Once seated, we quickly ordered food and drinks. While Preston and I chose steaks, the boys picked popcorn chicken and fries off the kids’ menu. I leaned into Gilly’s side and whispered, “You sure that’s what you’re getting? You can have anything you want.” I didn’t want his friend to influence him and Gilly not be happy with his meal.
“I’m sure. I’ve had that here before. It’s really good.” His bright smile sucked me in even more, and I nearly pressed my lips to his.
“Okay.” The server left to put our orders in, and I wanted nothing more than to learn all I could about Gilly, but I also wanted him to have a good time, free from the barrage of questions that flooded my mind. I needed to let it be his choice. “Would you like to stay and talk or go play games?”
He sucked that plump bottom lip into his mouth and rolled his eyes like he was thinking hard about it. “Hmm…I’d like to play. Will you come with me?”
“Sure. Sounds fun.” We played a few of the pinball games, while Preston and Bobby shot pool. “What do you want to do next?”
He nodded to the arcade games set along the far wall. “I like video games. Don’t you? Can we try them?” Gilly bounced on the balls of his feet, and for a fleeting moment I saw the Little peeking out that he was hiding. Would he let me draw him out of his shell?
Trust needs to come first, Nate.
A stark reminder but one I’d remember, nonetheless.
“I’m probably better at pinball, but come on.” I led the way. “Do you play a lot of video games?”
“Yes. I’m not like an official gamer or anything, but I like Fortnite and Minecraft. Look at this one.” It was an old, refurbished Pac-Man game. “It’s so much fun chomping away at the neon dots. Munch, munch, munch,” he chanted.
“I know this one. I challenge you, Gamer Gilly.” I pretended to knight him with an imaginary sword, and his hand flew to his mouth as a giggle escaped. Ah, Little for sure. He beat me in the first game, but I won the second one. “I’ve got this now. Best two out of three?” He nodded. “Okay, are you ready?”
“Let’s do it.” Excitement coursed through him as he jumped up and down.
“Alright, but they just delivered our food, so it’ll be time to eat when we’re finished.”
“Okay, Da—” Now wasn’t that adorable, almost calling me Daddy.
I didn’t want to comment on it, though, and risk embarrassing him or making him feel like he had to call me that. The last thing I wanted was for him to think it’d been a mistake to say it, let alone think about it. I could assure him it was anything but that. Still, I was hesitantbecause I had no clue how he would react to finding out about the lactation. Did he even know what that was, and would it change how he saw me? Though I saw Gilly’s Little naturally peeking out, that didn’t mean he was into nursing, and he may never be. But that was a conversation for another day,since at this point, it was more important to simply get to know each other.
I started up the game, and it thrilled me to see how eager he was to play. He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as he grabbed the joystick. “Pac-Man is so cool. I love all the eighties video games, though. Can we play more after dinner?”
“Of course.”
“Look out, Imma get you, ghosties!”
“You’re cute, Gilly. Can’t believe you don’t already have a boyfriend.”
Gilly scoffed. “I don’t date much. I work a lot. But what about you? I mean, you seem super nice, and Preston said good things about you. Why don’t you have a boyfriend?”
“Same reason, Gilly. I work too much.”
He moved the joystick around as he continued to play. “We should do less working and have more fun.”
“Agreed.” That was the second time in as many days that I’d been reminded of that. It was high time to take that advice.
After Gilly beat me in the final game, we headed to the table. I pulled his chair out for him, and he sat down, smiling from ear to ear as I sat next to him and promptly cut into my steak. It was perfect, slightly pink in the middle with a nice char on the outside. I cut a couple of smaller pieces and slid them onto Gilly’s plate, along with a breadstick. “Try this.”
“Mmm, it’s so good. But I like the chicky-pops better.” He popped a piece of chicken into his mouth, following it with a French fry, smiling and wiggling as he ate.
Preston winked and nodded from across the table. Smug bastard was right in assuming that I would like Gilly. Hell, I was entirely too into him already.
3
GILLY
Dinner with Nate was so much fun. Preston and Rob were okay too, except he kept calling my friend Bobby and confusing me. If Rob didn’t mind, though, I could get used to it.
I couldn’t believe I almost called Nate Daddy, so there was a lot of that nickname stuff going around. If that was what you called it. Either way, I didn’t know and almost messed up. I was inexperienced in love and Daddy stuff, but I really liked Nate and hoped he felt the same way.
