19. Leo

Chapter nineteen

Leo

A week after my first real date with Isaac, when I ended up staying over until Monday morning, I was waffling on whether it was too soon for giving presents. After one date felt clingy, but it also felt like we’d had a handful of dates over the months we’d known each other.

Was he getting me a gift? I had no clue, but it would help to know.

Dezi was getting a few things from me, because I’d learned her backstory from Isaac. He found her on his doorstep last Christmas Eve, and he’d had to run around to find places open to get her the bare necessities. Dezi deserved all the spoiling she could get.

Which was why I was spending my Friday evening wrapping her presents. I noticed she liked drawing and she also knocked a kid over to get to the building blocks in my classroom, so I got Dezi her own set of blocks and a mess-free coloring pad.

Nacho got bored when I said he couldn’t shake his own presents under the tree to make guesses, but Cam was sitting on the couch with a glass of wine. She was scrolling on her phone and not bothering me about my wrapping technique until I heard the clink of her setting the glass down and I looked up.

“Why are you sighing?” Cam asked, pointing at my face. “You have resting concentration face.”

“I do not,” I narrowed my eyes then realized I was just making it worse.

“Do so,” she countered and grinned at me. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Rolling my eyes, I decided to give her something, “Just thinking about these gifts for Dezi.”

“Well, whatever you say,” Cam pretended to concede, picking her wine up again for a drink. When I thought she was going to drop it, she gestured past me with her glass, “Nothing to do with the second pile of gifts behind you?”

“No,” I answered automatically, but then decided she could help. Sighing, again, I pulled the items I’d picked up for Isaac onto my lap. “Is it too soon to exchange gifts?”

Cam sat back and tilted her head, “Is he getting you anything?”

“I don’t know!” I threw my hands up and covered my face, “That’s why I’m stuck.”

“Since you haven’t burst into song, I assume he hasn’t asked you to be his boyfriend?”

“No, but…” I trailed off, because calling Isaac Daddy felt heavier than a boyfriend.

The dynamic held more importance than a fleeting situationship. And when he called me boy? I wanted to sing like Cam said.

“You really like him,” Cam stated, because I was very obvious. “Have you told him that you like him and want more?”

Letting my mind wander to how Isaac treated me the weekend before, as if I was as precious to him as Dezi, I felt my body warm all over. He did both little things and big things to show how much he cared for me, but we hadn’t said the words.

“I think I more than like him,” I admitted, toying with some ribbon I used to decorate Dezi’s presents. “I think I’m falling in love with him.”

“Oh, hermanito,” Cam slipped off the couch to sit beside me, stilling my hand. “You should talk to Isaac before you fall harder. Make sure he’s on the same page.”

“I can’t just show up and say, what? ‘Hi, I like you. Is it weird I got you gifts after only one real date?’ He would laugh at me.”

Cam raised one brow, asking me silently if I really believed Isaac would laugh at me. He and I laughed together every time we talked, but he never belittled me or made me feel judged.

“Okay, maybe he wouldn’t laugh,” I acknowledged her unspoken challenge. “But it would be scary.”

“Want to know how I made my first start-up a success and got funding for my second?” Cam asked, and I knew what was coming. “You never know unless you try.”

Groaning at her logic, I leaned my head to rest on her shoulder. “So you’re saying I should just man up and bring my gifts?”

“Minus the man-up part. That’s toxic BS,” Cam pushed me away and stood up, holding a hand out with my phone.

“Hey, how’d you get that?” I protested, grabbing my phone back to make sure she didn’t send another text without my permission.

“Relax, it was on the floor and I sat on it.” She straightened her cream pantsuit and picked up her wine, “But you’re free now and off next week. No better time than the present.”

Cam left to check on Nacho and I stared at my phone. Opening to my texts, I found the last message Isaac sent me. It was a silly picture of Dezi with her cheeks stuffed full of bananas and Isaac beside her puffing out his cheeks in imitation. I had heart-reacted the image instead of responding because I’d started dwelling on whether my gifts were too much.

Whether or not Isaac planned to get me anything, I had put time and effort into gifts for him, and I should follow through. My love language wasn’t getting gifts, and he more than fulfilled my need for physical touch and words of affirmation.

Time to seize the Daddy, and get off the horse. Or whatever the saying was.

Hey! I got a couple things for Dezi and wanted to drop them off since I don’t know your plans for next week. heart emoji Can I bring them by tomorrow?

Daddy Isaac

Hi, baby boy. That’s so sweet of you. Do you want to bring them by tonight? You can sleep over if you want winking emoji

My cock twitched at the idea of another sleepover, and my heart raced at his eagerness to see me sooner.

Sure! I’ll pack a bag and be there in an hour, if that works?

Daddy Isaac

Sounds perfect, see you soon! kiss emoji

Giggling at his use of emojis, which was more my thing, I hopped up to bag the presents and get ready. I’d renamed him as Daddy Isaac in my phone, and now I just needed to ask if he wanted to be my Daddy for real.