Page 2 of Cosmo

Murphy looked at his sister, whom he trusted more than anyone else, except his father and husband. “What do you think?”

He knew what the answer would be just by looking into her eyes.

The lady was sweet, tough and so smart, it was scary. She had an enormous heart, especially for the young men at Murphy’s Pub, and had been the one to encourage the relationship with Eazy when he confessed his growing feelings for the man.

Soft blonde hair that hung a little past her slender shoulders glowed with the flickering candle in the green glass bowl on the table. It made her look like an angel, but she had as much devil in her as the rest of the family. “Meet him. Warn him that the others think of us and themselves as family, but he may keep to himself if he would like to.”

“You won’t allow that, Tallulah Murphy, and you know it.”

That twinkle in her eyes told on her. “Whatever do you mean?”

Cliff took out his phone to call a ride share. “I’ll set it up for Thursday then and start talking to the parole board.”

Murphy felt backed into a corner by the two of them, but he knew himself well enough. He’d likely take the guy if Liam wanted to work for him. “He’s…handsome, right?”

“Connor,” Tally whispered. “That’s terrible.”

“Tally, the customers come for the show, but they don’t exactly want ugly guys doing that show, right?”

“He’s very handsome,” Cliff said to stop the argument. “And prison life turns most into muscle bound brutes, all the carbs and weights they lift. He’s not huge, but he’s in shape.” Out of his suit coat pocket, he took out a picture, setting it on the table and sliding it over to Murphy.

Murphy hated himself for asking, but it was part of the business. Hot bartenders brought in customers. Once he picked up the picture, he smiled.

Liam MacManus was beautiful. Blond hair cut shorter on the sides than on the top. The tight gray DOC T-shirt showed he was, indeed, in great shape.

Great jawline and those heavily lidded bedroom eyes that were on the gray side of olive green. Those eyes….

“Well, I’ll head up Thursday. I’m not making any promises,” he said gruffly, while his two companions rolled their eyes.

“Sure, Murph. I’ll start on the parole board tomorrow.”

“What?”

After Tally and Cliff left, he went to the back stairs of the building after checking all the locks and alarms. As he slowly climbed, he thought about starting again, a new guy, and all that entailed.

After he got almost to the landing, he saw Eazy sitting on the top step. “Hey, Murph.”

“Hey, my love. How are the kids?”

“You know they’re fine.”

Tallulah carried their two kids, using her own eggs and Eazy’s sperm to fertilize them in the little petri dish. That was the best way to make them part of Murphy and part of Eazy. They were so beautiful with the features of his African American husband and his mostly Irish blood people, that people stopped on the streets to stare at them in awe. They were the light of his life.

Eazy was a lot younger than him, but from the moment he’d come into Murphy’s Pub, and into the owner’s life, Murphy had fallen for the guy. Deep walnut colored skin, closely cut hair, big, beautiful amber eyes and a smile that was wide, bright, and lovely. Yeah, he’d fallen hard.

Connor Murphy sat beside his husband, laughing. “The new one, he’s a car thief. Hard childhood, we think. The details are locked down tight.”

“We’ll get Mimosa on it. He’ll know what’s up in no time.”

Mimosa, Hypnotic, Gold Rush. His employees were nicknamed after bar drinks. They were each given one, to give out to customers and to anyone else that may ask. It made it better in the computer age to hide their true identities.

They did that for a lot of reasons. Eazy had been Hurricane, and that’s what he’d done to Murphy. He’d come into his life like a storm, blowing him away into a place he’d longed for and never thought he’d find.

“So, we’re thinking up red drinks again?”

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a red. Yeah,” Murphy mused, kissing his husband’s temple. “I promise not to fall in love with this one.”

“You better not. I’ll tell Katie on you.”

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