“So what’re your plans?” Chancey asked as Seamus ran a hand up his thigh.
“My plan is not to reveal me plan,” Seamus teased. “So don’t bother askin’.”
“You going to gag me to keep me silent?”
“Nope.” He slowly crawled up over Chancey’s body, leaning into a scorching kiss that left Chancey quite literally gasping for breath. “Couldn’t do that with a gag in your mouth.”
Seamus took his damn sweet time with Chancey’s body, searching him, running his hands over every inch. He tortured Chancey with slow kisses and teasing and tweaking and tonguing. When Shay finally reached for the ambitiously sized bottle of lubricant Chancey had brought with him, Chancey’s cock practically wept.
Jesus.
H.
Christ.
Seamus’s slick fingers probed, working, stretching him.
“Yes.”
Jesus H. Jesus H. Jesus H.
Seamus made an absolute production of fingering him, playing with him, driving him wild.
“Would you just put it in me?” Chancey begged.
“Mm,” Seamus said, pretending to consider. “And how would that be me in control?”
Chancey squirmed against the fingering, loving it, hating not having control of his hands, eating up the way Seamus’s eyes roved his body. He loved being on display, only for Seamus. Only ever for Seamus.
“Please.”
“I want my mouth on you instead.”
Seamus pushed his fingers deeper inside of Chancey and took him in his mouth, greedily sucking on him. Yes, fuck yes!
He’d been teased too long—brought too close to the edge. He was going to come, fuck, he was going to come! Chancey bucked up, ready to ride his orgasm, when Seamus pulled off the head. “Tell me all your secrets, Chancey Bo Clearwater.” Seamus leaned over and whispered hoarsely into his ear. “And I’ll give you release, so I will.”
“I-I was so close, Shay, you bastard!” Chancey groaned desperately.
“I know.”
Chancey needed Seamus’s hands on him again.
“That’s the whole point. So tell me something,” Seamus coaxed. “And I’ll touch you again.”
“I…I qualified for a scholarship to KU but I let it lapse. R-regret the hell outta not going.”
For his admission, he got the warm heat and hard suction of Seamus’s mouth. He wanted his hands loose so he could run his fingers through Seamus’s hair. Wanted to hold his head, because right at the highest point of pleasure—
“FUCK!” Chancey cried. “Let me come!”
“More,” Seamus insisted, and Chancey hollered as the wickedest sort of painful pleasure shot through his body. He was going to die. It would be a sex death, with his hands tied above his head. But goddamn, it was going to be a pleasurably frustrated death!
“I don’t…I don’t know. I’m an open book, Shay…I…”
“Gimme something else, or I’m,” he ran his tongue up the shaft, “Not,” a deep, wet kiss to the head, “Going,” he bobbed, “to let you.”
“That bottle thing? First time I’ve had anything up there ’cept for you.”
That seemed to break some of Seamus’s resolve to hold back because he pushed Chancey’s knees up, worked himself inside, and began to thrust. The force of it was like nothing he’d ever felt.
“Wanted to be the first inside you,” Seamus said. “But I didn’t think I’d be so lucky and so I didn’t ask.”
Chancey was barely hearing him now, all he could think was that if Seamus stopped again, he was going to die. Expire right there in the bed. Confessions…Confessions…
“I love you,” he groaned, his vision blurred from the feel of ecstasy coursing through his body. “I love you.” He said it again, louder this time. “I am in love with you, Seamus!”
Suddenly Seamus ripped out of him and everything stopped. Chancey felt as if someone had cut all power, and he were left in the pressing black void of an outage. This wasn’t the same as before. Seamus hadn’t pulled out to tease his orgasm. Something was wrong. “Wh…what?” he muttered stupidly. His cock twitched, desperate for even a finger to set off that explosion.
Seamus quietly reached over Chancey’s head and untied his hands from the post where they were hooked.
“Seamus?”
The expression on Seamus’s face was a shade of unreadable that Chancey had never seen before.
