December 12

DECEMBER 12

Igrinned when I saw my cousin’s name on the display, and I quickly wiped away my bubble beard and answered the call, putting him on speaker.

“I had a feeling you’d call!”

“Well, no shit?” Cam chuckled. “Where’s that selfie from? Last time I visited, you did not have a tub that four people could fit inside.”

“Yeah, about that…” I sighed contentedly and left the phone on the edge, then leaned back comfortably in the water. “I met someone. He’s our type, Cam.”

“Oooh, what’s he like?”

Fucking amazing? Perfect? Sweet and funny and kind and sexy and…

Slight movement caught my eye, and I tilted my head toward the door, where I totally saw the shadow of two feet! Ha! Oh Daddy, you’re supposed to work, remember? You said you had to catch up on a few emails! Even though it was Sunday.

“He’s almost too good to be true,” I replied honestly. “We’re at that beginning stage where we keep saying we’re just gonna spend one more night together. Just one more.”

The plan was for me to go home after work tomorrow, though that’d been our initial plan yesterday too. Home after dance practice—and today, home after lunch, because he had work that included a conference call. I guessed that one was over now.

“What do you mean—like, it’s temporary?” Cam wondered.

Oh crap, no, not like that. “No, I mean—since it’s so new. We’re supposed to take it slow and meet up for dates and stuff when we have time. You know? But his schedule at work is so hectic, and last week, after our first proper dinner date, he finally brought me back to his place and screwed my brains out. And then we called in sick the morning after, and I’ve been at his place ever since.”

Cam sighed wistfully. “That’s the stuff right there.”

I leaned back against the bath pillow again. If Wyatt wanted to listen in, he could. I wasn’t saying anything I didn’t want him to know anyway. But knowing him, he’d only indulge a few seconds and then pull himself away. In the end, he was a gentleman.

“How are you and the boyfriend?” I asked. “Noa?”

“Yeah, he’s…” He chuckled softly. “He’s amazing. But you know our deal, right?”

“Sort of…” I squinted. “You were hoping for a third?”

“We’ll need one eventually, I guess,” he replied. “Our core kinks line up too well. He’s a brat like you, totally wild and can’t spell boundaries, and I’m…well, you know what I’m into. It just sucks because I’m so damn in love with him.”

I raked my teeth over my bottom lip and made a sudsy mountain with my hands. “Weren’t you hooked on a Dom in your community?”

“Yup, but that’s not happening. Sometimes, I swear he’s looking at me in, you know, that way—kind of lingering and stuff…but he’s evidently happy with his douchebag boyfriend. Who’s a total manipulator, by the way.”

That sucked more than one donkey butt.

“But anyway. I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time, and Noa keeps me busy,” he chuckled. “I hope you can meet next time you visit. Which—when is that happening?”

Hopefully soon. I missed DC. Our family came from all over the place. The grandparents we shared were from DC, though they’d moved to Georgia after they’d retired. Mom was from Florida, so she’d screamed yes when Dad had been offered a job there a few years ago. Her parents, however, were from out here, and Nana had moved back after Pops passed away. Here, she had her sisters. But yeah, when my sister and I were little, we’d lived in DC, and I’d spent most of my school years there.

“Work is usually slow after the holidays,” I said pensively. That was when airfare wasn’t outrageously expensive either. “Maybe I can take a few days off in January or February…?”

“That would be awesome,” Cam said. “You can stay with Noa and me—unless you wanna go to my parents’.”

“Hell no, I’ll crash with you if you don’t mind,” I laughed. “How are the mean girls?” Totally referring to Cam’s sisters. They’d mellowed out a lot as we’d grown up, but man, they’d been cruel once upon a time. In that annoying sit-still-I’m-gonna-paint-your-nails way.

“They’re vicious,” he exclaimed. “They stopped eating carbs, so I’m not going near them.”

I laughed.

“By the way, before I forget,” he moved on, “what’re you doing for your birthday?”

“Mom and Dad are flying out,” I answered.

“Cool. How’s Uncle Keith anyway?”

“Still in a cast for another couple of weeks, which works out great because that means they’ll stay at a hotel and I don’t have to clean the apartment,” I chuckled. “I’ve never been so glad I don’t have an elevator in my building.”

He chuckled too. “Are you gonna go to a restaurant or…? I mean for your birthday.”

“I guess so.” I shrugged and scratched my neck. “I wonder if it’s too soon to introduce Wyatt…”

“Ooh, Sir Wyatt. I like it.”

“Daddy Wyatt, yo,” I corrected. That was the difference between me and Cam—he wanted the Master, and I wanted the Daddy. “Eh, I bet he’s busy. He has so many business dinners and meetings.”

“Maybe, but you should still make sure,” Cam responded. “I bet he’d at least appreciate being invited.”

That was true. I would do that.

“Yeah, you’re right. I just gotta add that I don’t want a gift from him, and…like, I don’t have any expectations. I mean, I don’t want him to feel pressured since it’s so early.” I looked toward the door again, relieved when the sliver of brightness didn’t come with shadows. He wasn’t there anymore.

