My focus wasn’t on the movie with blue people. It was on the man next to me.
Chapter 15
Allister
Dakota wasn’t rigid, yet he wasn’t relaxed either. I pulled him against my side as the movie played before us. There wasn’t much I could do to get him to realize that nothing would happen other than what we were doing exactly right now and watching a movie, cuddling as much as I allowed.
A part of me wanted to pull the boy into my lap, holding him as tight as I dared, to keep the real world out of this little bubble. But I couldn’t. Not when our hours were limited.
He’d be better off somewhere else. I was already getting too attached to him as it was. It was better to cut ties before it was too late.
Alex had been right. It wouldn’t take much for me to cave to this boy if given a single chance to do so. There was just something about Dakota that made my heart beat just a tad different.
I wasn’t entirely sure what all Alex may have told the boy, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.Knowing that woman, it could have been just about anything. I did know that she’d never blab over what I did or who I took in.
I wasn’t as sin free as so many people were led to believe. I fit in with the monsters I tried to take down more than anyone would think. I may not want to harm someone or degrade them so far down that they had to be told when to wipe their own ass, but it was pretty close to it.
Sighing, I tossed those thoughts from my head. They had no reason to be there. Not tonight.
At my drawn-out breath, the boy stilled, holding his breath. He was way too in tune with my inner being, and it was a bit scary. No one had ever been able to read me the way he did, and least of all, with just a breath from my lungs.
All it did was show me that Dakota knew how to pay attention to not just words spoken his way but body language. Something that so many people lacked. And everything I wanted in a partner.
Not that I wanted this boy like that. I couldn’t. He wasn’t mine, despite what others thought. Themen I was trying to bring down would kill me if they knew what I was doing.
“Relax, boy.” I rubbed his arm, hoping that alone would get him to go back to that half-relaxed state against my side. There wasn’t a single thing he could do to fix my messed-up thoughts. He didn’t need to know about what went through my head.
It took him another few minutes to settle.
I needed to pay attention to my own movements and breaths; then, maybe this boy would settle into being a human and not a slave.
Dakota was quickly getting under my skin, making himself at home there. And it hadn’t even been that long.
I stopped my next sigh, just barely, as the credits began to roll. Glancing at the clock under the TV, I knew the time was limited. I had known it since I made that phone call earlier.
I knew I should tell him what was about to happen, but I feared how Dakota was going to take it. So far, he’d not had an issue with anything, although I didn’t think I had asked anything out of the ordinary. At least, not of him.
Pressing a small kiss to the top of his head, I finally pulled back. “There are shoes by the front door for you. Put them on. And the gray sweatshirt.”
Dakota didn’t ask a single question, although he must have had a few running through his mind. He did as I told him. It took him a few minutes to be back, standing with his hands clasped before him, head down.
“Sit.” I tilted my head towards the chair.
The distance was a good thing, now more than ever.
Dakota took a moment to even his breathing, but I could see his shoulders rising and falling as he fought with the anxiety that swam under the surface. He probably didn’t know he failed at keeping his emotions clear and unseen.
He was so easy to read. I didn’t need to see his eyes for me to see everything that he felt.
“You aren’t in trouble, boy.”
His entire body shook, even though he stood rock still. Finally, he sat down.
I couldn’t help but move to kneel before him, placing my hands on his knees. “You are not in trouble,” I repeated gently. “You’ve been good.”
He jerked as the doorbell rang through the house. “Stay.” I stood, knowing he wouldn’t dare move.
“Thanks for coming by April.” I opened the door wider, letting my boss into my house.
