Chapter 21 #2
He had a feeling Ace Porter would have preferred his son to go to college and be a lawyer or something.
Then again, maybe not. Ace was getting more Western all the time.
“You doing okay?” Seamus put a hand on his leg under the table, the touch warm and firm, and he grinned.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”
“You just seemed to be wandering a little bit.”
“Just chasing trains.” He did that sometimes, wandering off in his own thoughts. Dawson was used to being kind of an island, and it was still an odd thing to be connecting with Seamus in some ways.
“Well, you should eat your steak. It looks amazing.”
He glanced at Nick, who was busily chatting with Sterling and Colby, a big grin on his face. “You want a bite?”
“Oh, my god, yes.”
He got a bite and quickly transferred it to Seamus’s plate. Seamus snapped it up like a dog getting his very first treat.
A moan sounded. “Ugh, that is so good.”
“I’ll take you out for steak without them one of these days, baby.”
“We’ll do it when I have to bulk up for a role. Eat a lot of beef. It happens sometimes.”
He laughed, but he skipped the obvious reference he could have made.
“I saw that look on your face.” Seamus was laughing too. “Trust me when I say that I much prefer anything you give me to something I can get from a restaurant.”
His cheeks heated, and just like that, he was squirming in his seat trying not to show he was halfway aroused already by nothing more than those words.
“You behave yourself. We have a long time before we can get away together.”
“Mmm. Bummer.” Seamus pouted, but then he patted Dawson’s leg. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“Oh, you can be a little naughty, but not to the point where I embarrass myself.”
“That’s a fine line.” Seamus sat back and forked up some broccoli, which was definitely not sexy and did help deflate things a bit.
They spent another hour and a half to two hours sitting around chatting and eating dessert.
When it came out, he snuck Seamus a couple of bites of that too, because damn, it was good shit.
It was some kind of cake with cherries and stuff in it, and this fluffy frosting he wasn’t even sure he could describe.
Finally though, the younger kids drifted out—probably to go have a beer at the bar or something. Then Sterling was there clapping him on the back. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dawes. Mr. Seamus, it was nice to meet you.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, and you, Colby.” Seamus included Sterling’s partner in the niceties.
Dawson got up to give them both a hug. These were some of his best friends in the world. “Night, you two. Don’t get run over by those little ones on your way out.”
Sterling chuckled. “They are so young, aren’t they?”
“Lord yes.” He winked at everyone at large. “I think probably I’m going to take this one home too and let him put his foot up.”
Seamus nodded. “You know you’re both welcome to stay at the house when you’re in town. Just let me know. I’ve got plenty of room.” Seamus winked. “And there’s a private pool that we don’t have to share.”
Seamus looked at Dawson, who shrugged. “You know you’re welcome. It’s a great house.”
Sterling’s face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. “Well, if you don’t mind, we’ll stay at the hotel tonight, but we’d be tickled as hell to stay with you. Yeah, Colby?”
“Whatever you want, babe.” Colby had aged into one of those cowboys who was quiet and watchful until a guy screwed up, and then he was like a rain of fire, like a dragon whose entire purpose was to burn you to the ground and leave you nothing more than a pile of ash.
It was kind of fun because he wasn’t working for Sterling anymore, so he didn’t have to worry about it.
“Good deal. Well, tomorrow, when you check out, you can just come to the house after the event. I’d love to have you.”
Sterling nudged Dawson and grinned at him. “Look at you, hooking up with a Hollywood movie star, getting me invitations to houses with private pools. Hoo boy.”
“Shut up, you ass.”
Like Sterling and Colby didn’t live in a goddamn mansion in the middle of a ranch. And Colby had his pool there, but it wasn’t going to be like Seamus’s looking over the Hollywood hills. That was fun.
He would be proud to have Sterling and Colby come and stay and see how Seamus was day-to-day, not just when he was on like he was tonight.
“We’ll see you tomorrow then, buddy.”
“Yes, sir. Good night.” He and Sterling shook hands, and Dawson held up his phone. “I can text you in the morning.”
Not that he wouldn’t see Sterling again at the event, but they would have to check out of the hotel and have a place to put their bags and stuff. So he would do his best to work it out.
