CHELSEA–ONE YEAR LATER

CHELSEA: It’s sunny today. Is it sunny where you are?

SEAMUS: Yes baby, it’s sunny. But it’s always sunny when I’m talking to you.

CHELSEA: You’re so corny sometimes. No one knows that about you except me.

SEAMUS: Don’t tell anyone.

CHELSEA: I miss you.

SEAMUS: Miss you more, babe. But you know that.

CHELSEA: Only 2 more sleeps.

SEAMUS: 2 more terrible, lonely sleeps.

CHELSEA: Did I tell you I was planning on spending 90% of my time naked?

SEAMUS: Good God, woman. I’m supposed to conduct a site meeting in 10 minutes. I’d love to not have a hard on while doing it.

CHELSEA: You know what I’ll be doing the other 50% of the time, right?

SEAMUS: I’m putting away my phone now.

CHELSEA: I love you.

SEAMUS: I love you too, Chels. To the fuckin’ moon.

I sighed, flipping back the lid of my suitcase. I didn’t really need to pack yet, but I didn’t quite know what else to do with myself. My last big event of the summer happened two days ago: a wedding for the receptionist at Seamus’s office and her partner, a photographer. They were the sweetest couple, and the wedding had gone beautifully. But I was ready for this vacation.

More than ready.

Living long distance from Seamus this past year had been torture, even though we saw each other every other weekend when he came home from the big hotel project he was working on in Jewel Lakes in upstate New York.

But we made it work. And in some ways, it made everything that much more incredible. Every call and text made me feel as giddy as our first kiss.

But even better were the old-fashioned love letters Seamus sent me. I kept them beside the bed and made him read them to me whenever he was home so I could hear them in his voice.

This would be the first time since the spring we’d be spending more than two nights together. I could barely contain myself.

I loved our cabin here in Quince Valley, but the cottage he’d been renting in Jewel Lakes was almost as nice. I loved sipping coffee on the chairs on his little porch, looking out over the lake in the distance.

I take a sip of my coffee as I strode over to the closet, opening the slatted door and peering inside. My main wardrobe for this trip would be sundresses. Not only because I loved the breezy feel of wearing them in this heat—it was only seven thirty in the morning and already close to eighty outside—but because Seamus loved me in them too. I dressed for my comfort and happiness first. But knowing my boyfriend couldn’t take his eyes off me when I wore them gave me more than a little tingle of naughty excitement.

I pulled a slippery butter-yellow strappy one out from the rest. This was the one I’d wear on the drive over. It would take me four hours to get to Jewel Lakes County, and this was both comfortable and sexy as hell. Check and check.

I was just pulling it off its hanger with one hand as my coffee mug was still in my other hand, when our dog Lola started barking her head off. Startled, I spilled coffee onto my hand.

“Ow! Shit!”

Lola came bounding into the room, her tail wagging hard. She barked at me again, her adorable face too cute to get mad at.

“Lola, it’s too early to be making such a racket!”

She barked again and disappeared, just as the loud thud of someone pounding on my front door sounded. My stomach jolted. Who would be at my door at this hour? Not only was it early, but Seamus’s cabin—now my place too—was way out in the woods at the end of our road.
I put my coffee down, still rubbing the liquid off my smarting hand, and darted down the hallway, peeking my head tentatively around the corner to get a view of the window.

I relaxed when I saw my brother Jude’s jeep parked at a haphazard angle in the driveway.

Bang bang bang! “Chels!”

Patience was not one of Jude’s strong suits. But then my stomach clenched. What if something was wrong with his son? I sprinted across the floor, unlocking and yanking the door open.

I let out a breath: my nephew stood next to his dad like a miniature dark-haired copy. Both of them had bed-mussed hair, though Jude’s was longer and wrangled into his signature man-bun.

Cap threw his arms around me. “Hi Aunty Chelsea!”
“Hey Cap!” I squeezed my nephew back, my heart warming.

Last year, Cap, whose real name was Jack, had discovered the Marvel universe. His dad started calling him Cap, and Jack loved it so much the nickname had stuck.

