Chapter 14

Grady

"The waiter has to think we're the most boring couple he's ever seen." I didn't have to look up from my phone to know that Alick was trying not to smile.

"It's your fault." He huffed and scrolled slowly down the page he was studying on his phone. "I didn't get a chance to read your list on the way over."

It turned out that the perfect way to make him forget he was nervous and embarrassed was to drive him crazy.

I was going to remember that for later.

"It's not my fault the roads keep disappearing." I hadn't even meant to fuck with him, but the roads were insane. "You had to drive if you wanted us to take the shortcut to town."

I'd planned on taking the one way I knew to get to the main town with real restaurants and no one leaning over the booth to eavesdrop, but Alick thought that was crazy when there were shorter ways.

He just hadn't thought about the fine print that came with his idea.

"I still didn't get to read your list, so my point stands." Glaring at the phone, he huffed. "I should've brought my laptop."

Because that would look perfectly normal at a fancy steakhouse.

"If you're not more polite, I'm going to start reading your list off and asking you questions." We were far enough away from other customers I knew they wouldn't hear, but the threat of having to talk about what he wanted had him jolting.

"I don't need my laptop. Your list is fine." He said that entirely too quickly for it to be believable, and I made a note to reformat it later so he could read it more easily on his phone. "And it's detailed too."

Was that what was making him crazy?

"I like the way you have different lists. It's convenient, but I hadn't thought about doing it that way." Deciding to ignore the random complaints until he'd at least stopped reading what I'd written, I went back to my second read-through of his age play list.

He might not like to talk about what he wanted when it came to his little side, but he'd been honest enough in his limits list that I was more confident. I had a feeling he'd told himself that there was a difference between checking red, yellow, or green and explaining what he wanted, but I wasn't so sure I saw the distinction.

What I did see was a nervous little who wasn't sure that it was okay for him to have a younger side and I had a feeling that was because he thought there was a specific body type that went with it. That was bullshit, of course, but I could see how an asshole or even a few badly worded casual comments could kill a sub's self-confidence.

It also probably didn't help that most of his friends didn't seem to have a little side that was quite as young as his…or at least one of his stages.

But even if they did, if everyone played games and colored when they were little together, he probably only thought about their older side.

I was trying to sort through my thoughts when the waiter started heading in our direction again. "He's coming back. We're either going to have to eat slower or order desserts to keep him occupied."

Alick scoffed, rolling his eyes as he set his phone down. "I'm not sure what's going on but he doesn't need to check on us every two minutes. I think he's trying to read over our shoulders."

I thought he was trying to save my sexy hottie from a bad date, but I wasn't going to point that out.

"Alright." Setting my phone down, I picked up my fork and aimed a firm glare in the nosy waiter's direction. He'd walked away just seconds before and unless the building was on fire, there was nothing we needed.

When he quickly made a U-turn and headed back the direction he'd come from, I shook my head. "Can you complain about getting too much service?"

I really wasn't sure, so I was glad when Alick chuckled and shrugged. "I don't know, but I think we're at that point."

Frowning, I poked at the last few bites of my steak. "I think he must've overheard us at some point but I thought we were careful."

Had we spoken too loudly about dragons or kinks?

Alick laughed and shook his head. "He thinks you're sexy. When you went to the bathroom earlier, he asked me if we were on a business dinner."

My huff got another laugh from Alick. "I'm not sure if that's better or worse than when he asked me if he could have your number."

His eyes went wide, and it took a second for a giggle to escape Alick. "Really?"

He was so cute.

"You know, should you be excited that the waiter thinks you're hot after I've just gone through your list and it's fresh in my mind?" My threat got a blush from him but it also earned me a wiggle. "You're not looking very apologetic, naughty boy."

"Oh. Um." It was taking him entirely too long to find the right reaction. "I'm just shocked is all. It's…it's horrifying?"

Rolling my eyes, I leaned back in my chair and glared just hard enough to get a low moan from him. "Yes, I think someone needs a reminder about who they belong to."

And considering how much he seemed to like anything that gave off an owning vibe, I knew that'd go right to his dick too.

"That's…you're going to…" Taking a deep breath, Alick shifted the napkin on his lap and frowned at me. "That's not nice."

Adorable.

"Did I promise to be nice?" Cocking my head, I looked over at his phone and frowned. "I don't remember having that on my list. Now fucking with you and making you squirm, I think that's on the list."

The fact that it actually was got a cute groan from my drama queen.

"That's just not fair." He must've realized I hadn't promised that either because he sighed. "You're going to be a handful."

Yep.

To him and the waiter who hit on both of us as I paid the bill.

Alick couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh or get offended and ended up just rolling his eyes as the waiter passed along his phone number as we left. "That was ridiculous."

"Agreed." Taking his hand, I led us toward his car, a small sporty little thing that he used for fun. "I think we're going to need to find another restaurant."

He laughed. "Or maybe look at our phones less?"

"That depends on if you send me a fun list of fantasies right before we're heading out for a date." I'd had to look at his lists and then I'd had to look at them again to make sure I'd seen them right the first time. "Knowledge is very important."

Nearly giggling, he nodded. "I can't argue with that."

Especially since he'd picked up his phone first.

"But if you're offended, I'll make it up to you." I didn't think he was, but I leaned over and kissed the side of his head anyway.

