“So are you saying you want to come calling?” He batted his eyelashes like a southern belle.
The look of relief that washed across Jack’s face in reply to his easy tease was enough to push all of his bad feelings out of his mind. His cock may have been selfish, but his heart was certain Jack was making the right decision for them. And of course he would. That’s why he was…Daddy.
“I’m telling you that you better enjoy this week with me because once I start dating, this dick is off limits.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Callum stammered.
“You didn’t think I put out on the first date, did you?” Jack asked in mock horror.
“Oh, my God, you can’t fuck me the way you have been and then take it away. That’s cruel.” Callum held his face in his hands and groaned.
“I can do whatever I want, kitten, because I’m in charge. Isn’t that right?” Jack forced himself back into Callum’s line of sight and he blushed, remembering just how in charge Jack could truly be.
“Yes, Daddy,” he agreed.
“I want to spoil you rotten.” Jack pulled him onto his lap and kissed the bend of his shoulder. “I want to give you the world, but I am a stubborn man, Callum, and it’s going to be on my terms.”
Callum swallowed and nodded, rubbing his cheek against Jack’s three day stubble. For Jack, he would be patient. For Jack, he could play by the rules. If it would get him more of this. And if he was being honest with himself, Jackwasright.
They’d talked daily for almost four months, but with a continent between them. Things would be different now, in the same city. Callum did his best to swallow down his insecurities, to ignore the memories that threatened to erode this small sliver of happiness.
Jack wasn’t anything like Ian.
Jack wasn’t anything like anyone.
“You with me, kitten?” Jack waved a hand in front of Callum’s face.
Callum smiled and blinked away a name he’d spent years trying to forget.
“Always,” he promised.
16
Jack
“Thanks for coming to work,”Landon snarked across the empty club at Callum as he and Jack pushed through the front door the following Friday.
Callum’s back straightened and his steps faltered. Jack shouldered him into the club, keeping one hand secure on the small of his back.
“Extenuating circumstances, Landon. Be nice or I’ll put you over my knee,” Jack warned, pressing a kiss to the side of Callum’s head before he dipped under the bar pass.
“You’re not my daddy, Jack,” Landon grumbled just before Gregory stuck his head out the office and narrowed his eyes on Jack.
“No one puts him over any knees besides me.”
“Keep him in line then,” Jack countered with a tilt of his head.
Gregory smirked and directed his attention to Landon. “Be nice.”
“If Jack could refrain from stealing my bartenders away before their shift even begins, I could manage to be nice.”
“I hand-delivered him to you tonight; you should be thanking me,” Jack said with a laugh and a flick of his wrist in Callum’s direction.
Callum’s cheeks turned rosy and he moved his attention away from Jack and back to the limes he was chopping.
“You should be thanking Callum,” Verity chided all of them, coming in from the back hallway with a box of new glasses in their arms. “He’s the one who ran this place while Jack was off pretending to die in New York.”
Callum sliced into the next lime harder than he needed to, nicking his finger with the dull bar knife.
