Page 18 of Milk Drunk

Two bottles of wine, six baskets of bread, four plates of pasta, and three shared desserts later and we were full and warm. You’d never know we didn’t do this all the time. When we walked out, Jason and I were hand in hand and already making plans for our next get-together. The current idea was to hit up one of those adult arcade dinner places so we could let our Little sides have some fun in a Big place.

“You gonna bring us a Daddy, Jason?”

“Maybe. But do you need one or two?” Jason tapped his chin.

Branson looked at Mark and then to the ground. Interesting.

Jason didn’t need any more response than that. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Walking back to the car, I squeezed his arm. “What was that about with the Daddies? And don’t say you don’t know. You think they wanna share, right?”

He laughed. “Of course they wanna share. Those two are so in denial of their love, it hurts.”

Jason not only cared about me, but he cared about those close to me, and he paid attention.

“You’re the best Daddy.” I leaned into his side and wanted to curl into him forever.

He held me tighter and kissed the top of my head. “I don’t know about that, but I try to be the best Daddy for you.”

“And you are, Jason. Trust me. You are.”

9

JASON

I bit back a yawn and changed the channel, hoping to find something that would catch my attention enough to not fall asleep. It was well past my bedtime. Normally I’d be asleep by now, but Casey was coming over after his gig, and I wanted to be awake when he arrived.

I was realistic and left the door unlocked in case I accidentally fell asleep, but I didn’t want to miss any time with him.

My plan failed. One minute, I was wondering how soon he’d get here, and the next minute, I was waking up to the sound of his duffle bag thudding on the floor.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“No, it’s good you did.” I stood up and stretched. Sleeping on the couch was not ideal for my back…or any other part of me. “I need to get in bed.”

He gave me a quick kiss and nuzzled my neck. “Okay, I’m gonna grab a quick shower first.”

I promised I would go to bed, but I didn’t say when. As soon as he was in the bathroom, I made him a quick snack. I’d found some meal-prep containers that looked like Lunchables and used them for making some snacks he could take with him to work. But they were also perfect for nights like this.

I put cheesy fish crackers in one little section, some cubes of cheese in another, a chopped-up meat stick to fill the third, and for the fourth, I added his favorite cookie. I put it on my nightstand next to his side of the bed and contemplated adding a drink, but I knew he would probably want to fall asleep drinking from me. That was one of our favorite times to bond and the best part of sleepovers.

As promised, I climbed into bed so I wasn’t a complete liar and waited for him to come out. When he did, I was suddenly very awake. Yum.

Casey was hot no matter what he was wearing or what he’d been doing, but when he was wearing just his briefs and his hair was still damp—yes, please.

“You’re not asleep, Daddy.” He patted the drops of water trailing down his chest and pretended to scold me.

“No, but I’m in bed, and I made you a snacky snack.” I pointed to his Daddy-made lunchable.

“You’re the best, Daddy. I’m starving.” He grabbed the box and popped the lid open so he could start with the cookie.

“Way to focus on nutrition first, huh, sweet boy?”

He giggled. “Yep. It’s got chocolate in it, and chocolate grows on a tree, so that makes it fruit.”

It actually didn’t, but I wasn’t gonna argue with him. It didn’t really matter what order people ate things in anyway. If it had been during the daytime, I would have included berries or cut-up veggies, but he just needed a little something solid in his belly before he went to sleep.

Casey devoured everything in the box then made a quick trip to the bathroom to hang up his towel and grab his shirt. A moment later, he climbed into bed.