“How old is he?” Cam asked curiously.

“Forty-six.”

“What does he do for a living?”

“Oh—he’s part of a huge corporation. It’s a family thing. His uncle is the CEO, and I’d say Wyatt is one of three or four relatives who will eventually take over.”

Cam hummed. “So he’s a mature man, maybe well-off…? Dominant. A Daddy. Presumably lives his life just fine. So I’m thinking he’s capable of deciding for himself what he’s ready for?”

Oh, turd.

“Dude, you don’t know what he’s already done for me,” I said in my defense. “After our date when he brought me back here, I made some comments about how he didn’t have any Christmas decorations…? And before I knew it, he hired a freaking decorator to come over, and now I’m walking around in Santa’s workshop. And like, dinners and lunches and—all of it. He insists on paying. He drove me to dance rehearsal, he—”

“He likes to dote on you,” Cam murmured. “What’s wrong with that?”

I huffed a breath and deflated. “What can I give in return?”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know he measured affection in money. I guess you’re shit out of luck.”

I rolled my eyes to myself. “And you say you’re not a brat.”

“I’m not!” he laughed. “I’m serious. Unless he’s one of those rich fuckers who only sees money, chances are he doesn’t give a fuck. Maybe, and hear me out—this might sound crazy—but maybe he just wants you.”

I opened my mouth to respond, because I actually had an argument, but that was when I heard a knock on the door, which meant only one thing.

“Crap,” I whispered. “Cam, lemme call you back. I think Wyatt’s been eavesdropping.”

“Oh shit,” he chuckled. “All right, later.”

“Later.” I reached over and ended the call, and I told Wyatt it was okay to come in. Then I ducked lower into the water so he could barely see me over the bubbles.

“Hey, brat.” He smiled carefully and stuck his hands into the pockets of his suit pants. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his dark blue shirt at some point, and I appreciated the forearm porn.

“Hello, sneak.” I blew away some bubbles.

His mouth twitched, and he walked closer.

“How much did you overhear?” I had to ask.

He released a breath. “Let’s see. I stopped outside the door when I heard you telling your cousin you’d met someone. Then I left when you asked how he was doing. Once I got to my study, I remembered I’d forgotten my coffee in the kitchen.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I told myself I was better than someone who eavesdrops, so I walked back to the kitchen through the living room instead of the hallway, and then I failed taking the same route to the study again, so now there’s a cup of coffee on the table right outside, and I started listening in when I heard ‘Daddy Wyatt, yo.’”

A giggle burst out, ’cause it was funny to hear him say “yo.”

But that was one impressive run-through.

“I take it you have a birthday coming up.”

I nodded. “On Wednesday.”

The tension was a little nerve-racking. I didn’t know what he was thinking or if he was mad or…

He nodded once and took another couple steps toward me. “I see. That’s, ah…” He cleared his throat and eventually sat down on the edge of the tub. “I won’t intrude on the birthday talk, but I felt the need to let you know that everything your cousin told you is spot-on. If I valued money more than…whatever else, I would’ve been happy before we met. I would have loved my life, Parker. Instead…the man you met in the office when you came up with the Christmas present for my uncle…” He lifted a brow.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek and nodded slowly. That man hadn’t been happy. He’d been rude, indifferent, and closed off.

“I spend recklessly sometimes because I don’t care,” he murmured. “I haven’t earned half of what I’m worth. I was born with money, and it made me resentful long before I sank into a lifestyle of repetitive comfort.”

I half squinted, a little confused. “What do you mean by resentful?”

He shrugged slightly. “I was never really close to my own parents, because they do value money more than anything. If a hobby doesn’t cost more than what most make in a year, they don’t bother. It has to be golf and yacht clubs with them. And you won’t see them at the public course in Calabasas—it’s Scotland, Florida, and Spain. Clothes have to be expensive. They have to fly private. They need to host big dinner parties just so people can see how much they have.”

He was closer to his uncle, I bet. Not that I knew much about Clarke Abrams, but I’d heard enough through the company grapevine. He cared for his employees—we had good benefits and stuff. He absolutely loved his family, and he adored his wife very, very much. Employees with children could send their kids to a private day care near corporate for less money than most people spent.

Wyatt motioned for me to turn around, and he grabbed the shampoo bottle and the showerhead.

I smiled curiously and slid closer, and I turned my back to him.

“My siblings and I all wanted to pursue different interests over the years that didn’t please our parents.” He turned on the water and waited till it was hot before he began washing my hair. I tipped my head back and closed my eyes. “That sort of thing causes rifts.”

Yeah, I could see that.

“I’m not saying I wasn’t fortunate,” he added. “I was, and I am. Very much so. I’m only saying it was never what made me happy.”

I shivered at the feel of his fingers in my hair—and the warmth of his voice.

When he switched off the water again, I peered up at him, so he was totally upside down. “I make you happy?”

He smiled. “Incredibly. You’ve breathed life into my existence, Parker. You can’t put a price tag on that. You walk into a room, and the whole place lights up.”

