STORY EXCERPT

Seamus Blaecleah’s heart beat a little faster as he watched Sheriff John Riley’s truck pull to a stop in the driveway. He didn’t know why the sheriff was there, but Seamus was pretty sure it wasn’t to see him.

Sheriff Riley had been avoiding Seamus for the last few weeks, ever since they had kissed. The man almost went out of his way to stay clear of Seamus. Something about that made Seamus’s heart ache just a little. Another part of him said it was for the best. Wanting the handsome sheriff would only bring him grief.

Seamus wiped his hands on a kitchen towel, tossed the towel on the counter, and then walked to the front door. The sheriff was just climbing out of his police vehicle when Seamus opened the door and walked out onto the porch.

“Afternoon, Sheriff.”

“Seamus.” The sheriff glanced around. “Are your folks around?”

“Sorry, Sheriff, they went into town a couple of hours ago. I don’t expect them home until later tonight. Is there something I can help you with?”

“What about Rourke and Billy? Are they around?”

“No.” Seamus frowned. “What’s this all about, Sheriff?”

“I have some news for them on Ira Thornton.”

Seamus cringed at the mere mention of Ira Thornton’s name. The man was bad news and had been for years. Ira was currently sitting in a prison cell after being found guilty on two counts of attempted murder, one count of assault, and one count of kidnapping. Seamus thought more charges should have been placed against the man everyone had thought was Billy’s father, but that was all the evidence the sheriff had been able to get on the man.

“What news, Sheriff?”

“Ira Thornton and another inmate escaped custody while being transferred to another facility. They knocked the guard out and took his car. He hasn’t been spotted in the area, but I still thought it best to come out here and warn you all.”

Seamus felt the blood drain from his face, his heart pounding so loudly in his chest that he could hear it in his ears. “How in the hell did that happen?”

“Ira reported sick to the infirmary. Whatever was wrong with him was enough for the prison doctor to send Ira to the hospital, along with another sick inmate. They escaped while en route.”

This was not good, not good at all. Seamus had no doubt that Ira would come right back to Cade Creek and try to make good on the threats he had leveled against the entire Blaecleah family. The guy had said that the Blaecleah family would pay. Seamus feared the guy would keep his word.

“I appreciate you coming to warn us, Sheriff. I’ll make sure Ma and Da and everyone else get the word.”

The sheriff gripped the brim of his hat and gave Seamus a curt nod. “You do that.”

Seamus almost whimpered when the sheriff turned and started back for his truck. He didn’t want the man to leave, especially knowing that this might be the last time he saw John in a long time.

“Can I offer you a cup of coffee, Sheriff?”

“Thank you anyway, Seamus.” Short curly blond hair brushed across the sheriff’s bearded cheeks as he shook his head. “I need to be getting back to the office. No telling what might happen if I’m gone too long.”

There was nothing Seamus could say to that. If the sheriff didn’t want to stick around, Seamus couldn’t force him. Seamus gave the sheriff a smile he didn’t really feel and watched the man climb back into his vehicle.

With the swiftness that the sheriff turned his truck around and peeled out of the driveway, Seamus would have thought the guy was trying to escape from a plague outbreak or something.

Seamus watched until the sheriff’s vehicle disappeared then walked back inside the house. He was really getting tired of feeling like he had some sort of disease whenever he was around the sheriff.

It was a kiss, one simple, passionate, earth-shattering kiss—partly spurred on by fear and adrenaline after the sheriff’s car had blown up and partly due to the incredible attraction Seamus had for the handsome sheriff.

He’d been lusting after the man since the sheriff took over the job from the former sheriff. Seamus just never did anything about it until the day John came to help them when Ruben’s mother tried to kill them all.

She had wanted custody of Ruben’s daughter, Alani, so that she could gain the infant’s inheritance. When threats and intimidation hadn’t worked, she had tried to kill them. Elijah, Ruben’s lover, had been shot, the sheriff’s car blown up, and the rest of them had been in fear for their lives.

Seamus had discovered that kissing the sheriff was just as good as looking at him. The man had rocked Seamus’s world then shattered it when he said they needed to talk and then walked away and never came back.

Seamus would have left it alone and chalked it up to too much adrenaline if the sheriff hadn’t started avoiding him immediately afterward. So the sheriff wasn’t really interested. So what? It had been an honest mistake. That didn’t mean the sheriff had to treat Seamus like he had a communicable disease.

Seamus sighed and pushed a frustrated hand through his hair. He supposed it didn’t matter anyway. He’d be leaving soon, and he would only see the sheriff when he came home for the holidays.

He had thought long and hard about his decision to leave the family farm. It was a hard one. He was born here, right upstairs in his ma and da’s bedroom. All of his brothers except Lachlan, the oldest, had been born here. Lachlan was born in Ireland before Ma and Da came across the sea.

This was Seamus’s home, his family.

Even after his brothers found their lovers and got married, they all stayed, living in their own houses on the ranch. Everyone was staying except Seamus. He needed something more in his life, something he couldn’t find here on the ranch or in the town of Cade Creek, which was really too bad. He would have given serious consideration to giving his dream up if the sheriff had been interested. He wasn’t, and Seamus was leaving.

He just had to tell his family.

