Stormy Glenn - Blaecleah Brothers 06 - Cowboy Convenience (3 page)

Seamus grinned as he watched Yancy eat. It felt good to see someone enjoy his food so much. That didn’t happen often. The kitchen was kind of Ma’s domain, and no one was stupid enough to fight her for it. That didn’t give Seamus much chance to show off his cooking skills, which he had learned from both of his folks.

“You didn’t answer my question, Yancy. What do you do for fun around here?” Seamus gulped when Yancy’s massive shoulders moved when the man shrugged. Just what did the guy eat to get so big? Boulders?

“I spend a lot of time working, Seamus,” Yancy finally said. “On my downtime, I like to pretty much veg.”
“Veg?” Seamus knew what the word meant, but he wasn’t sure he remembered ever doing it. Being lazy on a working ranch just wasn’t allowed. There was always something to do—muck stalls, stack firewood, clean tack, something. “Define veg.”
Yancy’s jaw dropped as he gaped at Seamus. “You’ve never vegged before?”
“Not really.”
“Oh, honey, you do not know what you’re missing.”
Seamus felt the corner of his mouth quirk up as he smiled. “So, show me.”
He didn’t exactly understand the sudden restless and pinched look that came over Yancy’s face, but it was gone before he could truly define it. “Okay, how about I show you around the neighborhood since you’ll be staying here.”
“That’s vegging?”
Yancy shrugged, his massive shoulders moving again, only this time, every muscle was on display as the man didn’t have a shirt on. Seamus stared as he racked his brain trying to remember what in the hell they were talking about and why it mattered.
Damn
.
“Seamus?”
Seamus glanced up, his face flushing when he realized that Yancy had been talking to him and he had totally spaced out. Hell, who wouldn’t when faced with all of those delicious muscles?
“You okay, man?”
“Yeah.” Seamus smiled brightly as he grabbed for the empty serving dishes on the table, stood, and started carrying them toward the sink. “I was just thinking about this mysterious vegging thing you were talking about. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of it before.”
Yancy laughed, which was an incredibly good look on the man. It made his smoky-gray eyes seem a little brighter as they danced with life. “You’ll love it, believe me.”
“Well”—Seamus waved his hand toward the hallway—“why don’t you go jump in the shower and get dressed while I take care of these dishes. Then, we can head out and you can show me this veg thing of yours.”
“Oh, I can help,” Yancy said as he shoved another piece of cinnamon roll into his mouth and grabbed his plate.
“Yancy, go. I have this.”
“But—”
Seamus cocked an eyebrow as he turned around, leaning back against the counter and holding the spatula in his hand up in a threatening manner. “Yancy Butler, do I need to repeat myself?”
The astonished, slack-jawed look on the man’s face was well worth the feeling Seamus got that he was somehow psychically channeling his Ma. Seamus pointed the spatula toward the hallway. “Go.”
“Yes, sir.”
Seamus pressed his lips together to keep from laughing as Yancy leaned forward as far as he could and gingerly set his plate down on the counter then ran out of the kitchen like the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels.
He waited until he heard the shower come on before turning back to the sink to finish rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher. He had just gotten the last of the food put away and the table wiped off when Yancy walked out of the bedroom dressed in the tightest damn pair of jeans and T-shirt Seamus had ever seen. They were molded to Yancy’s body in a way that should have been illegal.
Seamus swallowed hard to keep from choking on his tongue.
“I was thinking we could head down to the boardwalk and look around at some of the booths they have set up there. After that, it should be just about lunchtime, and there’s this little sidewalk café I want to take you to.”
Well, obviously oxygen was getting to Yancy’s brain despite the constrictive clothing. Seamus blinked to get the sexy vision out of his eyes, and his mind out of the gutter, then nodded his head.
“Sounds like a plan.” Seamus turned back to the sink and proceeded to rinse his hands off just to give himself something to do besides ogle Yancy—because fuck if the man wasn’t ogle worthy. He was supposed to be here to start a new life, not screw around with the guy nice enough to give him a place to sleep for a few nights.
“Is everything okay, Seamus?”
“What?” Seamus glanced over his shoulder to see Yancy staring at him, a critical glint of concern in his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
“I don’t know. You seem kind of distracted.” Yancy glanced away, his eyes going down to the floor. “Thinking about the sheriff again?”
Right, the sheriff.
Seamus had forgotten that not only had he told Yancy about his crush on Cade Creek’s sheriff but the man had been witness to the kiss of the century. “No.” Seamus shook his head because the sheriff had been the farthest thing from his mind. “I was just thinking about all of the things I needed to get packed to bring out here.”