“Chelsea! Finally!” Jude exclaimed, striding past me like he lived here.

Lola bounded around the three of us, in and out of the door, barking excitedly.

“Lola! Quiet!” I said, releasing my nephew.

“Do you have anything to eat? Something portable?” Jude asked, already heading for the kitchen.

“What’s up with your dad?” I asked Cap. Jude was always excitable. But today he was clearly on a mission.

Cap shrugged. “I dunno. He said we were going to the golf course. But first he wanted to get you.”

“You’re going golfing?” I asked when Cap and I got to the kitchen.

“Nope!” Jude’s words were muffled by whatever he’d stuffed in there already. I didn’t know what it was because he’d already inhaled the whole thing. My older brother was on the other side of thirty but still ate like a teenager.

“I thought you weren’t working?” I asked.

Jude was the recreation director at our family’s resort, but on vacation for the month of August so he could hang out with Cap.

“I’m not!” He reached behind him. “Cap, come grab a muffin!”

I made a face. I’d brought a bunch of leftover pastries home from the pre-wedding brunch a couple of days ago and had meant to toss them. “How can you eat those? They have to be like hockey pucks!”

“They’re perfect,” Jude said, tossing one at Cap.

I leaned against the counter. “So, you going to tell me what’s going on?

Jude gave me his biggest grin. He and our oldest brother Eli could have a handsome grin-off. Our other brother Griff might have one too, if he ever did more than scowl. I’m not sure who would win. Jude’s was dimply and mischievous, while Eli’s was just…well, I saw the way women melted at both of them.

“Nora. It’s all Nora.”

I frowned. Jude’s best friend Nora was a librarian at the Quince Valley Public Library. “I didn’t know she was into golf.”

“She’s not.”

I was getting exasperated, and Jude knew it, because he relented. 

“She found it.”

“Found what?”

He grabbed another muffin, taking half of it with a single bite. “We don’t know yet.”

Cap chewed thoughtfully, looking between me and Jude. He was six, almost seven, and clearly very used to his dad making no sense.

I groaned. Just when I was about to grab Jude by the collar, he swallowed and said, “She thinks she found another hidden message from JEQ.”

I gasped. Suddenly, everything changed.

JEQ was the mysterious individual whose diary we’d found hidden in a walled-off room in our hotel while investigating the mystery of a woman who’d been murdered at our family’s resort a hundred years ago, long before our family took ownership of the building.

Her name was Eleanor Cleary, and her murderer had never been found.

The official suspect had been a mysterious man her husband claimed he’d seen her with. But Jude and Nora were convinced it was the husband, George Cleary, who did it. He’d been a philanderer and shady businessman who’d gone bankrupt a few years after Eleanor’s death. It made sense that he’d murder his wife out of jealousy and rage. But there was no proof.

The diary we found indicated that JEQ was George Leary’s chauffeur. And, though it was mostly an account of all George’s dirty dealings, there were many mentions of George’s fetching wife.

Jude and Nora suspected that JEQ had been in love with his boss’s wife. But again, there was no proof of that.

“How? Where?”

“She called me this morning, started spouting off poetry.”

I had to bite my cheek to keep from smiling. My fourth and final sibling, Cass and I, had this theory that Jude had feelings for Nora, though he was too dense to see it. The thought of her reading poetry to him and him being deeply confused was nothing short of hilarious. Still, I needed to hear more.

“What does poetry have to do with JEQ?”

Jude clasped his hands together, rubbing them madly like he couldn’t wait to tell me. “It was some line about ‘trees by the game’. She figured out it meant the golf course.”

“So Nora’s thinking you’ll find proof JEQ had an affair with Eleanor there? That maybe he was the man her husband spotted her with?”

I could tell he heard the skepticism in my voice.

“Nora has a very specific confident voice, and when she called me, I heard it. She’s just getting someone to fill her shift at work, then we’re heading over.”

I believed him. Nora didn’t often sound confident, so I could see how monumental it would be when she did. Then I frowned. “Wait, so why are you here and not already on your way?”

Jude poured orange juice into a cup he’d pulled from the dish rack. “We hoped you’d come.”

