Emmie sighed and petted Daddy’s head, laughing when he patted the bun on the top. “But how will Snowballknowwe match if he can’t see?”
Daddy looked up at him and then over at where the dragon was lying on his pillow. “I think he’ll know.”
“Oh, yeah.” Emmie laughed again, rocking on his toes with the urge to go grab Snowball and give him a hug. But he had to wait until Daddy was finished. It was really hard to be good, but Emmie tried really hard for his daddy.
Thankfully, Daddy was quick about finishing dressing him, pulling on his Spider-Man pants and matching top before cupping his chin and tugging him forward for a soft kiss that melted Emmie’s belly from the inside.
“Okay, go play, baby.”
He raced across the room and snagged Snowball, tucking him under his arm for safekeeping, and then ran downstairs. “Come onnnnnn, Daddy!”
There was a small closet off the living room that Roni let him use to store some of his toys, and he knew his blocks were in there from when he built a town the other day. Woofie had attacked it and knocked everything down, but Emmie and Snowball had found a cure to turn him nice again, and they’d all rebuilt it.
He set Snowball on the couch and fell to his knees, dumping his blocks onto the floor and starting to sort them by color. Daddy was in the kitchen, but it didn’t take too long before he joined him, his fingers a little wrinkly from washing dishes.
Emmie pushed a pile of blue blocks in front of him. “You gotta do the moat, Daddy. I’ll build the castle.”
“Whatever you want, baby.”
There was something in his voice that pulled Emmie up short, scratching at big him, but he pushed it away, turning and crawling into Daddy’s lap and giving him another hug.
This was all he wanted. It was everything he needed.
10
As soon as the knock came on the front door, Emmett grinned and tossed aside his phone, having only been mindlessly scrolling while he waited for Rooster. He heard Roni chuckle as he rushed out of the room, but he ignored her, too excited to lay eyes on his daddy to care that she found him amusing.
He didn’t need her snickers to know he was being silly—he already knew that all on his own. In the month since he and Rooster had reconnected and started dating, they’d spent more time together than apart, especially after their first date at Rooster’s, when Emmett had little time, and then they had sex. The weeks since had been filled with more dates and little time and cuddles and orgasms. The only bad part—as far as Emmett was concerned—was when Rooster had a shift and they couldn’t see each other for a whole twenty-four hours.
Which, okay, he knew how that sounded.
But he didn’t care. He’d been worried at first about how fast he was falling into a relationship with Rooster, but he just felt… amazing when he was with him. Like he never had to worryabout a single thing ever again because his daddy would always be there to help him with anything he needed.
Including the thing he needed to ask Rooster about later that night.
If he could get the stupid words out past the lump that formed in his throat anytime he thought too long about it. He was running out of time though, and he was almost positive Rooster would say yes. It was just that tiny part of him that wasn’t sure that was holding him back.
Throwing open the front door, he was hit with a bit of déjà vu. Rooster was standing on the other side just like that first night he’d shown up with pancakes for Emmett—snowflakes were stuck in his hair, leather vest in place over his ever-present hoodie, and takeout food in hand.
“Sorry I’m late,” Rooster said, grimacing and stepping in as soon as Emmett moved out of the way. “They messed up part of our order, so I had to wait while they remade it.”
“It’s okay.” He couldn’t help but smile as his stomach fluttered. He knew that Rooster was upset about being late becauseEmmettgot upset about it. And that was just… Gracious, he just didn’t have words for how much he adored this man.
“The food is amazing, but Roman is a trip and a half when Tony isn’t working, and that can throw the whole place off,” Roni said as she came up behind Emmett, slipping a coat on over her… tight-fitting blouse and skinny jeans?
“Where are you going dressed like that?” he couldn’t help but ask. Well, demand, more like. She, of course, only rolled her eyes as she grabbed her keys from the hook.
“Emmett,” Rooster chided as he guided him out of her way with a hand on his lower back. “Don’t be rude.”
“But—”
“Emmett.”
His mouth snapped shut at his daddy’s harder tone, but he couldn’t stop himself from studying the way Roni had styled her hair into an edgy pompadour and was wearing dark red lipstick and heeled boots. Was she going on adate?
“Have fun, you two,” she said with a grin. Shooting Emmett a wink, she added, “Don’t wait up.”
Emmett’s mouth dropped open as she slipped out the front door, and he whirled on Rooster. “She didn’t tell me she had a date!”
