Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79139 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79139 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Wyatt had been almost hilariously traumatized, but he’d apologized instead of joking as usual or asking for details, and then grabbed what he needed, plus a handful of popcorn from the coffee table, before he disappeared.
Seamus had a feeling he hadn’t even left the driveway before he called every member of the family he could reach and told them what he’d seen, because within an hour of that visit, he’d had five new messages on his phone. All casual, none of them mentioning him being caught in the act, but the calls were timed too perfectly to be a coincidence.
Bellamy was fascinated, not only by his open-door policy, but by the speed of big family gossip. “Now I wish we’d been doing something more creative. Think of how difficult it would have been for him to explain you tied up and covered in Jell-O while I spanked you.”
Seamus had laughed. “In this family? You’d have to come up with something more out-of-the-box than that.”
So he had.
Talk about creative…
Which was why this was his first night back to the bar in a few days. It should have made him anxious. Late summer was a busy season and he needed to stay on top of everything. Band bookings were more difficult and people were thirsty for his in-house brewed beers. If it continued to be this popular, he might have to use the apartment out back to expand.
In spite of that, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so relaxed. He and Bellamy had barely left the house or put on clothes in days, and Seamus had come more times than he’d thought humanly possible. He thought the fact that he was still able to walk was pretty good for a man pushing forty.
Last night Bellamy had been the one to cry mercy. “Enough, you shameless sex god. Tell them I died happy.”
Luckily he’d gotten his second wind later.
“You keep smiling at everyone else like that and your possessive new man is going to make a scene.” Fiona and Thoreau texted each other on a regular basis, so she knew about Bellamy before the family did. She’d been over the moon since her first good look at him and she’d been giving Seamus random thumbs up and fanning herself all night.
She was right. Bellamy was focused on him in a way that made him feel lightheaded. Every time Seamus tried to subtly look his way, he caught him already staring, possession and desire in his eyes. Bellamy didn’t seem to notice that anyone else existed. It was a talent that drove Seamus wild. It also made Bellamy a sitting duck for the gang of Irish thugs slowly surrounding his position.
“My family is going to make the scene,” he muttered back to Fiona, eyeing each of them in turn. “They don’t show up like this unless there’s free food or a wedding…with free food.”
Or unless they disapproved of something a family member was doing and were throwing an intervention or putting together a posse, he thought grumpily, remembering his trip with Solomon and the others to warn Declan and Trick away from his little sister.
“This is so much better than free food, Seamus.” Fiona playfully bumped his hip with her own. “I haven’t known you Finns long, but a clear pattern emerged right from the beginning, with you at the center. The on-call friend, advisor and everyone’s big brother has a sexy secret. You think they’d be able to resist finding out about the man who could tempt Seamus Finn from his status as family paragon?”
“They might scare him away.” He tried to sound as though that was the first time that thought had crossed his mind. “He has people and a few scattered cousins, but he doesn’t have much experience with family. Mine are more involved with each other’s lives than most. It’s not for everyone.” And the children weren’t even back yet.
“I spent last summer in a yurt with ten other people. Talk about having no secrets.”
“You did?” Seamus narrowed his eyes at her, genuinely perplexed. “Why?”
“Let’s not make this about me.” Fiona swirled her lip piercing thoughtfully with her tongue. “If he hasn’t had experience with family living, I suppose they’re actually doing you a favor by coming tonight.”
“You think?”
“I know. You have home and hearth written all over you with neon paint and shamrocks, old man. Like I said, you’re the center. The sooner we see how Beauty handles that the better.”
She had a point. He just wished he’d had a few more days to spend blocking out the world before he had to find out how skittish Bellamy was. “Fiona?”
“Yes, boss?”
“Beauty?”
“I heard you call him Bell, and he has a perfectly luscious French accent that sneaks out when he isn’t paying attention, so now I’m visualizing him as an erotic Disney prince in an all-male version of Beauty and the Beast.”