“Not like that, Chance.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to hear I am in love with you like that.”
Chancey blinked, and then his eyes widened—widened so large he wondered if he didn’t look a bit like Dee when she made her owl face. “I…really said it, didn’t I?”
“Aye, you did.”
“And I’m not even drunk.”
Chancey sat up, his hard-on wilting.
“I admit, sayin’ it with you poundin’ my backside isn’t exactly the most romantic.”
Seamus reached out and gently touched Chancey’s cheek, swiping his thumb across it. “A couple of ranch hands, Chance—and ranch hands that got going as a couple off a one-night stand, a scared-as-shit, four-thousand-mile escape, and three months of cybersex. We’re not exactly romantic people.”
“I dunno,” Chancey said. “I think the fact you roped me is kinda romantic.”
“Selfish, is what it is. I like watching you.”
“So if it ain’t the romance, then… What? You didn’t want to hear it?” Chancey should shut up, let it drop. Obviously it wasn’t the time for it. Hell, once they went their separate ways, who knew when they would see each other again.
But fuck, if it wasn’t bubbling up again like bad tequila. “But I do love you. Take it, leave it. Doesn’t change the emotion for me.”
Seamus studied him for another moment before a smile spread across his face. “That so?”
“That’s so.”
“I wanted to make sure you meant it.”
Chancey licked his lips and then leaned forward, claiming a long kiss. “If I can ride and rope, I can have sex and confess my love.”
“I should probably finish you off so you can ‘torture’ my confession out of me, huh?”
Chancey’s heart thudded. He’d occasionally let himself hope—in the same way he dreamed about riding off into the sunset and travelling the country on horseback—that Seamus might grow to love him a little someday.
“You love me, Shay?”
“So much. Didn’t I tell you? You end me.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight:
Family Ties
“No, Deidra!” Chancey spoke into his phone, his tone one of mock exasperation at Dee’s repeated pleading, which was loud and shrill enough for Seamus—lying next to him on the hotel bed, the pair of them stark naked—to hear it too. Chancey jerked the phone away and shook his head.
“Please, Daddy. It’s not even a scary movie.”
“May I?” Seamus asked, holding out his hand. Chancey passed his phone over. “Hey, Dee.”
“Seamus! Is he serious?”
“I think so. Is my brother there?”
“Yeah. Paddy?!”
Seamus flinched and moved the phone away to rub his ear.
“Hallo?”
“All right, Paddy. What the hell’s goin’ on?”
“Aidan wants to take Dee to see a film. No idea what’s on, mind, but it’ll be some teeny-bopper thing.”
“He doesn’t like those crappy films, does he?”
“God, no. But he’s taking this whole becoming an uncle thing very seriously.” Paddy’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I think he’s using Dee for practice.”
“Oh, right.” Seamus laughed. He met Chancey’s questioning gaze and nodded to indicate all was well. Chancey shrugged. “Well, if you and Aidan don’t mind…”
“Not at all. Take your time. You’re staying out tonight, aren’t you?”
“Well, we weren’t—”
“Let me put it another way for ye, Seam
us. You are staying out tonight.”
“I’ll need to check on Michael first.”
“Mike’s fine. He’s still with Lily’s brother-in-law, and he’s a therapist. I can’t imagine them getting up to much mischief.”
“OK, so…”
“If there’s any problem, I’ll call you. All right?”
Seamus took a breath, set to protest further, but Paddy ended the call before he got the chance.
“Well, there was no need for that,” Seamus grumbled, as he handed Chancey’s phone back to him and settled against the propped pillows, where they’d been lying together before Dee’s call. Chancey set his phone aside and took Seamus’s hand in his, lifting it to his mouth and delivering a slow gentle kiss to the back of it, which made Seamus sigh. “Do you need to go for a smoke?”
“Nah. Haven’t even thought about it while we been here.”
