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)
When they collapsed side by side on the mat to catch their breath, staring up at the ceiling of the basement in stunned, satisfied silence, Bellamy started to laugh.
“Are you trying to get back at me for the first time we did this?” Seamus panted, unable to stop his answering smile. “Let me apologize now, because it’s not great for my ego.”
Bellamy gasped, his hand flopping down to reach for his. “I’m laughing because I came so hard I thought I was going to die. I think I saw the light, Seamus, I swear to you. And then I realized that this was perfect. This is how I want to be found when I finally go in my late nineties.”
Seamus sent him a dubious look. “On the floor in a basement, covered in baby oil?”
“Exactly.”
“You’re a lunatic.”
“You may be right. But you love it. You said so.”
He did?
Shit. He did.
Chapter Thirteen
Landing in an hour. Get the kids and Vini ready. I have a surprise.
Seamus put his phone down carefully, chastising himself for the excitement that swamped him with Bellamy’s text. He’d only been gone for a few days. It was no big deal.
Except it was.
They’d been inseparable for three weeks now, mostly because the man refused to leave and kept claiming squatter’s rights or ignoring him or—even better—distracting him every time he suggested it.
Bellamy had been there for the first day of school, he was already helping Jake with his more advanced math homework and he’d sung every song from Beauty and the Beast at least twenty times at Penny’s command. A lesser man would have run screaming for that alone.
And then there was the dog. The strange-looking puppy the kids decided to name Vini after Jeremy’s creation had waddled over to Bellamy right away, curling up on his chest as he hummed it to sleep. Wes had been fascinated, and Little Sean had been upset that he was still too small to chase or hug too tightly, but Seamus had been fucking enchanted.
The last two days that he’d been in New York for business had been harder than Seamus was willing to admit. He was still just as busy with his own life. Still surrounded by children and to-do lists that never seemed to end. But now he knew what it felt like to share it all, to have someone to curl up with at the end of a long, demanding day. Someone who couldn’t stop touching him. He’d felt Bellamy’s absence more than he’d expected to.
But he’d used the time wisely. While he was gone, Seamus had told his parents about him. It had been incredibly anticlimactic because, just like Thoreau, they already seemed to know what Seamus had only discovered about himself in Ireland.
“Owen was a surprise to everyone because, well you know how he was with the women.” His mother had blushed when she said that. “But you were different from the beginning. If you weren’t with the family, you kept to yourself, reading a book. So sensitive and kind.”
Shawn nodded thoughtfully. “And you never dated unless your brother talked you into it.”
“Or spent too much time in the shower.”
His father snorted. “Yeah, the shower was really a dead giveaway. Owen and Stephen both lived in there as soon as they hit puberty. Went through conditioner like you wouldn’t believe. Like we didn’t know what they were up to.”
“Shawn, stop. Look how red his ears are getting,” his mother scolded lightly.
Seamus scowled at them. He’d “showered” more than they knew. Not that he ever wanted to talk about that with his parents. “You didn’t know anything. You tried to get Mira to date me and you were thrilled when I told you Presley was pregnant.”
“Well, of course,” his mother seemed surprise. “You’re an amazing father. Everyone who saw you with Jake knew that.”
“You’re right. We never knew for sure, son, but the point is, we support you now. I’m just glad you’re finally having some fun. Whoever it’s with. It’s never too late to enjoy your life.”
“Thanks Dad.” Now he felt old and predictably gay.
Bellamy’s reward to him for finally following through had been an unforgettable phone sex session that had made him impatient to see him in person.
Everything seemed unforgettable now. Every day felt like it needed to be saved and put on a shelf so he would be able to look at it when he was alone again.
The special Finn Again he’d asked for to make up for the one they’d missed had been full of laughter. Bellamy had entertained them all with stories of his experiences in other countries, and his lifelong goal to try something new everywhere he went. The only people missing had been Ken and Solomon. But Bellamy didn’t seem to care that he hadn’t seen Tanaka since he arrived, so Seamus let it go, hoping he was just busy and not avoiding them.