Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
“Are you going in first to check if it’s clear?” Clive asked when Bain pulled into his driveway. Clive had a small, perfectly neat, blue bungalow-style house with a low roof that had thick posts supporting it. His yard was pretty bare, unlike the lawns of the houses around it, so Bain knew Clive didn’t spend a lot of time outside.
He didn’t need to check the house—he’d be able to sense whether someone was in the house from outside—but he was also used to pretending to be human. “You’ll go in with me and stay in the first clear area while I check the rest. I’m not leaving you out here alone.”
“Okay.” Clive got out of the car and walked toward his front door. Bain followed him. His gaze zeroed in on Clive’s ass, which was surprisingly round and meaty for such a small frame. Heat speared into his gut. Wow. He needed to see that ass without clothes covering it. It took real effort to tear his gaze away, but he did, moving ahead of Clive and opening his senses.
Bain knew as soon as he was on the front stoop that there weren’t any others in the house. But he waited for Clive to unlock the door, then kept him in the entryway as he made his way through the place. It was a small house, and the first thing he noticed was that not one thing was out of place. Clive brought the word neat to new levels. It was like a magazine layout of perfect Feng Shui, with everything precisely placed. Bain chuckled when he got to the bedroom and saw that even the bed was made. The man had actually awakened to a prowler and still taken the time to make his bed before running.
When he went back to Clive, he found the man basically cowering in the corner of his entryway, and Bain’s heart just clenched. He hated seeing anyone afraid, but for some reason, Clive was raising more emotion than normal for him. “All clear,” he assured him in a soothing tone. “You can go about your regular day. I’ll be here.”
“But what will you do?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Do?”
Clive lifted his hands. “You can’t just stand around doing nothing. You’ll get bored, won’t you?”
Bain smiled. “Most of my job is standing around doing nothing. I’ll be fine. Just know that you’re safe. I’m just going to run out and grab my bag.”
Clive nodded and followed him to the door. It was so obvious he didn’t want to be alone that Bain just melted. So he grabbed the khaki satchel and hurried back, following as Clive led him down the hall to a guest room. It was small with a twin bed that would leave Bain’s feet dangling at the bottom, but he’d slept in worse. Filthy inns in the middle of nowhere. Muddy trenches during wars.
He put his bag on the bed and turned back to find Clive wringing his hands.
“I’m going to shower, then. I just couldn’t in that hotel.” Clive hurried from the room.
Bain purposely did not look at that fantastically round ass again. Clive was a client, therefore completely off limits. He’d have to ignore the strangely powerful attraction he had toward him.
He walked back into the living room and got a better look around him. There was a navy couch with a matching chair, a square, glass coffee table, and bookshelves lining two entire walls. He wandered to those, snorting when he saw that the books were in alphabetical order. Looked like they were all non-fiction with two small exceptions. Okay, not small considering how many there were, but he had quite a few books set in the Star Trek Universe. Bain had read a lot of those himself. And Clive also had a really nice collection of gay romances, especially shifter romances—which often got the lore wrong. Bain spotted a few of his own favorites in the mix. Bain had always been a heavy reader, loving anything from biographies to spicy fiction.
The house had an open plan, the kitchen and living area only separated by an island. Curious to see if Clive’s organization continued in there, Bain opened a few cabinets only to find everything perfectly lined up on every shelf. He didn’t even have a collection of different coffee mugs. Every single one was gray, and the handles all faced the same direction.
Xavier hadn’t been kidding about this one. Bain couldn’t imagine living in such order. His own apartment had clothes draped everywhere, magazines scattered around, and not one of his coffee mugs matched. He’d also left dishes from last night in his sink.
Clive would go insane in his place.
Bain strode back into the living area and settled into the navy chair. He’d been honest about how much time he spent just watching, so he sat back, cleared his mind, and opened his senses. He’d know instantly if anyone tried to break in again.