Worse came to worst, they could leave their stuff in the truck. And then follow them back to the house after the event.
Seamus hoofed it out of the restaurant. He even managed to be up and perky until the second the door of the big black car closed, and then he went pale and sank into the seat.
“Hurtin’ pretty good, are you?”
Seamus nodded. “Just tired. I’ll be fine. It’s just an ankle.”
“We’ll get home and we’ll put it up.” Nick winked at him. “I feel really confident with Dawson dealing with things because you know, he’s been whacked a lot. I have to tell you, man, that’s crazy watching you work. Totally different than the little bulls at the school.”
Seamus took a deep, deep breath. “It’s like they want to hurt you.”
Dawson detected no lies there. “Every so often you’ll get one that does. Most of the time they’re just doing their job, but there have been a few who really just wanted to hurt somebody.”
Seamus took his hand, twining their fingers together as Nick shook his head. “Well, I was impressed. You’ve got a tight team. It was really cool to watch.”
“And I have to tell you that lady, Dali’s wife? Maria her name is?”
Dawson bobbed his chin.
“She’s the size of a house. How far along is she?”
He chuckled. “Six months, but there’s two of them in there.”
Seamus shook his head and grinned. “Oh, oh wow, two?”
“Yep, two little boys. They’re so excited. This is their first, and he just can’t hardly bear it, he’s so excited.”
Seamus leaned his head back, closed his eyes. “Oh, they’ll have to let us know what they need, and we’ll send it. There’s got to be a registry, right?”
Dawson shrugged. Like he’d know. “I have no idea.”
“No worries, we’ll tell Jess to deal with it. She can send something from us.”
Dawson shook his head because Seamus had people for everything, and it made him laugh. “That would be fine, honey.”
Dawson sort of pulled Seamus over to him, so he was leaning against him and hoping he could offer some moral support, if nothing else. It also made him happy to hold Seamus, to hope it made him feel better.
“Mm, you’re so warm,” Seamus said, smiling against his shoulder.
Nick and Topher shared a smiling glance, and that was kind of it until they got back to the house.
He hustled Seamus inside. They said goodnight to Topher and Nick so he could take Seamus straight to bed.
If they didn’t want to sleep right away, they could watch a movie or just chitchat, but he wanted to get Seamus with his foot up and not have to make him move too much again for the rest of the night.
Once he was dressed in soft sweats and snuggled up to Dawson’s side, Seamus shifted around until he was comfortable with his foot up on a pillow.
Seamus sighed. “Today was great, babe.”
“Yeah? Not too much for you?”
“Oh, I’m beat, but it was totally worth it to meet your people and to watch you work. You’re stunning. And I can’t wait to go back and do it again tomorrow.”
He stroked Seamus’s hair and then kissed the top of his head. “Tomorrow, you won’t have to wait and stay through dinner. We’ll come back home. Have some kind of barbecue or something with Sterling and Colby.”
“I’ll tell Aaron. He can make those shrimp things that you like and the chicken.”
“Sounds perfect, babe.” He was so proud to be with Seamus, so happy deep inside, and he wanted everyone to know it.
“Thank you,” Seamus said softly.
“For what?” Dawson asked, pulling back enough for Seamus to look up at him and meet his gaze.
“For including me in your life. Nobody’s ever done that before. They’ve always just kind of borrowed mine.”
“I intend to share everything with you, Seamus. Hopefully that doesn’t sound creepy.”
Seamus laughed and pinched his nipple, which made it sting. But he knew Shay wasn’t up for anything energetic tonight.
“Not creepy at all. In fact, that sounds perfect.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Dawson kissed Seamus’s head again. “Go to sleep, baby. I can tell you’re so tired.”
Seamus yawned hard enough that his jaw cracked and he nodded. “Okay. Love you.”
His heart raced. Dawson tried to stay calm. “I love you too, baby. Good night.”
He felt it when Seamus dropped off, but Dawson stayed awake for quite a while after that, knowing he wasn’t ever going to get this moment again.
Dawson needed to savor it while he could, and then he would look for the next moment, because there were going to be thousands of them.