He scrunched his nose and nodded, which had me laughing again. “Uh, the Daughtler I met was short and blond.”
“Papa. And what happened?”
Flynn gave me sad eyes and tried to shrink in on himself, but he was a big man with solid muscles. I licked my lips and grinned. There was no hiding for him. “He invited me to come to dinner at your house with my boyfriend?”
My heart leaped and I clutched at the wheel. “Okay, I can honestly say I didn’t expect that.”
He laughed, and I loved the way he really let loose in a frantic outburst that didn’t seem to be so much about amusement as relief. “You’re not mad at me?”
Shaking my head, I focused on the road. “Just tell me about it.”
There were several starts and stops because he kept asking if I was mad at him, thanks to the wine in his system, and each time I very calmly let him know I wasn’t, though I wasn’t sure what the hell we should do. Papa was a persistent person and respected teachers. He probably genuinely wanted to get to know Flynn, especially if he remembered Jury talking about him. I ended up chuckling over the whole mess by the time we arrived at Flynn’s house and my Lexus was parked in his driveway.
“Are you sure you’re not mad?” he asked for the thousandth time, as if any of this was his fault anyway.
Shrugging, I turned off the car and stared into his face. His cheeks were pink and his brown eyes were shiny from his emotions running up against too much wine. He stifled a yawn with the back of his hand, and I laughed.
“How about this? Let me worry about it.” I squeezed his knee.
“What?” He lurched toward me, and I unbuckled our seat belts and steadied him with my hands on his shoulders. As soon as he was free, he got as close as he could, and I gave him a hug.
“You’re stressed, and he’s my papa, let me figure it out. You were worried all night, weren’t you? Is that why you drank so much?”
He shrugged but seemed lost. “You’ll take care of it?” His brow furrowed. “And you’re not mad at me?”
“No.” I leaned in and brushed my lips to the corner of his mouth, but he’d been drinking in a big way and needed to brush his teeth. I grinned and kissed all over his face until he laughed. “I mean I wasn’t ready to do anything about it, but I want to be with you. We’ll figure it out. I trust my parents.”
He groaned. “How the hell is being with you so easy?” I wasn’t prepared when he fell farther forward and collapsed against my chest, but a warmth I’d never felt before had my body tingling as I snuggled him close.
“Listen, you’re drunk.”
He shrugged, not denying it.
“Rookie, here’s the game plan. I’m taking you inside. You’re going to let me help you. You’re going to drink a big glass of water.” He groaned at that, so I had to wonder how his stomach was doing. “Then you’ll brush your teeth. I’m going to help you get into bed. You’ll be safe and sound. I’m right here, and I’m going to call someone about your car.”
“I’ll have to put the repairs on a credit card.” He sighed and stared glumly at the dashboard.
“No, you’re not,” I whispered, and when he opened his mouth to start arguing with me, I asked, “Who am I?”
“You’re Judge.”
Snorting on a laugh, I nodded. “And who else am I to you?”
“You’re my....” He turned his face toward my chest and mumbled.
“Excuse me? What’s that? I didn’t hear you.” This was too much fun.
“You’re my Dom. You’re my Prince Charming.” He snickered. “Charming.”
Sighing, I shook my head. “And you’re going to bed.”
It wasn’t difficult to wrangle Flynn out of the car and into the house, not the way I’d thought it might be from the few times I’d taken care of Jury when he was drunk and acting like an idiot. Flynn was snuggly and sweet and laughed at almost everything I said, and my heart beat harder every time he gazed at me as if I was the most fantastic thing that had ever happened to him. As we walked through the front door he turned and flipped up a light switch that lit a few lamps around the sparse living room. The place felt... empty. It was clear there was a lot of furniture missing, a ton of spots on the carpet seemed brighter than all the others. Maybe his ex had taken lots of stuff and Flynn hadn’t bothered to replace anything. He had an armchair but no couch, and there was an overall lonely feeling to the room.
“Where’s the bathroom?” I asked him.
He tried to kick off his shoes, but I bent down to untie them for him and help. He steadied himself on my shoulders as I worked, and when I stood, he hugged me, and I was only too happy to hold him. “Uh, I’ll go get ready for bed.”
“Just go piss and brush your teeth,” I said.