I blinked. “Me?”

He guzzled half of it. “You’re not doing anything, right? We were hoping you’d maybe want to hang out with Cap while we look. He might get bored.”

Cap spoke up for the first time. “But I wanna come!”

“Yeah buddy, that’s why we’re here! So both of you can come. But I don’t know if you want to do all that digging with us?”

“I’m good at digging! We have a sandbox, remember?”

Both Jude and I grinned.

“We’ll go with them,” I said to Cap. Even if there was nothing there, it was better sitting here counting the hours until I got to leave.

Jude downed the rest of his juice and loaded the glass in the dishwasher. “Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

***

I texted Seamus from the front seat, filling him in. We didn’t live and breathe Eleanor’s story like Jude and Nora, but he was invested. Like me.

SEAMUS: so you’re really going to be digging holes out by the golf course?

CHELSEA: yep. Wish you were here.

SEAMUS: I’m a very good digger.

CHELSEA: Funny, that’s what Cap said.

SEAMUS: *unimpressed emoji*

CHELSEA: Maybe you can build some sandcastles down by the lake while we’re there?

SEAMUS: I STG Chels…

I pocketed my phone, laughing.

Nora was waiting for us in front of the clubhouse. I gave Jude’s best friend—a quiet, soft-spoken redhead with thick glasses and a soft smile—a warm hug. “Hey Nora!”

“Hi Chelsea.” Nora smiled widely, which was unusual for her.

I loved Nora. She reminded me a little of Seamus. They both had quiet, observant personalities. I always thought they could have been siblings.

But today Nora was unlike I’d ever seen her before. Her fingers trembled on her phone, which I knew she was holding to film whatever they found. She was always documenting everything. Jude told me last week he’d gotten her a fancy video camera for her birthday next month.

But it was her face, too. She looked as excited as Jude, her big green eyes wide behind her glasses.

“You really think there’s something here?” I asked her as we piled into the golf cart.

“Yes,” she said, with such confidence, my heart lifted.

***

Nora was right.

After we got to the spot—a small, wooded area just off the side of the opposite side of the course—we spent a good twenty minutes looking around before we found a large maple. Nora pressed her hands up against the trunk and looked back at us, giving a little nod.

We dug, using the shovels Jude had stopped by the supply shed to grab. We only made two shallow holes before Cap’s shovel made a loud clanking sound. He wasn’t bored like Jude had worried about. He was as in it as we were, his face pink and sweaty from the exertion, even in the shade.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket.

“Baby, are you okay?” Seamus’s voice was alarmed. I never video called him without us setting it up first. He was outside, wearing a hardhat. Behind him, workers milled around concrete and rebar. I could see the sweat on his temples, the way his dark hair stuck to his skin. My chest swelled. He was so handsome. So perfect. God, I missed him.

“Yes,” I said, surprised at the little tremble in my voice. “I’m okay.” I tucked my chin-length hair behind my ear. “I know you’re at work, but… do you have a minute? I thought you might want to see this. Seeing as you were there for the book and everything.” I flipped the camera screen so he could see Nora, Jude, and Cap frantically scraping the dirt off of what I could see now was an ancient, banged-up metal box.

“Holy shit,” Seamus said through the phone.

Cap’s mouth hung open as he looked at the phone. “You’re not sposta swear, Uncle Seamus!”

I could hear Seamus’s low laugh. “Sorry, Cap.”

“Dude,” Jude said, not stopping his work. “I’m glad you’re here. This shit is cra—”

“Dad!” Cap exclaimed. “What the hell are you swearing for?”

“Hey!”

Cap stuck his dirty fists on his hips. “If you can swear, so can I.”

I laughed, along with Seamus and Jude. But we quickly quieted, our eyes on Nora, who brought her fingers to the edges of the box.

We all gasped, as with a rusty squeak, it opened. Inside was a stack of papers, yellowed with age and tied with a string.

Cap frowned. “Where’s the treasure?”

Jude pulled his son in next to him. “Dude, this is the treasure.”

Cap sat back on his butt, looking disappointed.

