13. Mack

Chapter 13

I never understood what love could be like until Caleb. In just the short time we'd spent together, he made me feel more than I ever had before. I loved my mother, of course, but I'd never loved another person, and even my feelings for her paled in comparison to what I felt for Caleb. It was different and deep and all-consuming.

And with each new experience we shared, my heart seemed to expand impossibly bigger. I wondered if this was what other people felt or if it was a special connection that only existed between me and Caleb.

A Daddy and his boy.

That felt right, but then I mentally corrected myself. He wasn't just my boy. He was my Little. He needed me to help him in ways I didn't know I'd appreciate but now I couldn't imagine not doing.

And the way he looked at me when I reminded him to drink his water or to be careful crossing the rope bridge over the koi pond made me want to drag him back to his bed and never let him up again. He trusted me to care for him and keep him safe, and I had every intention of doing that for as long as he'd let me.

When we finally got back to his house, it was almost dinner time, and Caleb was exhausted. I expected him to doze off on the ride home, but he managed to stay awake and make it into his living room before collapsing onto the couch.

"You look like you could use a nap, sweetheart." I slipped his shoes off and placed his feet up on the cushions. "Why don't you rest for a little while, and I'll make dinner."

"Wait." Caleb's eyes were already closed, but he held up his arm to stop me. "Milk, please."

Well, hell. How could I resist when he was so polite. "Okay, but not too much. I don't want you to spoil your appetite."

"Okay, Daddy." He shimmied down to the center of the couch to make room for me and then sat up on his elbow and looked at me.

Without any other words, I took off my shirt and slipped onto the sofa. I pulled him up onto my lap, holding his weight under my arm and blew out a cleansing breath as he latched on and took that first full suck. It was so much more satisfying than it had been at the zoo, and that was fucking amazing. But when we were both comfortable and had complete privacy and autonomy to do what we needed to do, everything was just better. The rest of the world didn't exist.

Just me and Caleb.

True to his word, he stopped himself as soon as the heaviest flow slowed down and moved to the other side for a little while. I just watched and fell deeper in love with the boy in my arms as his sucking stopped and his lips released my nipple.

I wanted to just stay there and gawk at the vision in front of me but my boy needed to eat and take a bath, so I had to get dinner started.

After a dinner of grilled chicken that I cut into small pieces and macaroni and cheese with peas, it was time for a bath. It wasn't late yet, but I had plans for the night. While Caleb was busy testing me, I had a few tests of my own in store for him.

Caleb was making a Lego tower while I loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up in the kitchen.

"All right, Caleb. Bath time."

"Yay!" He lifted the half-built tower and dropped the entire structure into his box of bricks. "Bubble time!"

It didn't escape me that his bricks had started out organized by color and he was leaving them in a messy pile, but that was a worry for a different day. I had some bubbles to prepare.

We went into Caleb's room, and I started filling the tub with hot water before reaching for the bubbles. "Do you want the blue bottle or the pink?" I held up both bottles that were on his built-in shelf.

"Pink." He came and stood right by me. "Watermelon."

I poured a capful of liquid under the faucet and a thin layer of bubbles immediately covered the surface of the water, filling the room with a yummy watermelon scent. "Mmm, good choice. That does smell good."

Caleb looked at the water and frowned. "More, Daddy."

It was a paltry showing of suds. I filled another cap and added it to the water, then turned the temperature down to cool it off. "How's that?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. "Sad."

"Sad?" I barked out a chuckle. "It looks pretty happy to me."

He took a different approach and went with sweet instead of bratty, leaning on my arm and looking up at me with big brown eyes that I couldn't say no to. "Just a little more, Daddy. I like lots and lots of bubbles."

I gave up on the cap and just poured a quarter of the bottle under the faucet. "How's that?"

"Perfect." He bounced on his toes, ready to hop in, except for the fact that he was still fully dressed. "I want to play, Daddy."

I quickly undressed Caleb and then helped him settle into the mountain of bubbles. He had an impressive collection of water toys lining the edge of his tub, so he quickly distracted himself by hiding his toys under the suds and then having them erupt from different corners.

Watching him from the sidelines made me realize how much I wanted to do this every day. I didn't know what the protocol was for making long-term plans on a brand-new relationship, but I didn't really care. None of the steps Caleb and I had taken to get to that moment were traditional or normal or followed any kind of protocol.

But they were all perfect and exactly how they needed to be for us.