Oh, dear God in heaven, he had an accent. Jesus, I was a sucker for an accent. It was Australian, maybe, but whatever it was, it was dangerous. I listened to him talking to Bruce, and the whole time, that deep, rumbling voice in his sexy as fuck accent slithered its way into my soul, then right down to my cock. Images of me under his control flickered in my mind like an old-fashioned movie, but I couldn’t get lost in my head right now. I needed to focus. I was working. And besides, I was never going to be under anyone’s control ever again. I didn’t need that anymore.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Maybe it’ll be true one day.
“Shut up!”
I looked into my Australian fantasy man’s brown eyes and noticed his dark eyebrows rise. Only then did I realize I had just said that out loud.Fuck. Very professional. I’m already acting like an asshole.
“Sorry, I was talking to myself.”
He smirked, but it wasn’t in a good-natured way. It felt a little judgy to be honest, but even then, I felt a jerk in my slacks at the power I felt from just that one look—time to regroup.
“I’m Josiah, the coordinator for tonight’s festivities.” I held my hand out to him, but he just looked at it for so long it got awkward. He never lost that smirk the whole time he left me hanging.
“I don’t shake hands,” he said curtly, then. “Are you in charge of what we’re doing after the food and booze and shit?”
Bruce walked back over to us with his fiancé, George, and had to jump up so he could slap the huge asshole on the back of the head. “Don’t be a jerk to Josiah, Sebastian. He’s done an amazing job planning all this out.” Bruce turned to me and shook the hand I was still holding out like an idiot. “Let me apologize for Father Sebastian. He’s been out of polite society for a while, but he’s finally back to the land of the living and hasn’t remembered his manners.”
Oh, my God. He was a priest?! Holy shit. Maybe he had seen me lusting after him and thought I was a pervert. Damn, that was awkward.
Sebastian must have noticed my shock because the hard lines on his face sharpened even more. “What? It’s not possible to believe I’m a priest? I might be big, but I’m not dumb or incapable of being fucking caring and pious and shit, ya know.”
Wow, for a priest, he had a dirty mouth on him. But who was I to judge?
“So, you are a priest? I’m so sorry. I had no idea. You’re not wearing the whole”—I waved my hands limply toward my throat and finished my sentence, sounding like an idiot— “thing.”
“Well. I’m not wearing the whole”—he moved his hands like I had just done—“thing, as you put it, because I’m not a priest anymore. I got the fuck out and back to real life where I belong.”
Sebastian stalked off and back to his other friends, leaving me staring at his back. Well, mostly I was staring at his ass in his tight slacks, but no one could blame me. They went over to the bar and got the first drink of the night.
“Don’t mind Sebastian, Josiah, he’s an asshole but he’s a good guy, really. And he’s not a priest anymore, so don’t worry about that either.”
“He’s not a priest anymore? What do you mean?”
“It’s a long story and it’s not my story to tell, but I can tell you that he was only a priest for a short time and he got out in less than a year. We just tease him even though it’s been years since he left the priesthood. He’s punchy about it, and I’ve been calling him Father all day so I’m to blame for his mood.”
“Oh, well, that’s okay. It’s not a big deal. Did he fly all this way just for the wedding?”
Bruce’s fiancé, George, sauntered over and threw his arm around Bruce’s neck to pull him into a snug side embrace.
“Oh, you’re talking about Seb? Yeah, he flew up here to marry us, and then he’s taking a much needed vacation someplace. I can’t remember if he told us where. He’s been working the winery he owns in Adelaide for years, and hasn’t taken a break in years. If anyone deserves to blow off some steam, it’s Seb. He works harder than any man I’ve ever seen.”
I saw more guests arriving, so I scooted the guests of honor toward the door and went into the kitchen to check on the food for the evening. As I walked by the bar I could have sworn I felt someone staring a hole into the back of my navy blazer. I might have swished my ass a little more than normal before I shook my head and quit being silly. I was a top now, dammit!
Chapter 2
Sebastian
Fucking,fuck, fuck, fuck.
I knew this trip had been a mistake. But I couldn’t have said no to Bruce and George when they asked me to marry them, even if it meant flying 30 hours and feeling like shit for a week now. If only I could sleep, that would help.
Bruce had been a buddy since we had met years ago when we were kids. No one ever believed it when we told them we had been pen pals in school, but it was absolutely true. He’d gotten my name as part of an international pen pal program in primary school. We wrote each other every month for years. He had been someone I could confide in when I didn’t have anyone else who would listen. Kids today with their phones and messenger couldn’t appreciate the thrill it was to get a letter in the mail from the other side of the world.
When we got older, Bruce had taken a trip to Australia and we finally met for the first time. I had already been in the Church a few months at that point, but his visit had been the turning point in my life. I’d decided when he left that I wouldn’t live a lie anymore. A week after he’d returned to the states, I started the process to leave the priesthood and never looked back, even when my family refused to allow me to come home.
Watching him be happy and being here for his wedding was never even a question. He had been there for me and I would be there for him. But I hadn’t planned on meeting anyone like Josiah.
Fuck.