And how fucking sexy you look in those clothes.
“Oh, good then.”
“Will I need a jacket?” Seamus asked just to change the subject.
“Naw,” Yancy said casually, his voice sounding a lot more normal. “The weather has been pretty good for the last several days, and we won’t be out all day. Besides, we’re not going that far. If we need our coats, we’ll just come back and get them.”
“Okay.” Seamus turned off the water and quickly dried his hands. When he couldn’t figure out what else to do, he turned to face Yancy. “So, where are we headed, and how will it teach me to veg?”
Yancy’s gray eyes twinkled with amusement as he laughed. “Come on, country boy. Let me show you how we do it in the city.”
Wow, was that a leading statement, one that Seamus chose to ignore. He followed Yancy out the front door, waiting while the man locked up, then the two of them headed down the sidewalk toward the boardwalk. Seamus kept his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans to keep from grabbing for Yancy.
It wasn’t easy.
“Have you lived here long?” he asked just to have something else to concentrate on rather than his raging hormones.
“In this apartment, you mean?”
Seamus nodded.
“A couple of years, I guess. I used to have a really nice place across town, but I gave that up when the bills became bigger than my paycheck.”
“I can help out with the bills while I’m here.” Seamus was no moocher.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m good.”
“Seriously, Yancy, if I’m camping out at your place, then I should help out with the bills. Da would have my hide if I leached off of you.”
Yancy gave Seamus a casual wave, telling him that he wasn’t going to win this round. “Seamus, you couldn’t leach if you tried. I’m not worried about it.”
Good god, the man was stubborn. “Yancy—”
“If you feel like you have to help out, make me some more of those yummy cinnamon rolls. Those were the bomb.”
Seamus blinked. “Did you just use the
bomb
word?”
Yancy’s white teeth flashed in the sunlight when he tilted his head and grinned. “Yep.”
Seamus rolled his eyes. “City boy.”
“Country mouse.”
Seamus grinned. He liked this side of Yancy. He just hadn’t expected it. Yancy used to be a big-city detective, and now he investigated the nasty relationships of people who couldn’t keep their dicks in their pants. The very last thing Seamus expected was for Yancy to be a kid at heart.
“I love coming down here on the weekends,” Yancy said as he rounded a corner and the boardwalk opened up in front of them.
People were moving about their business, some walking and talking, others visiting with each other, and even more people were stopping at the booths that lined the boardwalk, buying handcrafted items of every sort.
“Wow.”
“This is nothing. On the weekends, there are twice as many booths. They have a farmer’s market down here every Saturday and Sunday. There’s music, street plays, and enough food to feed a small country.”
“This is so cool,” Seamus said as he glanced around. The smells alone were intense. The scent of meat barbequing filled the air as they walked by one booth. Fresh-baked pastries came from another. Seamus was pretty sure he even smelled a hint of dark chocolate lingering in the air.
“They need something like this back at Cade Creek.”
Seamus could think of several people that could open up booths in a weekend marketplace. Ma and Billy could sell their tomatoes. Mark Bozeman could sell the toys he hand-carved. Da might even be able to sell his cinnamon rolls. Seamus knew he’d buy them.
Aside from all the food, they could have people come and play music. It would be great for the community. Besides the weekly potlucks at the church, there weren’t too many regular get-togethers in Cade Creek. A weekend market thing would be perfect.
“I’ll have to mention this to Ma and Da on Sunday. I think something like this would be great for Cade Creek.”
“I know I love it. There’s always something to do or see even when it’s a weekday.”
Seamus followed Yancy down the boardwalk, stopping here and there to buy a gift he thought someone in his family might like. He was surprised by the wide variety of items that could be found, especially if this was only half the booths. He couldn’t wait to see what a weekend looked like.
“Thirsty?” Yancy asked after a couple of hours.
“I could use something to drink.”
“We can grab something right down over here.”
Curious about the mysterious grin on Yancy’s face, Seamus followed him to a brightly colored booth several feet away. Seamus was a little shocked by the small guy behind the counter, what with his multiple piercings, spiked green hair, and the thick black eyeliner around his eyes, but whatever.
“Hey, Yancy, what’s it gonna be today?”
Yancy grinned. “Hey, Chester, this is my friend Seamus. He’s from Cade Creek. I’m introducing him to the big-city life.”
Chester?
Seriously?
This short little guy’s name was Chester. He didn’t look like a Chester. He looked like a Zippy or a Zane, something quite the opposite of
Chester
.
“Hey, man,” Chester said as he held out a hand, “it’s good to meet a friend of Yancy’s. He doesn’t bring them around too often.”
Good to know.
