A pale blush spreads over his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, and he ducks his head. He seems to regress in front of my eyes. Then as he if realises, he seems to push it down, raises his head, and smiles more freely. “Thanks, we’ve worked hard.”
“You can let your boy out, Memphis. I won’t mind.”
“Not yet, we haven’t even talked likes and dislikes.” He’s right, but I want him. “And you haven’t said anything about how you feel about what I told you.”
“Honestly, I wish you’d told me. I’ve spent years being angry at your rejection. I felt responsible for you. I worried about you for years. You could’ve gone back to the streets, you could’ve been in accident, and I wouldn’t have known. None of us would.”
“You’re my next of kin,” he whispers quietly, gazing up at me through his eyelashes. “I have you as my emergency contact if anything happened to me.”
He socks me with another what the fuck moment. How the hell am I supposed to react to that?
Our food arrives at the point that I’m ready to drag him out of here. Why did I think this was a good idea? We’re trapped in a roomful of people, and I can’t react the way I want to. I want to pull him out of his chair and sit him on my knee, wrap my arms around him, breathe him in, and press my lips on the soft spot of skin below his ear.
Instead, I thank the waiter and pick up my cutlery. The sooner I’ve finished this the better.
“This is really good,” Memphis interrupts my shovelling. “You should slow down.”
“I need to get you out of here. I can’t do or say the things I want to in this room.” I don’t know what he reads from my expression, but he swallows hard and goes back to eating. Now he’s eating fast, so he got the message.
When we get outside, Memphis laughs, “You’d better take me back there again, soon. I want to enjoy and not rush that food next time.”
“I promise.” I grab his hand, and we run across the road. “I want to take you to my place; do you want to get your car and follow me?”
“No, it can stay there. I’ll get a cab back to it later.”
Not if I get my way. I’ll be dropping him back at the gym in the morning. I want him naked in my bed, spread out and begging for me. I halt that feeling, telling myself it’s too soon. Too much.
It doesn’t take me long to get across town now that the evening rush is over. Memphis is quiet, his hands fidgeting in his lap until I reach over and hold them in one of mine. “Don’t benervous, baby boy. Nothing has to happen.” And nothing should. It’s too soon to take him, to claim him.
“I know, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.” The frown on his forehead deepens. He really isn’t sure about this.
Fucking hell, neither am I. I turn onto my driveway and stop, switching off the engine. He’s smiling at me, making my heart beat faster, and I realise he was right to leave, to come back to me as an adult. He would’ve stayed a brother to me, someone that I would never have thought of being with or wanted to see be a little. Now, he’s totally hot. I knew that in the club without even seeing his face, and I’ve seen him as a boy, and he made my dick hard.
“Nice house.” He nods at it. “Are you going to show me the inside, or is this all you wanted to do?”
“Brat.” I hold back my smile, because there’s nothing I love more than a bratty boy.
“You have no idea.” He grasps the door handle and is out of the car before me.
I jump out and reach him before he can get to my front door. He giggles, dodging me, but I catch him and give his arse a swat that has him laughing even louder. We make it to the door, and I crowd in behind him, pressing the length of my body to his.
“There’s nowhere to run to now, my boy.” I press my hips deeper into his perfect butt, making him moan.
“I’m not going anywhere, Daddy. If you want me, I’m yours.”
I reach around him and push my key in the lock. I need to get him inside before I do something my neighbours will never forget. The door swings open, and I grab Memphis to stop him from tumbling inside. “Steady.”
“If you could feel my heartbeat right now, you’d know I’m anything but steady,” he tells me breathlessly. I preen a littleat that, and honestly, mine is doing the same. We need to slow down, or we’ll be fucking on the hallway floor.
I release my hold on him, and he stands up straight. “Go on in.” I clear my throat, coughing the gruffness away, my desire to have him not completely gone.
Once I’m inside, I flick the light switch on the wall on the left of us. The door clicks shut as the hall lights up. I step past him and into the next doorway turning on the table lamps as I walk through.
“Wow, this is a nice place.” He gazes around the large open plan room. “Did you do this?”
“I wish! No, it was the reason I bought it. I like the open style. It brings so much light into the house.” I move into the kitchen space and open the large American style fridge. “What would you like to drink?”
He’s still looking around, moving over to one of the bookcases that has framed photographs on the shelves. He reaches out for one, and his finger traces over it. I think I know which one he’s looking at. The one with the two of us, with our arms around each other’s shoulders, grinning. It’s a favourite of mine, and a link to him after he left me.