“If you want to go play, I’ll keep my eye on you to make sure you’re safe.”

Cap grinned, then got up and headed for a pile of sticks a few feet away that he must have been eyeing earlier.

“It’s in the same code,” Seamus said from the phone, bringing my focus back to the papers.

JEQ’s diary had been in code. It was Seamus’s dad Jamie who’d deciphered it for us. His grandfather had been a code breaker in the war and had even written some books on the subject. Jamie had picked up quite a bit of it, which turned out to be very useful to us all these years later.

He was right. The same strange symbols graced the top of the stack of papers here.

“It says Ode to Eleanor.” Nora’s voice was so soft I was surprised I heard it.

I looked at her with something like wonder. “You memorized the code.”

She nodded without looking up. I saw a tear run down her cheek as she pulled a pair of cotton gloves out of her pocket. This was an emotional find for her. I think it was for all of us.

“It’s like I always say—you should never go anywhere without your archival gloves,” Jude teased.

Nora smiled, gently slipping the string off the papers. “I should wash my hands, take this back to the library and be careful… I’d like to film this too.” She hesitated, her eyes brimming now.

I felt my own eyes grow wet. I was shocked at how emotional this was turning out to be.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

I shook my head. “Don’t be sorry.”

Jude, watching us, suddenly stood up and jogged over to the golf cart. He grabbed a folded golf shirt from the back, came back, and flattened it on the ground. “Here. I’ll film.” He held up his phone, then lowered it to meet her eye. “I can’t wait, can you?”

He asked her this so tenderly, so softly, like it was just the two of them, that I suddenly felt self-conscious watching them. They were supposedly just friends, but I’d never seen Jude with anyone the way he was with Nora. Except Cap. It was clear how much he cared about her.

Nora bit her lip but pocketed her phone. “It goes against everything I know to do it like this, but…they’re not in bad shape. So…yeah. Let’s look here.”

She set the papers on the shirt and flipped to the second page. “Dearest Eleanor,” she said, her voice halting as she clearly deciphered the words in her head. “Each day that…goes by without you…has my heart in the ache of a…”

Nora took a shuddering gasp. “The ache of a vice. My love for you is like an ailment…”

As Nora went on, I found myself gripping the phone so tightly the edges cut into my hand. “It’s a love letter,” I whispered, my cheeks wet now.

“I miss you so, dear Eleanor,” Nora continued. “My whole being is drawn to where you last sat, where you smiled…”

I felt my hand holding the phone shake. The hand holding Seamus.

I thought of the piles of letters by my bedside. Our bedside.

“Did he send it to her? Or them?” Jude asked. He sounded confused. I could see why—it was his diary that led us here. Not hers.

“No,” I whispered. “He never sent them.” Not like Seamus did. “These aren’t folded. They’re not in envelopes. He wrote them to her, poured his heart out, and she never knew…”

“Maybe she did,” Nora whispered. “Maybe there’s more we don’t know.”

“You think so, right?” Her voice was so laced with hope it made my heart ache.

I nodded. “There has to be.”

I turned the phone around. “Sea—” I began. That’s when I saw Seamus had his hand up to his eyes. He looked like he was pinching the bridge of his nose, but when he pulled his hand away, I could see his eyes were slightly red-rimmed too.

My heart squeezed.

He laughed softly, clearly embarrassed.

“I’m coming,” I told him.

He blinked. “What?”

We were going to wait until Tuesday for me to come, so Seamus could be completely done with work. But I couldn’t now. I just couldn’t.

“I’m coming now. I can’t wait.”

Seamus brightened. Then a wash of concern ran over his face. “I can’t get out of those meetings tomorrow, baby. The client’s flying in with their team, I—”

“It’s fine.” I stood up. “I’ll stay at your place until the house is ready. I’ll warm your bed. I can’t stay home after this.”

Then I remembered Cap. I was supposed to be hanging out with him. But Jude was smiling at me, shaking his head. “He’s fine.”

Cap was fine. He was building some kind of structure out of the sticks. He loved being out in nature, just like his dad.