“Not even the post-coital kind?” Seamus glanced sideways, a tingle passing right through his body at the sight of Chancey’s handsome, happy smile, and the repeated realisation of being here. They would spend tonight together, and after that they had another two days of each other’s company, and Seamus was going to relish every last moment. “Does the age difference really bother you?”
“A little. You don’t care?”
“Well, it didn’t occur to me, to be honest. Being tall was always my problem. I always felt a bit of a twerp, you know? Stooping down to kiss me date. That was the only bit I thought about when I realised I had feelings for you—that you and I are nearly the same height.” Seamus chuckled to himself. “I probably shouldn’t have been thinking, oh, it’s grand I can kiss him standing up straight.”
Chancey shifted onto his hip so he was facing Seamus. He had a gleam in his eye, and it was far more than desire that had put it there. “Tell me. How long ago was it you wanted to kiss me?”
“I’m not sure exactly when, but it was a long time before our one-nighter. We talked a lot, didn’t we? Working together and down at Rack ’Em. At first, I wondered if you saw me as a threat…” Seamus paused, wondering if now was the right time to be confessing to everything that went on before he left Kansas. Fled. Skipped town. Ran away. Never said goodbye.
“Are you really in love with me, Chance?”
“I said so, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s…well, the thing is, I didn’t just want to kiss you. In fact, it was nothing so sweet and lovely as kissin’, believe me. The very first time…was the first time I saw you. You weren’t doing anything special—just raking out the stables—and, er…” Seamus felt the heat rising in his cheeks. “I tell you what, I’m glad I don’t blush the way our Paddy does.”
“Come on, Shay,” Chancey goaded. “After all we’ve gotten up to, you’re still embarrassed?” Rising to his knees, Chancey lifted one leg over Seamus and straddled him, their hands locking together in the space between them, their balls squashing against each other. Seamus peered down at their sex-exhausted—for the moment—cocks.
“I won’t lie, Chancey. If you’d thrown me to the stable floor right there and then, I wouldn’t have fought you, although you were still married.”
“Man, was it that long ago?”
“Aye, it was. So I was what, twenty-two? And you’d have been thirty-nine.”
“You thought I was younger.”
“No, actually. When you had your fortieth I was surprised, because I thought you were already in your forties. But it didn’t matter to me then any more than it does now. You’re a good-looking guy, which…is part of the reason I left.”
Chancey looked surprised.
“I had a bit of a crush on yer, Chance. Even when you were still with Kaylee. It was tough trying to stay neutral with all of the shit she put you and Dee through, especially when my intentions weren’t exactly honourable.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
Seamus grinned. “Aye. That was the idea. We were drinking buddies, pool partners, and you needed someone to vent your frustrations at. I didn’t mind at all, but it was so feckin’ hard to stand by and say nothin’.”
“You think I’m handsome?”
“Are you kiddin’ me? Do you have any idea how many times I had to go and sort myself out when you’d stop work to change your shirt? I can’t believe you didn’t notice me oglin’ ye.”
Chancey gave Seamus an assured nod, affecting arrogance, and it made Seamus laugh.
“You don’t need to lay it on, Chance, you swagger about the place like you own it, and you might as well. Tina’d be lost without you.”
“I do not swagger.”
“Oh, you do. It looks good on you. And all the lads respect you, because you know what you’re doing. Everything could be going to hell, but if you’re there, they know they’re in safe hands.” Seamus brushed his thumbs over Chancey’s palms, and added, “Rough hands, but safe nonetheless.” He tugged and Chancey fell forward, pinning Seamus’s hands either side of his head and kissing him, slowly, deeply. The kiss penetrated Seamus’s soul, and with Chancey’s weight pressing down into him, he felt complete.
Eventually they eased apart, and Seamus gazed up into Chancey’s eyes.