ADULT EXCERPT

When he had first met Seamus, Yancy had been ready for a simple fling. That was no longer true. After spending the last several days getting to know the guy, Yancy wanted more. He wanted the whole dream, or at least the one he had been fantasizing about.

Seamus started to smile again. “Turn around and let me wash your back.”

Yancy turned around and rested his forehead against the shower wall. He bit his lip to keep from groaning when he felt Seamus’s hands start to move over his back. The hesitancy in Seamus’s touch was just as sensual as the man.

When Seamus turned him around and started washing his chest, it was all Yancy could do not to drop to his knees and beg the man for more. Seamus’s lush lower lip was caught between his teeth as if the man was nervous but intent on what he was doing.

Fuck, what he wouldn’t give to have those lips wrapped around his cock.

“All you had to do was ask.” Seamus chuckled as he dropped to his knees.

Holy shit!

Had he said that out loud?

Yancy tried to keep his breath steady as he worked his way through the implications of Seamus’s words. His heart went wild, and blood rushed hot through his veins whenhe felt Seamus’s wet tongue lick his pelvic bone. A groan rose up in Yancy’s throat as arousal caught him in a vicious grip and shook him hard.

“Seamus, please,” Yancy pleaded as he humped his hips toward Seamus, an anxious whine falling from his lips. He gritted his teeth when Seamus just chuckled at him.

A moment laterYancy’s needy cry echoed through the shower stall as the man’s lips wrapped around his hard cock. He had never felt anything so fantastic in his life. He could feel every movement, every lick, every sweet caress. Yancy could almost feel the very air around him moving over his sensitive skin.

He felt flushed, hot, and needy. Fire raced through Yancy’s body, melting him from the inside out. He didn’t know what Seamus would to do next, and it drove him crazy. His heartbeat throbbed in his ears as he waited for Seamus’s next move. He just wished the man would hurry the hell up.

Yancy was about to go out of his ever-loving mind.

He groaned and started panting when something brushed against his balls. He spread his legs, giving Seamus more access. He loved having his balls played with, sucked on, tugged, anything.

His body shook. Red-hot need rushed through his body like a tidal wave and crashed together in his cock when Seamus suddenly deep-throated him. Yancy growled as he felt the tip of his cock hit the back of the man’s throat. Using his hand to push his hair back, Yancy watched Seamus as the man moved his head back up and down his cock.

It was an alluring sight, one he hoped to see again and again—for the rest of his life.

“Fuck, Seamus,” Yancy shouted, “don’t stop.”

Yancy’s body stiffened as Seamus’s mouth sank even further down on his cock. Seamus swallowed it until Yancy felt the man’s nose brush against his short, curly hairs right before Seamus began to move his mouth along Yancy’s hard length.

“Oh, fuck,” Yancy whimpered as the man’s slight hum sent small vibrations through his cock. He tangled his hands in Seamus’s hair, holding him in place as he fucked the world’s most perfect mouth.

He could feel his balls drawing up close to his body. He knew he was on the edge of an intense orgasm.Yancy couldn’t believe the hotness he felt, the exquisite pleasure. It just kept going higher and higher.

“Oh, Seamus, gonna…” Yancy cried out as a heavy pressure built in his balls. It moved up to the base of his cock then erupted out the top as Yancy found his release. Yancy shouted as he came, flooding Seamus’s mouth and throat with hot, salty liquid. Seamus sucked down every last drop until Yancy melted into the shower stall.

When Seamus lifted his head, Yancy stared down at him, a little dazzled, uncertain what to think or even how to think. Yancy’s fingers trembled as he reached down and trailed them over the side of Seamus’s face.

“Thank you.”

Seamus’s face flushed bright red. “You’re welcome.”

“Can I return the favor?” Yancy was confused by the sudden embarrassment that he could see in Seamus’s green eyes right before the man dropped them to look at the floor. “Seamus?”

“I kind of…um…well, when you…I…”

Yancy suddenly read through Seamus’s stuttered words, and he felt like shouting to the rooftops. He could feel small pants of Seamus’s breath tickling his abdomen. The man’s breath was coming out raggedly, softly, nervously.

He pulled Seamus to his feet then tugged at his neck until their lips were only an inch apart, and thenclaimed his lips in a magnificent kiss filled with passion and desire and a need so great that it burned Yancy to his very core.

Yancy moaned. His body tightened involuntarily, every bone and muscle in him reaching for more of Seamus’s sweet taste, the hot draw of his lips. He pushed between Seamus’s lips with his tongue, wanting entrance.

Seamus’s deep needy groan as the man melted in his arms was all Yancy needed to make this moment perfect. Seamus tentatively reached out and grabbed Yancy’s arms, gripping them tightly as he returned the kiss with a passion that made Yancy ache all over again.

When Yancy finally lifted his head, his heart skidded to a halt and then began to pound erratically when he saw Seamus peering intently up at him, his pupils dark pools, mesmerizing and endless.

“Are you okay?”

Seamus’s face flushed again, but he nodded. “I’m fine.”

“Is that invitation to breakfast still open?”

“Yeah.”

Yancy cupped Seamus’s chin in his hand, tilting his head so that their eyes met. “Have I ever told you how sexy you are?”

“Once or twice.”

“Then let me say it again. You, Seamus Blaecleah, are one of the sexiest men I have ever laid eyes on.”