now.”
“Breathe, Sam. Everything’s going to be just fine,” I reassured him as I kneaded his shoulders. I
felt Corey’s glare searing me even before I looked up to confirm my suspicions. For someone who
turned me down before and had been avoiding me whenever possible, the pursed lips and narrowed
eyes he sported betrayed the unaffected front he put on. The boy was jealous. Of Sam. “Now, what
did Corey suggest?”
I didn’t stop massaging Sam’s shoulders. He wasn’t shying away from the touch, and he’d earned
this reward after the hours he’d been putting in between classes and his regular shifts here. If not for
him, the playroom would still be little more than some notes scribbled on a scrap of paper, never to
be seen again. The longer I treated Sam, the louder bags thumped onto the bar. A box was thrown
toward the garbage can, knocking over a bowl of snacks.
Someone needed to rein him in before he started breaking shit.
“He pointed out that most littles aren’t going to be drinking alcohol,” Sam told me. “And even
soda could be off-limits, depending on their Daddies’ rules. He asked if it’d be okay for him to run
out and grab some stuff they might enjoy.”
“That is smart.” And slightly risky for someone who was doing his damndest to bury his own little
side under a pile of responsibilities. The weight of whatever obligations he was trying to balance
threatened to suffocate him, and yet he’d found a tiny way to appease the side he wouldn’t let anyone
see. I wondered if he even realized that’s what he’d been doing.
“Don’t tell me, tell him,” Sam suggested. He started sorting the toys I’d already unpacked into
piles to be distributed throughout the bar. “Did you know he thinks you don’t like him?”
“Why would he think that?” Bile rose in my chest as I glanced Corey’s direction again. His
expression had softened, but not by much. Okay, so maybe I hadn’t been his biggest fan, but I was
relatively certain I’d done an adequate job of acting professional— save for that one night two weeks
ago.
Sam shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe that’s something else you should talk to him about.”
“Maybe I will.” And while I was at it, I’d see if I could find a way to adjust his attitude. He was
the one who’d turned me down, therefore he had no right to get upset when I did something nice for
Sam. Everyone here knew Sam was a sucker for touch, and there was nothing more to it.
I never got the opportunity to tell Corey what I thought about his additions to the bar. Jack came
