Page 1 of Protecting his Heart

Chapter 1

Owen

Owen Morris stared into the night sky from where he stood by the window of the suite they were using for the New Year’s Eve party. “They” being the royal family. The Sutcliffes had invited all the security staff for the evening, and most had accepted because they were all close—not just a working relationship but as friends, too. A strange dynamic that had been born of the threats against the royal family over the past few years and how closely the security staff had worked with them during it. It was hard to turn off his work mode, and his eyes kept scanning both the room and the outdoor area for new threats.

He slipped his hands into his pockets as the first firework lit the sky, smiling slightly at the thought of Amy, his little sister. She had always loved New Year’s Eve fireworks, saying that there was always something different from knowing those rainbow-coloured explosions of light meant a new year had started. Owen loved that description, and even though Amy was no longer with them—it had been twenty-one years now—he remembered it fondly, despite the ache in his heart from its missing piece.

Someone came to stand beside him and nudged his shoulder with theirs. “Penny for them,” Evan said, handing him a tall glass of something clear and fizzy.

“Just thinking about Amy,” he murmured. “She would’ve loved these even more than the ones we snuck in to watch all those years ago.”

Evan chuckled. “She would’ve. She might’ve been the bane of our teenage years, but she was soft on the inside.”

Owen sipped his drink, coughing when he realised there was alcohol in it, too. He banged his chest with his fist. “I was expecting lemonade.”

“With a little vodka added in.”

“A little?” Owen smirked.

Evan winked. “A little.”

Owen couldn’t help staring at his best friend. The attraction had never died down—would never die down—but he wished it would. He returned his gaze to the inky map of stars above, shoving everything he felt into that locked box he kept inside him. That box he’d created seven years ago when he had pushed Evan away too hard, and Evan had left the country instead of fighting for him—for them.

He didn’t blame the man. After all, who wanted to spend a blissful night with the person they’d admitted to being in love with and then be told the next morning that it was a mistake? No one, that was who. Owen had thought he was doing the right thing. He hadn’t wanted to mess up their friendship and that friendship with Dominic, the third of their triangle of best friends, so he’d pretended it was for the best.

Unfortunately, the pain that had speared through Evan’s eyes after Owen’s words that morning had branded itself onto Owen’s brain, and it had sent Evan over the edge. He’d packed and left for Italy the following week, taking Owen’s heart with him.

“Is Dominic around?” Evan asked.

Owen cleared his throat. “He is somewhere. Randall is bustling around, trying to work, but His Majesty keeps scoldinghim, and Dominic is trying to keep Randall relaxed. Not sure how well it’s working.”

Evan snorted. “It’s probably not. It’s all well and good inviting those who work for you to a family gathering, but it’s not always possible to chill when you’re not used to it.”

“I’m a lot more comfortable here than I used to be. The Sutcliffes certainly don’t give up when they want you involved.”

In the reflection of the window, Evan’s lopsided grin appeared, surrounded by his barely-there beard, and Owen’s stomach swooped. What he wouldn’t give to feel that against his skin again.

A hand clapped on his shoulder and, judging by Evan’s jump, on Evan’s shoulder, too.

“Are you enjoying yourselves?” Dominic asked, sticking his head between the two of them.

Owen grinned. “You know it.”

Dominic raised his eyebrows. “Sure looks like it.”

Evan lifted his glass. “We have drinks. We have fireworks. We have music. What more do we need?”

Dominic opened his mouth, glanced at them in turn, and then seemed to think better of what he’d been about to say. He smiled. “We’re having a nightcap in our room after we finish if you want to join us.”

Owen chuckled. “I’ll let you and Randall have a break from me. Have fun.”

Evan nodded. “I agree. I’ve seen enough of your ‘nightcaps’ to know things get way more personal than I want them to.”

Owen could attest to that. Dominic and Randall could still not keep their hands off each other, but they had only been together for a few months. They were still in the “honeymoon” period of the relationship, but they’d been through so much in such a short time that they might as well have been together for years. Someone they’d thought was on their side had targetedDominic and kidnapped Randall, the king’s personal assistant. When Dominic found him, they’d shot Dominic and left him for dead, but it seemed that bad guy was only the tip of the iceberg. Someone else was running the show, and no one knew who it was. They were all on high alert, but nothing had happened since. It was hard to keep things light when they weren’t sure when the other shoe was going to drop—or bullet was going to fly.

Dominic grinned. “Can you blame me?” He looked over his shoulder in Randall’s direction, and Owen knew they’d lost him.

“Oh, god. Go on. We’ll see you tomorrow,” Owen said, pushing Dominic in his boyfriend’s direction.

---