The Bodyguard's Duty ✅

Chapter 32 - Fishy Behaviour

Ethan forced himself to contain all the excitement that was threatening to surface once again. He wasn't ready to showcase whatever thing he had with Thomas because it was so brand new, and Ethan wasn't willing to jeopardise something he desperately wanted for so long.

"I'm just surprised that my hangover disappeared," Ethan laughed. "My February 15th ended up being lonely, but everything worked out for the best."

Harrison seemed to accept that answer as he changed the topic. "You want to grab something to eat? We've got about 30 minutes until we're off the clock."

A smile sneaked onto Ethan's face when he explained, "Actually, I got stuff to do back home. Sorry Harrison."

Ethan was already packing his belongings as he soon turned his computer off. Ethan then fixed his hair using the desk mirror, and then he put his coat on afterwards.

Harrison noticed Ethan's skittish behaviour as he saw the other man move around the room with excitement. "Hot date?"

"No!" Ethan didn't mean to be immediately defensive as he felt like he was caught out already. Ethan was just feeling nervous because he knew Thomas was expecting him soon, and Ethan was looking forward to seeing him again. "Today's just been a long day, and I'm excited to go home."

As Ethan was escorting the both of them out of his office, they were stopped by Kristen along the way, who had an apologetic look on her face.

"I'm really sorry to do this to you both, but I need you to help finish going over the admin logs so that we can find who's responsible for the leak."

"You've got to be kidding me..." Ethan was unhappy with the idea of doing overtime. "Don't you have an entirely qualified team to do this for you?"

Kristen explained that she wanted to solve their company's issue as soon as possible. With the billion dollar company at stake from being spied upon, the CEO didn't want to risk anything else.

"But..." Ethan felt defeated as he understood the logic behind Kristen's reasoning. It was his family's business too, and Ethan rather fix the issue sooner than later.

But staying behind at the office meant that he was disappointing someone else. As much as Ethan wanted to go home, he had other responsibilities as he felt forced to let down Thomas. "Let me just make a phone call."

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Thomas was in the living room with a bottle of beer in his hand. He was channel hopping as he was trying to find something interesting to watch, but there was nothing good at 10pm.

Thomas was in the middle of eating his handful of popcorn when he heard the front door open. He turned his head slightly to see a tired Ethan dragging his feet inside, and lazily dropping his coat and bag onto the floor.

"Long day?" Thomas teased.

Ethan nodded his head as he fell onto the same couch Thomas was sitting on. He rested his feet on the coffee table as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "My eyes hurt from looking at the computer screen for so long."

Thomas heard a loud stomach rumble from Ethan as he then asked, "You eaten yet?"

Ethan mumbled his answer as he began to rest his eyes for a little while. "No I kind of forgot. Everything was taking longer than I expected, and I kept not eating because I thought we would finish sooner."

"I'll order us food while you go shower." Thomas wiped his hands on his trousers as he brought his phone out. "You need to eat, and you kind of smell to be honest."

Ethan didn't even open his eyes when he blindly shoved Thomas. He was happy that Thomas seemed to be entertained, as Ethan felt like he could hear Thomas' smirk.

"I told you that you shouldn't have waited for me to eat." Ethan reminded Thomas.

"I know."

Ethan turned his head to see Thomas on his phone, probably ordering food for them both. He appreciated the sentiment of everything Thomas was doing for him, because he thought these little gestures were super sweet.

Taking care of him when he had a long day of work, and waiting for him to come home to eat together - those little things made Ethan's heart flutter.

Ethan gently kissed Thomas on the side of his face. He met Thomas' warm eyes as Ethan then ducked his head, now leaving the room so that he could go take a shower.

~~~~~~~~~~

Thomas finishing washing the dishes as he then took the garbage out. Now leaving the kitchen, Thomas came back into the living room to join Ethan on the couch.

Thomas nursed his beer as he saw a sleepy Ethan slowly dozing off on the couch. He leaned over the back of the couch as he gently nudged Ethan's chest. "Hey."

Ethan frantically gained his bearings as he sat up slightly. He was rubbing the tiredness away from his eyes as he turned his head to see Thomas. "What's wrong?"

"You've got work tomorrow so you should probably go to sleep in your room." Thomas gently reminded Ethan as he could see how exhausted the other man was.

Ethan was nodding his head as he didn't have a reason to argue. "Yeah you're right. I'm heading up now."

Thomas made sure all the doors were locked as he then turned the lights off downstairs. He eventually made his way upstairs, and found Ethan waiting outside his room.

Ethan pointed his head towards his own bedroom when he suggested, "I'm not actually feeling tired anymore..."

Thomas snorted when Ethan immediately yawned afterwards. He didn't know why Ethan suddenly perked up so soon, but Thomas chose to go against his own hormones.

"I know you're pretty insatiable..." Thomas stepped closer to Ethan as they were now only a few inches away from each other. "But we don't need to rush this Ethan. We can take things slow."

"But-"

"Potentially being with a man is a new experience for you," Thomas interrupted as he reached for Ethan's hand. "And I think you need to process everything between us a little bit more."

Ethan had his own reasons on why he tried to push things with Thomas. Ethan kept them a secret as he let it stay in the dark.

"Okay Tommy, I'll try again tomorrow." Ethan laughed.

Thomas felt Ethan's hands gently fiddle with the edge of his t-shirt. The bodyguard knew that he was being toyed with, because he saw the suggestive smirk on Ethan's face. Thomas then grabbed a knowing Ethan's hands from doing anything further.

"Easy tiger," Thomas chuckled. "We have plenty of time to do all of that stuff, but 24 hours after a first kiss is too quick - even if you are a hound dog."

Ethan lifted their linked hands up so that Thomas had to place them on his shoulders. When Thomas got the memo of what Ethan was hinting at, he let go off Ethan's hand so that Ethan could wrap them around Thomas' head. That was when Ethan passionately kissed Thomas goodnight, by holding Thomas closely so that he could deepen the kiss.

Thomas had to stop if from going further as he felt Ethan was slowly dragging him to his bedroom. "I know that we are both enjoying this a lot, but you're kind of acting fishy now Ethan..."

Ethan avoided Thomas' eyes as he then let go off Thomas. "Sorry. I just... Never mind."

Thomas tilted his head slightly as he could see the inner conflict inside of Ethan. "What were you-"

Ethan gave Thomas a quick peck on the lips as he then left Thomas, "Night Tommy."

Thomas was left standing in the hallway as he watched Ethan disappear behind his bedroom door. Confusion was displayed all over Thomas' face after witnessing Ethan's change of moods, but he had to solve that mystery on another night because the night was now over.

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