After hanging up the phone and giving quick goodbyes—Nora was still so deep in the papers I think she barely noticed when I hugged her back. But Jude and Cap both gave me bear hugs.

“Take the cart,” Jude told me after Cap ran back to his project. “I can walk back through the woods.”

I didn’t even argue. I drove back to the course, calling a cab on the way to take me home.

***

That afternoon, Seamus was waiting for me on the front porch as I pulled off the lonely dirt road in the trees and up his gravel driveway. I knew he would be.

His cabin here in Jewel Lakes was similar to the one at home in that it was up on a hill and surrounded by trees; though this one was smaller and made of red clapboard.

I pulled my car to a stop, my stomach tingling at my tall giant of a man jogging down his porch steps toward me. The August sun lit his dark hair a golden brown.

When I pulled my car’s door handle, Lola wasted no time in bounding across my lap and out the door to her dad. She leapt up on him, barking and licking and jumping around, her tail wagging, and he bent down to hug her, scratching her ruff before pointing her toward the open door of his cabin. She ran inside her second home.

There was no breeze to ruffle my hair or dress as I got out, just the dry, hot heat of late summer hitting my skin along with the sounds of summer—the whine of cicadas and birdsong in the trees.

And my man, my beautiful, perfect man, sucking in a breath at the sight of me. I twirled for him, giggling, and then he was closing the distance between us, picking me up and twirling me too.

I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him, his lips as familiar as his woodsy scent, and only broke it so he could see where he was going as he carried me toward the house. His hand cupped the back of my hair, his lips at my ear, whispering everything I needed to hear.

“You’re home now, baby. Home with me.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” I murmured when I caught a breath.

“I’m on an extended lunch break.”

He stopped at the cabin, but didn’t take me inside, just closed the door. I pulled back, his arms under my thighs now, my heart practically on fire and a heat building between my legs where I was pressed up against him.

“Seamus, I don’t want to wait. I want to feel you…”

He didn’t say anything, just carried me around the corner to a little patch of grass on the far side of the house. It was soft and lush here, the lawn overgrown slightly but in a purposeful-looking way. The forest closed in a little, but not oppressively. I could still see the shimmering lake in the distance through the gaps in the trees.

Seamus set me down next to a thin beach blanket topped with soft pillows.

“Did you plan this?” I asked, smiling.

His eyes met mine, and I saw they were filled with nothing short of deep, heady love…and desire. “It was supposed to be lunch… but I gave up on making food.”

“Why’s that?” I rested my arms up on his shoulders, my fingers linked behind his neck.

He grinned. It was a soft, perfect, almost shy Seamus grin. The same one I’d first seen when he was just my brother Eli’s best friend. The same smile that made me realize there was so much more to Seamus Reilly than I’d ever imagined in the years I knew him.

“Because”—he slid his hands down my side, gripping my sundress in his fists—“who needs lunch when you get to eat dessert first?”

Something molten spread down low, and I felt wetness between my legs. “Are you talking about me?” I breathed, even though I knew the answer.

Seamus only growled. Then he lifted me again, gently lowering me onto my back on the blanket. He kissed my neck and hitched my dress up, groaning audibly as his fingers grazed my bare pussy.

He sat back on his knees, tracing his fingers down my thighs, then he gently pushed them up and open, making me tremble. “I could live off you,” he said, before tipping his face down.

When his tongue met my heat, I cried out. He stroked almost languidly at first, sending waves of pleasure rolling through me that intensified with every pass. By the time he spread me apart and circled my clit, I felt like I was melting.

Pressure built fast. It was always like this when we came back together again after time apart. We both came too fast, like fumbling teenagers.

“Wait,” I gasped, just as I approached the edge. I didn’t want him to wait. But I wanted to see him. To look in his eyes as we fell together. I gripped Seamus’s hair, lifting his face up. His pupils were dilated, his need I could see as heavy as mine. “Not like this.”

Seamus frowned, but I lifted his head up higher and he followed. I guided him onto his back, then pulled my dress off, tossing it off the blanket.

Seamus’s breath hitched, and when I unhooked my bra and threw that aside too.

