Page 15 of Daddy's Little Drummer Boy
The city wasn’t fully awake yet, which made navigating the streets much easier. We didn’t hit as much traffic as we could have, and he dropped me off outside earlier than usual. I’d never wanted traffic before, but extending our time together sounded wonderful about then.
“See you soon?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’d like that.” With our schedules, I wasn’t sure how soon it could actually be, but if it was possible for me to make the time, I was going to.
I leaned in for a quick kiss then hopped out before people started honking at him for stopping in a no-stopping zone. It wasn’t like he was even in the way, but people had a tendency to get really pissy on this street for some reason, the sound of their honking often reaching the windows on my floor.
He waved and pulled away.
Work wasn’t too busy, but there was enough to keep the day moving. At closing time, just like almost every night this month, I went home with just enough time to get ready for my job at the mall.
I wasn’t doing a full double shift for Ron today—my work schedule didn’t allow it—but I put in enough hours that when Igot to my building, all I wanted to do was fall into bed and sleep for a week.
When I reached my door, there was a box in front of it.
I couldn’t remember ordering anything, and I would have remembered. Ordering always cost money—something I was sadly lacking. But when I picked it up, it had my name on it.
Once inside, I dropped my backpack on the counter but didn’t bother taking off my coat before opening the box. I was far too curious to wait that long.
Inside the cardboard box was a beautifully wrapped present. The paper was covered in Santa Clauses. The tag said,Open now. There wasn’t a name, and, thankfully, it wasn’t one of thoseDon’t open until Christmastags because that would have been hard.
I tore the paper off and lifted the lid. Underneath was tissue paper folded over with a sticker on it—a sticker of a raccoon. I peeled it off gently and stuck it on the dry-erase board that lived on my refrigerator, where I kept notes about what I needed to buy or restock. It was adorable, and I didn’t want to risk it getting ruined as I finished opening my gift.
I went back to the box and unfolded the paper to reveal a card and a golden envelope. Underneath the card was an adorable pair of pajamas—Christmas pajamas covered in tiny raccoons. Half of them wore Santa hats, and the rest long red underwear. I wasn’t sure which ones I loved best.
They were ridiculous—ridiculously awesome.
I opened the card, expecting it to be a random Christmas card, but it wasn’t. Inside was an invitation.
Not just any invitation, either. This was a special invitation, one just for me. An invitation from Nick. It wasn’t for a Christmas party or a dinner at a nice restaurant. No, he was asking me on a proper play date.
He hadn’t played with me little yet, though I supposed he got a glimpse with Rooney. But he was about to because there was nothing that could possibly get in the way of me accepting.
My answer was absolutely, positively yes.
I couldn’t wait.
Chapter Twelve
Nick
After our first night together, the next logical step was to see how we worked as daddy/little, and the best place to take that out for a spin? Chained, of course. It wasn’t easy finding a night when Bobby was free and I was in town, but we managed, and he was so excited. Me too. I reserved a changing room I thought he’d like and drove over to pick him up. Bobby carried a backpack holding whatever he thought he’d need for the evening. If our relationship progressed, I’d be helping him pack that other times, but for tonight, I wanted him to do everything in a way that made him as comfortable as possible. He said he had clothes he wanted to wear. I said good deal. One step at a time.
The fact it was so hard to find a night to do this was a big reminder of why I had not tried to have my own boy for so long. After Christmas, Bobby was going to have more free time, but my job was going to accelerate again. I had been holding back, refusing any work but my own, but even that would have me away a lot.
Would he want that?
Was it even fair to ask?
I tried to shrug that away for the moment and just take things as they came. Changing jobs would help a lot, and it was something I would look into as well. Bobby was just too special to walk away from without trying. He liked me, I liked him, and I was over the moon to walk into Chained with him by my side.
“Hello, sir,” said tonight’s subbie at the desk. “Welcome.”
Bobby pulled out the free pass he’d been given, but I waved it away. “I have a visitor pass for you, so hang on to that for another time.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “I don’t mind using it.”
“Positive.”