“Seamus Blaecleah.” He reached out and shook Chester’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Oh, a polite one.” Chester’s lyrical laughter filled the air. “Maybe you can teach our Yancy a thing or two about manners.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” One corner of Seamus’s mouth curved up as he looked Yancy’s tall, muscular body up and down. “I kind of like him just the way he is.”
“He is rather yummy, isn’t he?”
Seamus’s head snapped around. His mouth opened, ready to chew into Chester until he saw the tall thin man that walked up behind him. He wrapped his arm around Chester and planted a kiss on his cheek before smiling down at Seamus. It was only as they both leaned on the counter that Seamus saw the matching gold bands on their ring fingers.
“Oh, this is my husband, Oscar,” Chester said as he turned to stare up at the large man behind him with complete adoration on his face.
Seamus sent the man a smile. “Hello.”
“This is a friend of Yancy’s from the country, babe,” Chester said. “He’s is showing him the big city.”
“Cool.”
Seamus got the impression that Chester was the talker in that relationship.
“We’ll take two guava sunrise smoothies,” Yancy said as if he were about to give Seamus the biggest treat of his life.
Huh? A guava what?
Yancy must have seen the confusion on Seamus’s face because he started to laugh. “You’ll love it, Seamus. Trust me. Chester and Oscar only use fresh fruit and all-natural ingredients in their smoothies, none of that crap they use in fast-food joints.”
“Do you want whey this time, Yancy?”
“Naw, just give it to me straight.”
What in the hell was
whey
? Seamus was afraid to ask. “Two guava sunrises coming up.”
Seamus watched as Chester added ice, guava, raspberries, strawberries, orange juice, some sort of energy mix, and a powder to a blender then mixed it all together. He poured the substance into two cups then handed them out to Seamus and Yancy.
Yancy dug right in, sucking his through a straw until his eyelashes began to flutter and the man groaned, pressing his fingers against his eyeballs. “Oh, brain freeze.”
Seamus laughed as he slowly sucked up a sip of his own drink. He was mildly surprised by the burst of flavor that floated across his tongue. Apparently, all-natural ingredients and fresh fruit tasted damn good blended together.
Seamus continued to sip on his smoothie as he walked beside Yancy down the boardwalk. He couldn’t remember the last time he had had such a good time. Things like this just didn’t happen in Cade Creek, and they certainly didn’t happen to him.
Maybe coming to the city wasn’t such a bad idea. He had a nice place to stay, some new friends, and it seemed like he had an old friend as well. And if the looks Yancy kept giving him were any indication, Yancy wanted to be more than a friend. He had hinted at it before, but Seamus had shrugged it off as Yancy’s natural flirty nature.
He could have been wrong.
“Are you seeing anyone?” Seamus asked as casually as he could, considering his nerves were jumping all over the place.
Yancy sputtered, choking on his smoothie. “Uh, no, not really.”
“Not really?” That didn’t answer Seamus’s question.
“I…uh…I’ve been out on a few dates here and there, but the PI business doesn’t leave me a lot of time for a social life.”
“Oh.” Well, shit, there went that idea.
“Of course.” A wide smile began to cross Yancy’s lips. “If I had a good enough reason, I could always rearrange my schedule. I do work for myself, you know.”
Seamus’s breath hitched in his throat as he watched a sensual light coming to life in Yancy’s smoky-gray eyes. “Oh yeah? And just what would do you consider a good enough reason?”
Yancy just winked then continued walking.
Seamus started after him, trying to decipher the look that had been in Yancy’s eyes and what it might mean for him, then took after the man when he realized Yancy was nearly to the end of the block.
He caught up with Yancy right before he turned the corner. Yancy didn’t say anything, just kept walking, but Seamus could feel the man’s eyes watching him. He was just too nervous to look up and meet Yancy’s gaze.
They walked like that for a while longer, Yancy taking Seamus to booths here and there, introducing him to people he knew. After a while, Seamus forgot to be nervous and went back to enjoying himself.
By the time the sun began to set, the evening crowd had moved into the area. People who had worked all day long were coming out to have a good time. Just as Yancy stopped and turned toward him, Seamus’s stomach growled.
“Well.” Yancy chuckled. “I guess that answers that question.”
“What question?”
“Whether you were ready for dinner or not.”
“Yeah.” Seamus felt his face flush as he rubbed his stomach. “I guess I am.”
Yancy grinned. “Come on, the Crab Shack is right over here.”
The Crab Shack was not what Seamus expected. Its name was simple enough, maybe even too simple. It hinted at the place being a seafood joint. The interior of the quaint sidewalk bar and grill was anything but simple.