“So am I,” Burke said. “Dan feels bad and wants to apologize for letting Ji-Su leave.”
“Dan has no need to apologize. He didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, he did the right thing by immediately alerting someone that Ji-Su left the grounds.” Raul propped an elbow on the desktop and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I won’t keep him from leaving the ranch if he wants to. But until Cedric is handled, if he does leave it’s with multiple armed guards accompanying him.”
“Petra gave me Ji-Su’s keys. What if he wants to drive?” Burke asked.
Raul shook his head. “No more driving. In fact, give his keys to Gloria.”
Burke passed the key ring to the mayordoma.
“Put them away for now. If he asks, tell him you don’t know where they are and send him to me. I’ll let him know that he’s not allowed to drive but hopefully it won’t come up.”
“Understood.”
“Burke, let all the guards know that if Ji-Su is out and Cedric is spotted anywhere in the vicinity, they are to get Ji-Su out of there and call me immediately. I will be sure to have my phone on me at all times from now on. Also, someone is reporting Ji-Su’s whereabouts to Cedric. So have security keep an eye out foranyone hanging around or following him when he’s not on the ranch. I’ll leave it to you to assign shifts and details.”
“Yes, sir.”
With Ji-Su’s security arranged, Raul went upstairs to join him as he’d promised. He found him in the bathroom, soaking in the garden tub. The air was warm and steamy and smelled of the fragrant vanilla bath oil he’d used in the water. Damp hair clung to his forehead and the nape of his neck as he reclined on a bath pillow.
“You look relaxed,” Raul said.
Ji-Su lazily rolled his head on the pillow to look at him.
“I am. A hot bath was a great idea.”
Raul sat on the edge of the tub. “I’m sorry about Cedric.”
“It’s not your fault. He’s nothing more than a bored loser. He’s probably acting out scenes from one of his power trip movies or something.”
Raul hated to put any fear in Ji-Su’s head, but he needed to understand the truth of Cedric’s intentions. “Listen. I don’t want you to be unnecessarily afraid, but Cedric is more than a bored loser. He’s dangerous. If you ever see him or his people, I want you to get away as fast and as safely as possible.”
“Are you serious?”
“Very serious,” Raul said with a firm nod. “From now on, whenever you’re outside the ranch you’re going to be accompanied by several guards. You listen to what they say and do what they tell you to do. That means if they say you need to leave wherever you are, you do it. Trust me when I say it’s for your protection.”
“Okay.”
The tension in Raul’s shoulders eased when Ji-Su readily agreed to be under a tighter guard than before.
“Raul?”
“Yes?”
“Can we stop talking about Cedric now?”
“I suppose we can do something else,” he teased. “What do you want to do instead?”
Ji-Su turned onto his side in the tub, the water gently sloshing back and forth with the movement. He brought a hand up from the water and placed it on Raul’s thigh, wetting his pant leg. His cheeks, already pink from the heat of the bath, turned a deeper shade of rose.
“You know what I want to do.”
Raul smiled, charmed at his pet’s mix of bold and bashful. “Hmmm... I do but I don’t want to interrupt your bath.” Uncaring that he was getting his shirt sleeve wet, he reached in to the tub to slide his hand in between Ji-Su’s thighs. “Are you sure you’re ready to get out?”
Ji-Su nodded. “I’m ready.”
The husky note to his voice made it clear he was ready for more than the end of his bath.
“Let’s get you out of there then,” Raul said as he stroked his hand up, ghosting over his lover’s cock. Ji-Su gave a soft gasp at the touch, but Raul pretended he didn’t notice. He picked him up from the tub and set him on the floor mat.