"I'm not." His sheepish smile made it clear he was telling the truth and probably thinking something naughty. "But if you want to try to make it up to me anyway, well, I won't argue."

Laughing, I shook my head. "Naughty boy."

His smile flashed from cheeky sub to wicked cutie, but it was his shrug that was my favorite part of his reaction. "That's not the point."

I was pretty sure it was, but we could negotiate that later.

"Really?" Pulling him closer as we got to the car, I released his hand and wrapped my arms around him. "Maybe the point is that I have a boy with a wonderfully wicked imagination and limits that are perfect for his Daddy."

Pleasure and something I thought was relief flashed through his eyes before he pressed tighter against me. "I…I liked seeing your limits too. You had a few maybe ones that are nos for me, but for the most part, we agree on a lot."

Kissing his jaw, I slowly worked my way toward his ear as I whispered. "Nothing in my maybe list is anything I need to be happy, so we won't worry about any of those. That was more for if my mate turned out to have different needs than I was expecting."

As I got to his ear, Alick whined and tried to stay focused. "You…you thought about limits that way?"

Nodding, I nibbled around his lobe as I answered. "Yes, I always saw limits as a Venn diagram when it came to my mate. You know, those circles with the overlapping part?"

When he nodded, I licked his ear and continued. "I spent a lot of time thinking what would be in our overlap and what my mate might be interested in that wasn't in my top ten."

The description got a giggle out of him before I made him moan again by kissing right under his ear. "That's…that's cute, Daddy. But I'm glad we overlap so much."

"Me too." Kissing down his neck, I slowed at what seemed to be his favorite spots and tried to work my next words in carefully. "It looks like you spent a lot of time on your limits, but I want to make sure you didn't include anything in there that you said yes to just because you thought your mate might like it."

Alick made a thoughtful sound before he shook his head. "No, I promise. I was honest about my limits. If it's on the green list, you don't have to worry about it."

Bingo.

"So, if it's on the green list, you won't think I'm silly for asking to do something?" When I got to the collar on his dress shirt, I started working my way higher again. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"No, nothing you want could be silly." He pulled back and frowned at me, looking worried for a split second before he got it and started glaring. "That's not as cute or as subtle as you thought it was."

Yeah, it had been.

"Alright." Since my point had been made, I gave him a quick kiss. "Then how about I drive us back the long way so you can obsess over how our date is going to end?"

He made the most adorable disgruntled dragon growl. "That's not cute either."

We were going to have to agree to disagree on that one. "But you want me to drive, don't you?"

Alick tried to say no. His face scrunched up and he stood straighter…then he gave up and slouched. "Yes."

Cutest sub ever.

But I knew when to take my wins and behave, so I gave him another quick kiss and wiggled my fingers in his front pocket to fish for his keys. I didn't find keys but I found something else hard. "Oops, not the keys."

Groaning, somewhere halfway between turned on and embarrassed, Alick hid against me while making sure I had enough room to go fishing in the other pocket. "Hmm, still not there."

But again, I found something else fun to play with for a few moments.

"You have the keys…and you're going to make me come if you keep doing that." Alick was both frustrated with me and trying not to laugh, but I didn't test his restraint and moved my fingers.

"Are you trying to get me to behave or are you telling the truth?" Pulling him harder against me, I made a low, needy sound. "Because that's hot as fuck, baby boy."

That didn't seem to help his control, but it did get a sexy whimper from him and he shivered. "You weren't supposed to find that hot."

"Why?" I didn't get that at all, but his tone said he thought his response was reasonable. "You saying you're already so turned on that just finding your erection will make you come is beyond sexy."

Hot. As. Fuck.

"You don't react like I think you will sometimes." His whispered confession had him going still. "It's weird, but it's nice too."

Probably because he'd dated dicks before he'd found his wonderful mate.

"Eventually, we'll get to the point where you always expect good reactions from me, but until then, I'm going to do my best to keep giving you good surprises." And I was going to do my best to keep him hard enough and distracted enough that he didn't have the brain power to worry.

"I like that plan." Turning his head, he kissed my cheek before snuggling against me. "But I do want you to drive so I can obsess. So you have to stop pretending you don't have the keys."

He'd accidentally dropped them heading inside and I'd grabbed them. But my fishing expedition had been fun. "Deal."

Giggling softly, he straightened and gave me another kiss, that time on the lips. "Thank you for a wonderful date so far."

"Thank you for a wonderful date so far." Bringing my hand up, I cupped his cheek. "And thank you for filling out fabulously detailed limits lists."

Oh, that time he went nearly purple.

"Such a naughty boy." Shaking my head as he groaned, I tried not to smile. "But I'm going to be nice and not ask what you were thinking."

Because that might give him a heart attack.

Hiding behind his hands as he rubbed his face, he sighed. "I think I'm supposed to say thank you."

"And such good manners too." Kissing his forehead just to drive him nuts, I lightened my voice into a happy Daddy tone. "Don't forget, good boys get rewarded."

He was never going to go back to the right color, but it was so cute I knew I could happily live with his eternal blush. "I won't…I might die…but I won't forget rewards."

"Because you're such a smart boy." And one who'd finally started to glare at me. "You're a feisty boy too."

Yep, adorable was the only way to describe him, but I'd point that out when he was slightly less likely to murder me.

"Let's go home, baby boy."

Because I had a reward to give him.