“Oops, I’m sorry about that. I get distracted, but I’ve been making more of an effort with the timer now,” I told him. “You didn’t get an alarm call today.”
“That’s true,” he said. “Maybe because you already knew I was coming over, so you didn’t need something to get my attention.”
I pulled my knees and legs in at his thighs like he was a horsey and I was telling him to giddy up. “I have all your attention,” I said. “You know what my birthday wish was?”
“Was it for me?” he asked.
My heart raced. “It was for a Daddy.” I quickly hid myface in my arms as heat rushed up, and I squeezed my legs in harder—but I doubt it he actually felt it.
“So, you wished for me,” he said, his hands on my thighs. His big hands could almost wrap around them. “I guess I’ll take it as a compliment, but now I’m wondering if you just made the inevitable happen.”
“I did have you in mind when I wished,” I groaned from under my arms. “But this was after you gave me the blind box teddy.”
Prying my hands from my face, he pulled me down to his chest and my face to his. He now held me in place with his hands around my back. “What if I wished for you when it was my birthday, last week?”
I gasped. “Did you?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t make a birthday wish, they didn’t have any candles for the lasagna cake, but I can imagine if they did, I would’ve wished for you.”
I couldn’t help burrowing my face into his thick chest now, trying my best to get under his shirt and find that furry nest of chest hair, but his T-shirt was tight. I could barely get my hand up.
“You’re gonna tear it,” he said. “Where are you trying to get?”
“Wanna feel you.”
“You wanna know what I actually thought while eating my birthday lasagna?”
I lifted my head for a moment to look at him. “Yeah.”
“I thought, I’d love to have someone in my life, someone who could share my bed, someone who I could be completely true with, and someone I—” He inhaled big, lifting me on his chest with the breath. “I could be a family with.”
I gave him a big kiss, screwing my face against his. I wasn’t going to let him pull me away—not like he would. He pressed the back of my head with one hand and brushed my hair back with the other so he could look me in the eye without my hair getting in my face. When our lips parted, I told him how much I was enjoying our time together—and how after every time he left, I longed for him. It felt right to bare my soul the way he did, and it created a spark of intimacy I hadn’t felt in—ever. It was like our butterflies knew each other, they were the same.
***
Was this a glimpse into the life we could have together? Part of me hated that I was thinking so far into the future, and another part of me was already planning our marriage and pets. It was all the stuff I knew people did, and yet, I just wanted to be in the moment.
He really had nothing at all, except for beer in the fridge and some ready-made meals in the freezer. I almost wanted to throw them out. He deserved better food. I had been a chef for a little while, not making big meals, mostly justsauces and side dishes as I worked beneath the head chef—and then I went into desserts and pastry—but I could pretty much make most things with a recipe.
“I should learn to cook,” Daddy said as we stood in the kitchen, preparing everything for the pizzas.
“You can’t be good at everything,” I said, standing beside him in my onesie, a more comfortable clothing choice.
“Oh, really?” he said. “So you think I’m good at everything except cooking?”
I shrugged. “Feels like a trap, and I’m a good boy.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, kissing me on the forehead. “So, these pizzas. I know what we need to do, obviously, but if you want to explain it to me, just so I know that you know.”
Giggle-snorting, it was a clever way at helping. “First, we preheat the oven, I think.” I winked at him.
“Of course, and then what do we do?”
“We dust a counter with flour, roll out our dough, and then add the toppings,” I said. “I think.” Another wink had him laughing.
Being able to share something fun like this with him was everything I’d wished for—not in my birthday wish, but in life. I’d gone to sleep many times after some self-fun time, thinking about what I’d do if I had a Daddy—and what he’d do with me. Not the spicy bedroom times, but things that happened outside the bedroom.
“Okay, well, first problem, flour,” he said.
