“Shit.” It hurt. God, it hurt but he needed it. Needed to be filled the way the man in the porno had begged to be. It was like a wall inside him had fallen down and the flood of arousal was too great for anything less than everything. He couldn’t get deep enough. He couldn’t thrust his hips hard enough.
Fuck me. God, fuck me, please.
Demir’s dark good looks and haunting eyes sparkled with the knowledge of what he’d done to Seamus with a single look. Laughed at him for his weakness while Seamus grunted and groaned in the quiet hotel room, his release coming in powerful spurts over his hand and onto the spotless floor beneath him.
When he could breathe again, need was replaced by embarrassment and determination.
“Jet lag,” he muttered, wiping up the mess he’d made on the floor before washing his hands and unpacking. Sure. Jet lag. That was all it was. A good night’s sleep and some food, and his momentary weakness would be a memory.
He didn’t believe a word of it but he’d fake it until he did. He’d hardly be at the hotel anyway so he’d likely never see Demir again. He’d come to visit Murphy’s Brewery and his friend Gill, who he’d been emailing with for over a year.
This was a man’s vacation, full of business discussions and brewing talk. He’d leave the gay romance to the professionals, since he didn’t have a fucking clue what he was doing. Owen and Jeremy would make their mark on Ireland and Seamus would stay safe in Galway, learning how to improve his bar.
And if he had anymore fantasies about the stranger downstairs?
No one else would ever know.
Chapter Three
“Are you free this afternoon? I’m only asking because I think we should get married.”
Gillian Murphy threw back her head and laughed, her dark curls dancing around her expressive face and making him smile. “You’re great crack, Seamus. Four days ago you were fuming over me not being a man and now you’re proposing marriage. How could I pledge my troth to such a mercurial man?”
She was one hell of a woman.
Gill Murphy, the man he’d been emailing back and forth for months about life, his kids and his plans for Finn’s, was no man at all. She was the only daughter of Gable Murphy, the owner of Murphy’s brewery and pub where he’d come to observe so he could start a microbrewery in his own bar.
Her breasts were a shock, not because of what she did for a living, but because she’d never given him a hint about her gender in any of their emails and he’d never thought to ask. He shouldn’t have assumed, but luckily she hadn’t held that against him.
It was surprising was how easy it was to be with her, in spite of her omission. After that first day, he felt like he’d known her his entire life. He liked her, more than he’d liked anyone that wasn’t family in a really long time.
It was a relief to know he could still feel this way, especially after his experience with Demir at the hotel. That he could still find himself attracted to someone for who they were. That the feelings didn’t overwhelm him and take away his control.
That they weren’t all about sex.
With Gill it was exactly how he’d imagined attraction should be. An instant connection. A perfect fit.
And she knew everything there was to know about brewing beer. According to her father, she was the only one of his five children who took their business seriously. Which could explain why they were in some kind of financial trouble she didn’t want to tell Seamus about. He’d only found out because her father liked to talk after he’d had a few drinks in the evening. He’d discovered that Gable’s sons were “driving him into the poorhouse” because they enjoyed spending the profits more than doing the work involved in bringing it in.
They were all artists, he’d told Seamus with a scowl. A painter, a musician, an inventor and a poet who was more Seuss than Yeats as far as Gable could tell. None of them made a dime and they refused to give up their dreams just to help keep their family business afloat.
But Gill was too determined to let them go under, and too gregarious to let anything keep her down for long. She had a confidence that reminded him of his brother’s wife, Tasha. Though, as far as Seamus knew, Gill wasn’t as obsessed with kink or lasagna.
The more time he spent with her, the more obvious it became that if he had a soul mate in this world? She was it. He had no doubt she would fit right in with his family, and she made him laugh. Made him feel good about himself.