“Emmett?”
He jerked his head up, realizing Gray had said his name more than once. He was watching how Emmett was twisting the ends of his sleeves with his fingers as he worried and tried to guess what Gray was thinking. “Yes?”
“Are you okay with me sitting next to you on the couch?”
Emmett nodded, pressing his lips together to try and get the words filling his throat to stay down. He didn’t want to just blurt anything out and chase Gray off, but he wasn’t sure if he could wait until after they ate to— “I’m a little.”
Oh, snickerdoodle.
He ducked his head, unable to watch Gray’s face as he processed what Emmett had just blabbed all over the place. This probably wasn’t what Roni had meant when she’d said to give the man a chance…
“I know,” Gray said, voice careful.
“Because of the… sippy cup?” Emmett whispered, scooting around the table and snagging Snowball so he could squeeze his plush body against his chest.
“I knew before I got here. I figured it out at the clubhouse.”
That finally got Emmett to look at him, eyes wide. Gray was watching his face, studying him so closely it should have felt intrusive. But it was… nice. People didn’t usually look at Emmett like that. Even Roni—who wasamazingand he loved to pieces—had one eye on her phone a lot of the time. But all of Gray’s focus was on Emmett, like nothing else in the world was as important as their conversation.
It was probably dangerous to get used to, but Emmett didn’t think he’d be able to stop himself.
“You did?” he finally asked, shuffling a little closer and eyeing the space right next to Gray. He should definitely not sit pressed up against the man when there was plenty of couch to go around, but Gray had placed the Styrofoam containers next to each other on the table. So Emmett wouldhaveto be close to be able to reach it.
“Yeah. Viper didn’t tell me, but she did try to warn me away from getting to know you better and let slip a couple clues. And then she confirmed it for me when I guessed at what she was hinting around at,” Gray explained, fingers drumming lightly on top of one of the containers of food.
“Why did she try to warn you away?” Emmett asked, sinking onto the couch but leaving nearly a foot between them. He was getting whiffs of… bacon?
Gray chuckled. “Because she didn’t think I was good enough for her precious Emmett.”
He said it teasingly, not in a mean way, and Emmett smiled, easily imagining Roni scaring away any suitor she deemed unfit like he was a helpless princess. “She’s protective.”
“Oh, I know. I’d just never been on the other end of it before.” Gray was grinning as he pushed a hand through his loose hair. It hung to his shoulders, a rich mahogany brown with a little bit of wave to it that made Emmett’s fingers itch to touch. “I think the only reason she gave me a hint about bringing you dinner was because I’d convinced her Sunday that a little was exactly the kind of boy I was looking for.”
Emmett sucked in a breath and held it, staring into Gray’s soft golden-brown eyes. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Gray said lowly. “I can’t promise we’ll be a perfect match, but I think it says something that we found each other again after all these years and share the same… interests.”
All Emmett could do was nod in agreement, hope lodging in his throat and choking him. Gray was right—just because they were both into the same kink didn’t mean they’d fit on that or any other level. But the way Gray made him feel already? The way he so easily stepped in to take care of him by reining in Ollie’s teasing or handing over his own sweatshirt so Emmett wouldn’t be cold said a lot about the kind of daddy he was already.
Emmett just prayed he’d be the kind of boy Gray wanted.
He scooted a little closer on the couch, blushing when Gray smiled at him again. “Do you… Do you know what you want in a boy? When he’s little?”
“There are certain things I know I’ll want,” Gray said, opening the containers of food and revealing what he’d brought. “Other things will depend on what he wants too.”
Emmett stared at the blueberry pancakes and three strips of bacon in the open Styrofoam container in front of him. He loved having breakfast for dinner, and blueberry pancakes were his absolute favorite. “Did Roni tell you to get me this?”
Gray hummed, situating the enormous omelet in his own into a better position with one of the sets of plastic cutlery they’d been provided. “I remembered you liked blueberry pancakes, but she did suggest the bacon. And the extra syrup.”
His tone suggested he didn’t approve of the extra syrup, and just the idea that Gray wouldn’t have let him have it if it were up to him had Emmett squirming a little in his seat. And he’d remembered that Emmett liked blueberry pancakes? From when? Growing up, his parents had always done a big breakfast on Saturday mornings, and Gray had been present for more than a few. But that had been years ago…
A warm feeling was spreading through his chest, so he decided to see how Gray would react and said, “I usually add whipped cream too.”
Gray stopped cutting into his food and shot him a look, eyebrows raised, before sighing and standing. Emmett watched him leave the room, T-shirt tight across his broad shoulders. Even the disapproving look he got when Gray returned wasn’t enough to cool his excitement.
“Something like this would only be allowed on special occasions to my boy,” Gray said, voice steady as he shook the canister and sprayed some of the creamy goodness onto Emmett’s pancakes.He didn’t ask if it was enough or wait for Emmett to say when. Whenhedeemed it was enough, he recapped the canister and returned it to the kitchen.
Once he was resettled—a lot closer to Emmett than they’d been before—he went back to cutting into his omelet like nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Emmett’s hands were trembling and his heart thumping as he opened one of the tiny plastic cups of syrup and poured it over his pancakes.