“I’ve been in love with you for a long time, Chance. I don’t recall an exact moment. Just this growing feeling that I wanted to be with you that turned into needing to be with you whatever the cost, and I should’ve told you that night.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because you’d have walked away.” Before Chancey could deny it, Seamus continued, “No one knows that you like men and women, and falling for you was what made me realise the same thing about myself. There was no way we could have been together, and I wasn’t man enough to take the one night and hang around. So once Tina finished paying me back, I thought it would best—”
“Whoa!” Chancey leaned up on his arms, and it looked like he was going to move away, but Seamus kept hold of him. “What d’you mean? Tina paying you back for what?”
“I loaned her money when the ranch was in trouble. That’s why it always looked like I was getting paid more than anyone else.”
“That would’ve been a lot of money.”
“Yeah, it was. Not that I’m flush, or anything. It was what my mam and dad left me, and it was just sitting in the bank. I couldn’t stand by and watch her lose the business, and see you out of a job.”
“I’d have got work.”
“On a dude ranch?” Seamus asked with a wry grin, which made Chancey scowl. “Don’t be angry with me, Chance. Tina didn’t want anyone knowing about it, or I’d have told you.”
“I’m not angry. Makes me love you even more.”
“All right. I’ll remember that in future.”
“You do that.” Chancey rolled to Seamus’s side and sat on the edge of the bed. “Think I’m gonna go for a smoke.”
“Think I’ll go shower while you’re gone, then.” Seamus swung his legs off the other side of the bed, and was halfway to sitting up when Chancey pulled him down onto his back again, so that he was lying across the bed with his head next to Chancey’s thigh. “Showing me who’s boss now, eh, Chance?” Seamus joked, but Chancey’s expression was deadly serious.
“I don’t want to say goodbye, Shay.”
“Chance…”
“If you came back…”
“Are you asking me to?”
Chancey smoothed Seamus’s cheek and shook his head. “No.” He met Seamus’s gaze and smiled. “No. For one, you’d murder Kaylee.” He stood to pull on his jeans and boots. “I don’t give a shit what she does to me, but when it happens to Dee… And she’s a great kid. I guess Kaylee didn’t have the upbringing. How would she know what it means to be a momma?”
“You cut her a lot of slack, Chance. It says a lot about who you are.”
“Yeah, well, she was just a kid herself when we got together. I always thought she was beautiful. Now all the guys are pawing at her, they can’t believe I let her get away, and I can’t st
and the sight of her.” Chancey threw on his shirt and left it unbuttoned. Seamus raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll come with ye for your smoke,” he said, grabbing his jeans. “Can’t have you showin’ off those fine pecs unless I get to publicly lay claim to ye.”
Chancey’s eyes widened. “You want to…um…go public?”
Seamus was pulling his t-shirt over his head, and he emerged laughing. “You look like your Dee, or she looks like you, I s’pose. I don’t care who knows about you and me, Chance. I don’t want to waste a single precious second.” He stepped towards the door and held out his hand. “You comin’?”
For a moment Chancey remained where he was, that same wide-eyed expression directed at Seamus’s hand. A smile tweaked the corner of his mouth, and he took a tentative step forward, and another, and another, until he was up close, his lips almost touching Seamus’s. “There’s a tender heart behind these pecs.”
“I know,” Seamus whispered. “Look after mine, and I promise I’ll never break yours.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine:
Stags and Hens
“So,” Dee said with a cat-like grin on her face. Something seemed to have changed over the course of the previous evening, while Chancey and Seamus had been at the hotel. She still fawned over Patrick, but it was Aidan she chose to sit by, and Aidan she focused the full blast of her thirteen-year-old attention on. And boy, did Aidan look lost about it.
Shouldn’t have taken her to that movie. Now you’re stuck, Chancey thought, privately amused. Though he supposed the soon-to-be Mr. Degas-Williams really had no way of knowing that a single movie ticket was all it took to buy Dee’s teenage affections.
“Dad said that he thought Paddy or Shay might get me a Guinness.”
Seamus had been standing nearby with his brother, harassing him about his matrimonial commitments.
“You’ll have to make sure you stay in shape for Aidan now, no gettin’ soft just because you’re married.”
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