True-Blue #7
When a cute nurse needs to be saved during his shift in the Pride kissing booth, he’s rescued by a man he least expects. Now he just needs to figure out how to achieve the future he wants, one that will lead to a happily ever after and a place he can call home.
Ian Haughton is a loveable, hardworking nurse. He’s ready for a change and wants to escape and start afresh in the small community of towns he’s grown to love—Kirkby being at the heart.
When the new annual Pride festival launches in this small-town community, Ian is happy to be involved but reluctant to be the lips needed to draw in the crowds at the kissing booth. That is until one man’s lips save him from an uncomfortable moment and end up turning his world on its head.
With miles separating Ian from the future he so desperately wants, he has no idea how he can make it all work out, especially when someone appears to be driving a wedge in his plans.
Some surprises are unexpected, while some revelations come with the sweetest of first—and last—kisses.
Our First and Last is a sweet and sexy M/M romance in Becca Seymour’s bestselling True-Blue series. It can be read as a stand-alone novella, but it’s recommended you read book four, Thinking It Over, first so you have a better understanding of the wonderful characters in this world.
Chapter One
Ian
It didn’t matterhow often he bent over, how regular or familiar the movement, tearing my gaze away proved impossible. He filled out the jeans to perfection. Every time I saw the man—regardless of how many weeks passed between my visits—I never seemed to get my fill.
The problem? I was setting myself up for a heart attack. The man was unattainable. Full stop. End of story.
Straight men didn’t tend to fall for their gay friends. Sure, I’d heard of more than one exception, but that didn’t seem likely in this instance. Even though the man setting up one of the street stores for the start of tomorrow’s Pride festival happily waved a rainbow flag in support of his brother and his friends—me included—Frankie Harrison was 100 percent straight.
Him being a dad and me hearing about a couple of his past conquests pretty much confirmed that. While he’d never come out and declared his sexuality, in all my years, I’d never known a straight person—male or female—to have a need to. It was one of those luxuries, I supposed, of being straight—never having to clarify they were into people of the opposite sex.
Not that I’d want my life any other way, though.
While I’d been a relatively late bloomer and hadn’t come out until I was in my third year at college, since that moment of liberation, I’d lived happily as an out and proud man. Perhaps the fact I was studying to be a nurse meant that my classmates weren’t overly surprised, which weirdly frustrated me that the stereotype about male nurses existed. It shouldn’t matter that I was absolutely gay and a nurse. I knew plenty of straight male nurses.
“You about done here?”
Jasper’s voice pulled me away from my buzzing brain, thinking about Frankie’s ass and straight nurses, with a jolt. I looked across at my friend and bobbed my head. “Will be in five. What’s next?”
“Frankie could do with a hand setting up the lucky dip store.”
Controlling the blush that threatened to steal across my face, I smiled. “Sure thing.”
“Stop slacking,” Frankie hollered, no doubt having heard his name.
I glanced in his direction. My smile immediately softened when we made eye contact. The man turned my insides to mush. It was incredible how, for the past two years, I’d managed to function around him.
That was the thing with Frankie, though. He was casual and kindness personified. From our first meeting all that time ago, I’d been at ease with him. More than once, I’d told him he could charm the pants off a snake. Not once did he deny it. The man had skills for sure.
The difficulty was, I desperately wanted him to practice those skills on me.
“You’d know all about that,” I sassed. “All the years of bumming around the world perfected your talent. How many stalls is that you’ve set up now, in what—” I looked at my nonexistent watch. “—two hours?”
“Hush now, but here, take this.” He shoved his hand in his pocket, only to remove it and flip me off.
I snorted a laugh. “That’s not one of the many pearls of wisdom you’ve shared with Tyler, right?” I quirked my brow at him, knowing full well he was a great dad.
Frankie chuckled while I grinned as I punched in the last staple. “As if. I swore once, once, and the kid said that one slip-up of a word to every single person he met for a whole two weeks. No chance of that happening again.”
I headed over to him, remembering all too well when Tyler gave me a hug about a year back, telling me he missed me like a motherfucker. Even now, I had no clue how I kept a straight face as I hugged him back, saying I’d missed him more.
“Where do you want me?” The words were out, and I clamped on the inside of my cheeks with my back teeth. Obviously, I would have seriously liked a range of answers from him, ones flirty but real. The Frankie I crushed so hard over rarely missed an opportunity for innuendo. The lack of “real” connected to such offers always hit hard.
“Anywhere that won’t give you grass stains.”
I shook my head, snorting despite the rush of heat unfurling in my stomach. “You didn’t strike me as a man worried about a bit of mess. There’s a lot to be said about stains.” Once again, I slammed my mouth shut. He did this to me every single time. I couldn’t not flirt with the man. It was dangerous and, I was sure, unhealthy considering my fixation on him. But hell if I didn’t enjoy it. Frankie 100 percent brought this flirty, fun side out of me.
The sensation was addictive. Just like he was.
Frankie laughed loudly, his eyes not straying from mine. Amusement danced in their depths. What I wouldn’t give for one day there to be something more looking from his pretty eyes. “Uh-oh. Fredrick’s coming over.” The wide eyes he shot my way had me snorting in amusement. “Best look like we’re busy.”
“We are super busy,” I insisted with a wink as I gathered the signage that needed to be put up. As I did so, I gave a quick head bob to Fredrick, who fortunately was called over by someone else. “Close call.”
“Tell me about it. You’re lucky you still don’t live here yet. The guy’s a tyrant.”
“He’s not that bad.”
Frankie’s brows shot high as he helped me with the sign by standing wonderfully close, his arm brushing my chest as he held the material in place so I could staple it. The area burned at the contact but in the best of ways. Not like a urine infection or anything. More like the gentle heat of a hot stone massage. “I don’t know what Ted was thinking,” I said after swallowing hard and keeping my shaky voice at bay.
“I don’t think he had much choice in who was on the Pride committee from the two other towns outside of Kirkby. But I wouldn’t worry too much about Ted. As if anyone is going to steamroll his baby.”
It was true. Ted, a local bar owner, had spearheaded the whole LGBTIA+ event. And being a part of it, even though one of my roles tomorrow made me a little nervous, was great. Me spending the whole weekend with my good friends at my side, Frankie being high on the list, was worth the cramp forming in my thumb from all the damn stapling.
Becca SeymourBecca Seymour is the #1 gay romance best seller of the True-Blue series. Known for “steamy and endearing” and “emotionally profound love stories” (InD’tale Magazine) her books have been nominated for multiple RONE Awards.
Becca lives and breathes all things book related. Usually with at least three books being read and two WiPs being written at the same time, Becca’s life is merrily hectic. She tends to do nothing by halves so happily seeks the craziness and busyness life offers.
Living on her small property in Queensland with her human family as well as her animal family of cows, chooks, and dogs, Becca appreciates the beauty of the world around her and is a believer that love truly is love.
Our First and Last #7
True-Blue Series
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