Goodness, he had a way with words.

“Close your eyes.”

I closed my eyes.

He started working shampoo into my hair, and I groaned at how good it felt.

“When I was in college, I grew closer to my uncle,” he went on. “I trusted him, and he listened when I complained about my first-world problems. I was furious with my father, who wouldn’t let me minor in ecology.”

Whoa. I cracked one eye open. “Like, plants and stuff?”

He chuckled. “That’s the start of it, I suppose. Partly. But I was drawn to finding solutions in developing countries. I spent a summer in Botswana before my senior year in high school—looked great on my college application, my parents said. We built a school there, and all I saw was this barren land, and I came home with the niggling worry that life couldn’t flourish where nothing grew.”

Fuck, now I felt bad. There was so much to learn about Wyatt, and I’d barely scratched the surface. I’d asked the most basic stuff, like siblings, how many celebrity chefs he knew, what his favorite foods and music were. We talked so much, and a simple two-second question could easily turn into a two-hour conversation. And I loved that. I loved that he was easy to talk to—and he listened as well. He didn’t mind when I rambled.

We had time, though. Right? We had to. I wanted to know everything.

“I got even angrier when I didn’t get the opportunity to go back to Botswana,” he said. “But I was partly to blame for that. I obeyed my parents for too long. Until Uncle Clarke told me it was okay to piss off my folks sometimes. And then I chose his path.”

“You mean at the company?”

“More like his philosophy in life,” he answered. “Have you met Clarke?”

I squinted. “Not really. I’ve seen him from afar at a work thing. He’s boisterous.”

“That, he is.” He grinned faintly and dragged his fingers along my scalp. Homina, homina, that felt so friggin’ amazing. “He noticed once that I tended to feel bad about wealth—the topic made me uncomfortable. So he took me aside one day and told me to buck up. Money’s great. Making money is wonderful. The trick, he said, was to spend it wisely. Keep making it—just take care of those under you. Do something good.”

I shivered when he covered my neck, rubbing my flesh unhurriedly and scratching his nails up my scalp.

“Right after college, I applied for a job with him,” he said. “I wanted to work my way up, and he waved that off. He had just the thing for me, he said. Two things, actually. He wanted my production brain—I’m good at strategizing big projects and leading rather large departments.”

“And the other?” I asked.

“He knew I needed to feel good about what I did,” he sighed. “As you know, we have a department that works with charity.”

I nodded. “Yessir. Did he put you in charge of that?”

“No, but he told me to make sure the money was spent wisely.” He winked. “He said he didn’t want our money to be lost in the system. He showed me the average cut of a dollar that goes straight to relief and aid, and it pissed me off. We’re talking a few cents. The rest gets shuffled around and never makes it to where it’s truly needed.”

I scrunched my nose.

“When I finally got out of my marriage, I let my job become everything,” he admitted. “I poured all my time and energy into digging out the right nonprofits, the best people on the ground, the spokespeople I wanted to keep close, the organizations that sent volunteers instead of outsourcing the task and paying them instead.”

I smiled to myself and closed my eyes once more as he showered off the suds from my hair.

“I love my job, Parker,” he murmured. “It fills me with a sense of purpose and keeps me afloat. But on a personal level, I’ve been drowning for years. I’ve distanced myself from everything and everyone. I became moody and cynical.”

That was the Mr. Abrams I’d known!

Not anymore.

“Then one day, a boy rambled about doing cartwheels on my Persian rug,” he mused. “He just wouldn’t shut up.”

I spluttered a laugh.

“He told me I deserved a lump of coal from Santa,” he added. “And that I was a grinch. Then he asked if we should carpool the next day, and he gave me snickerdoodles.”

He shifted the showerhead away from me, and I turned around and looked up at him.

He let out a breath and returned the showerhead to its mount. “You changed everything for me. And that’s what I want more of. More excitement, more adorable yet bizarrely wise rambles from someone who sees the world differently than I do. More spontaneity. More…insane triple backflips that blow my mind.”

I grinned, and I started falling…

He touched my cheek. “I simply adore being around you.”

I simply adored being around him too.

He wasn’t the grinch anymore anyway. He was the best, hottest, kindest Daddy Christmas.

I scrambled up onto my knees and glided over to him, and I reached up to kiss him. “I honestly can’t get enough of you, Wyatt.”

He drew a breath and cupped my cheek. “Then let’s not pretend,” he whispered. “I have a busy December, and I want to see you as much as possible. Stay with me for a while.”

I nodded and kissed him again, deeper this time, suddenly very needy. I locked my arms around his neck, and he groaned into the kiss. I hoped he knew me well enough to see this coming…

I pulled him back.

He sucked in a breath, and a second later, he was tumbling down back first into the tub, and water splashed all around us.

He resurfaced with a laugh and a cough and instantly yanked me to his body. “You little shit, I was waiting for that.”

Good! Then he could’ve prevented it if he didn’t wanna get wet!

I climbed up on his lap and kissed him silly.