“Jesus,” Seamus groaned. His hands slid up to grasp my hips, and he lifted me fully onto him. He was a big man and strong from his work, I knew that, but it still surprised me he could do that. Like I was a little doll under his big broad workman’s hands.

Seamus slid his hands up my front, cupping my breasts as I made quick work of his buckle. “I dream about you,” he said, his thumbs circling my nipples. “I wake up with your name on my tongue.”

His eyes focused on his hands and my tightening nipples, but when I unzipped his pants, he met my eyes.

“This is how I want it,” I said, pulling out his hugely thick, warm cock and rising up on my knees over it.

Seamus had warned me when we first got close about his size. He’d been embarrassed. Almost ashamed of how big he was, like it was a personal failing.

It had taken some getting used to, but now his size thrilled me like nothing else. We still had to go slow at first, but I was always ready for him.

Always. Just like now.

I didn’t even bother taking the rest of his clothes off, just straddled him, gripping his hot, smooth hardness with both hands and lowering myself over it so his head brushed my slick pussy.

Seamus groaned again, closing his eyes. I felt his already stiff cock tighten in my hands. “Do you know how fucking beautiful you look?” His eyes were open again, his expression nothing short of awe.

I could feel the heat of the sun on my bare skin, the kiss of warm air caressing me. “There’s nothing like being naked outside,” I said, a soft laugh on my lips.

“Nothing like the most beautiful woman in the world about to sit naked on my cock, I think you mean.”

“Like this?” I asked, slipping his head inside of me. I was teasing him now, clenching his tip.

“Fuck yes,” he groaned as I sank further down.

The strain of stretching for him could have been painful if I didn’t love it so much. And God, did I love it. I sank lower and lower still, whimpering as I took him in. He was filling me as much as I could take, but there was still more. I pulled back, then sank down again, taking a little more each time.

I was on the edge of coming right away, and I knew he was too. But I wouldn’t be satisfied until I’d taken all of him. Finally, I got all of him in, my ass resting on his hips. I breathed a moment, allowing myself to relax.

“That’s right baby,” Seamus whispered. “Slow.”

Somehow, it was that word that urged me to begin to move with the speed I needed.

Which wasn’t slow for long.

Seamus kneading my breast with one hand, pinching at my nipple, while the other splayed on my stomach. I bounced on him, increasing in speed, fully moaning now and not caring. No one else could hear.

When his thumb hit my clit, I screamed.

Then I was coming, hard and fast and strong, pressed down with all of him inside of me. Waves of ecstasy made my whole body constrict. I felt him clench inside of me a moment later, his balls tightening at my ass as he gritted his teeth. A moment later releasing himself into me completely while still I came and came.

When I finally collapsed on him, our bodies tight and damp with sweat, our hair sticking to our skin, I realized I was crying.

“We have everything,” I said. “Everything so many people don’t get to have.” I was thinking of Eleanor and JEQ, and even Jude and Nora, who I knew now had something special under all their feelings.

But Seamus and I, we had it all right now. I’d never felt so completely blessed.

“Yeah baby, we do,” Seamus said, flipping a corner of the blanket up over my bottom and resting his hand there. “But I want more.”

I lifted my head enough to meet his eyes. “What more is there?”

He closed his eyes. The same as always. “I want a mini-you, Chels. Babies who look at the world the way you do. Only…” He opened his eyes again. “I don’t want to wait anymore.”

My heart felt like it might explode. We’d talked about this before, joking. But we’d never specified when.

“Okay,” I said softly.

“Are you serious?” Seamus asked, his expression so earnest it took my breath away.

“I’m always serious with you, Seamus. Even when you make me laugh.”

He kissed me then, my Seamus, and in the love in my heart and the feel of him against me, I saw our life together spread out before us, like an endless summer day.

***

Thank you for reading the Fall For Me Bonus Story! The next book in the series is Sing For Me, which you can find here: clairewilder.com/singforme. Or you can skip ahead to Nora and Jude’s story in Play With Me: clairewilder.com/playwithme. Both are interconnected standalones.