Page 32 of Seamus's Basement
“You can’t fix all my problems.” At that point, he was pushing back more out of reflex than anything else.
“Watch me,” Seamus rasped, immediately adding smoking hot to the list of reasons DJ needed to get out of that bed.
“I’m going to make breakfast.” He tried to wiggle away. “You said you liked that casserole yesterday.”
“I did and I put the leftovers in the fridge. We can eat them later.” He pulled DJ closer. “If you don’t stop moving, I’m going to roll on top of you and pin you to this bed until you go back to sleep.”
Now he was naked and hard in bed with his smoking hot husband; sleep was going to be impossible. He wasn’t going to out muscle Seamus so he’d wait him out. He stilled, relaxed his body, and took slow deep breaths, hoping Seamus would be lulled back to sleep. Whether his efforts worked or not, DJ would never know because, when he opened his eyes to check, he was in bed alone and, according to his phone, it was one in the afternoon.
“Shit!” He scrambled to a sitting position and then winced in pain when his body protested the fast movement. “Fuck.”
“What’s wrong?” Seamus’s voice reached him seconds before he entered the room.
“I overslept!” He dragged his fingers through his hair and tried to get his bearings. “I never oversleep.”
“You didn’t oversleep.”
“It’s one o’clock!”
“You don’t have anywhere to be.”
He considered that and then flopped back down. “I don’t have anywhere to be,” he repeated. When was the last time he could say that? He honestly couldn’t remember.
“How do you feel?” Seamus sat beside him and ran his gaze over his body. “Turn over so I can see your back.”
He slowly flipped over, no longer bothering with protests. They were a waste of time when he would ultimately give in anyway.
Seamus sucked in air and then huffed, “God.” Barely making contact, he ghosted his palm over DJ’s back. “I hate that he did this to you.”
There wasn’t anything he could say that would improve the situation so DJ stayed silent and let himself enjoy the care he was receiving.
“What do you want to eat? I’ll bring it to you.”
Smiling, he turned back over and placed his hand on Seamus’s. “I don’t need breakfast in bed. I’ll go out there and eat in a little bit.”
“Okay.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, just sharing space. It was nice. DJ had never done that with anyone. For that matter, he hadn’t ever spent the night with anyone. Quick hookups were the only thing he’d had time for and even those had been few and far between.
“Why did you choose Hope?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I know why you left Claddagh, but why Hope? Did you know someone out here?”
“No.” Seamus shook his head. “We grew up on the East Coast and I wanted something totally different. ‘Go west, young man.’ That sort of thing.”
DJ nodded. “But why Hope?”
“Well”—Seamus flipped his hand over and rubbed his fingertips back and forth over DJ’s wrist—“as much as I wanted to leave home, I liked living in a small town, so I researched places in Arizona that were around the same size as Claddagh.When I came across Hope, my gut told me it was right, so I moved here.”
“That’s it? You found a random small town out West and moved there sight unseen?”
“Yep. And I’m glad I did. My gut has never steered me wrong.”
“That’s kind of crazy. Especially for someone in the community.”
“I’m a trailblazer.” Seamus grinned. “But it all worked out.”
