The whip cracked again, and he felt a shiver run down his spine. His answer hovered on the tip of his tongue, and for a moment, he considered brushing it off with a joke, a deflection, something safe. But the heat in Felix’s gaze made him reckless.
“It’s…intense,” Brett admitted finally, though the word felt woefully inadequate to describe what he was feeling. “There’s a level of…control, a trust in each other that’s hard to replicate elsewhere.” He focused on Felix from the corner of his eye, not wanting to fully face him.
Felix licked his lips, and something darkened his eyes. For the first time in a while, Brett couldn’t tell what it was, but it made Felix step closer, stopping in front of him instead of doing his job.
“Felix—”
“Dominic is keeping watch. I told Dominic to cover because I’d had enough, and I needed to know. I need to know.”
“To know what?” Brett wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. He wasn’t sure he was strong enough at that moment to hide the truth.
“Would you ever want to try something like that?” Felix asked, his voice dropping to an intimate whisper barely heard over the music. The teasing tone disappeared and sincerity laced his question, a vulnerability Brett hadn’t expected but found he wanted.
Brett’s heart skipped, the air between them growing thick with unspoken possibilities. He didn’t answer immediately, turning the question over in his mind. He looked at Felix, really looked at him for the first time in a long time, and saw the desire there, not even partially concealed. It hit Brett like a punch to the gut, all the fantasies he’d kept locked away rushing to the surface.
“Maybe,” Brett said slowly, his voice rough. He met Felix’s gaze. “But I think the real question is, would you?”
Felix blinked and seemed caught off guard. He opened his mouth to respond, but Brett didn’t give him the chance.
“What do you want from me, Felix? What can you ask for that I’m able to give?” He had little left, not after starting his entire life again from the age of fourteen.
“I want whatever you can give me.”
“I can’t let you reach so low,” Brett said. “I have barely anything to give anyone, and you deserve the world.”
“Shouldn’t that be my choice?” Felix stepped closer, and Brett breathed him in, his chest aching as he held the scent in his lungs, not wanting to release it.
“I can’t let it be. You’d destroy yourself trying to fix me.”
Felix shook his head. “You don’t need fixing, Brett.” He licked his lips. “You’re perfect for me.”
“No, Felix.”
Felix visibly wilted and then nodded and stepped back into position. “Understood.”
~~~~
Author social links: https://elouiseeast.com/links
#NowLive #BodyguardRomance #FriendsToLovers #Kink #MMRomance #GuardingRoyalty #ElouiseEast #ProtectingHisLife #ProtectingHisPast #FirstOfSeriesSale
Comments
Post a Comment