11. Brayden

Chapter 11

Brayden

Ethan really was the very best Daddy ever to exist. Well, Daddy James was pretty good too. And maybe some others were okay, like Daddy Christmas, a.k.a. Santa Claus. But Daddy Ethan was right up there with them.

He carefully wrapped my owie and told me I did a good job cleaning it, and then he took me out to an early dinner.

Daddy even had the Road Runner, so I got special attention any time we drove past someone who was interested in cars and stopped to admire this beauty.

“Are you up for a sit-down restaurant or do you want takeout that we can eat somewhere or take back to your place?”

I thought about it for a minute and didn’t really want to get out of this awesome ride. “Can we go to Cosmo’s?”

“The drive-in?”

I looked at him and nodded. “Yeah, I want everyone to see my Daddy’s awesome car, but… Oh, we shouldn’t eat in here, huh?”

Daddy made a horrified face that was only half joking. “I don’t normally let food out of the package in this baby.”

I was almost gonna pout even though I agreed it was the smart decision.

But then he reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. “But we could pick up dinner and take it to the park and eat there.”

Oh, an even smarter decision. “Yes, Daddy. I love that plan.”

“I love it too, sweet boy.” He pulled my hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. He did that a lot, and it made me feel happy and like I made him happy. Even though I kinda wanted him to kiss me in other places too. More on my mouth and then…everywhere else.

We went to the drive-up window and placed our order. For some reason, Daddy added two side salads, even though I only asked for a burger and fries. But since I got a grape slush to go with it, I was willing to compromise.

We went to a small park in a neighborhood I had never been to before and sat at a picnic table under a pretty tree. “This is nice. How do you know about this park?”

Daddy pointed to a white house with green shutters directly across the street from where we were sitting. “That’s my house right over there.”

My jaw dropped as I recognized his other car in the driveway, and I looked at him. “That’s a cute house. And you’re right by the park. You’re so lucky.”

Daddy chuckled softly as he pulled out our food and arranged it on the paper bags he tore up to use as placemats for us.

I watched him wearily and crossed my arms over my chest. “Why’d ya order two salads?” I cocked my head and gave him the sweetest smile I could muster up, hoping he would have mercy on me and not make me eat one too. I actually liked salads a lot, but if I ate one first, sometimes I didn’t have enough room for all my french fries, and that was a darn shame.

He just cocked his brow and smirked. “I think you know the answer to that.”

“Oh.” I sucked in a deep breath and sighed. “Fine, but I’m gonna take one bite of salad and eat one french fry so I get an even amount and not too much lettuce in my tummy.”

Ethan pursed his lips like he was holding back a smile as he nodded one time. “Fair enough.”

It was a beautiful evening, and we watched a family of baby ducklings swim around in the pond while we ate. Once again, I had the best day of my whole entire life. Except for the burning-hand part, but everything else was the best day ever.

When we were done eating, Ethan gathered up all our trash in a bundle and turned to me. “Would you like to see my house?”

“Yes, please. I’d love to.” I kept sneaking glances at it, hoping to learn more about him just from the outside. All I could really tell was that he cared about keeping his lawn tidy and his flowers healthy, because there were beautiful flower beds all along the front of his house and down the driveway.

He stood up and held his right hand to take my left one. “Then, let’s go.”

I felt almost nervous walking into his house. Even though I trusted that he hadn’t lied to me at all, part of me expected to find pictures of him with other people or some evidence that he didn’t always live alone. But the only pictures I found were of his parents on the mantle at their 30th anniversary party and one of Ethan and his big brother when they were both toddlers. He was a cute kid.

“This is a really nice house.” I ran my finger along the back of his leather sofa, noticing that other than the TV on the wall, there wasn’t much furniture in the room. “Very neat.”

Ethan barked out a laugh. “Okay, now you’re just being polite.”

I smiled and shrugged. “I always try to be polite.”

“Thank you, sweet boy. Actually, I just replaced the floors this week and haven’t moved everything back into this room yet. That’s why it’s so empty.” He pulled me to his chest and kissed my temple. “Normally I have more stuff in here, but now that I’m thinking about it, I might get rid of some of my old stuff and do a bit of redecorating.”

“Really?” I tried not to sound as relieved as I felt. If Daddy was that much of a minimalist, he probably hated when I had toys scattered all over the place. “What kind of redecorating are you thinking of?”

He turned me in his arms so we were chest to chest and ran his palm up and down my back. “I saw this cool coffee table with built-in toy storage that I think I might try to make.”

“Make?” I pulled back to see if he was teasing me. “Do you know how to make stuff like that?”

Ethan chuckled again. “Yeah, that’s my business. I make wood furniture and custom fabricate home decor. You wouldn’t know it by looking around my place, but that’s also because everything I make ends up getting sold before I can bring it into the house.”

“That’s so cool. A table with toy storage sounds amazing.” I looked at the space with new appreciation for all he could do with it. “I think that’s what you should put in here.”

“Do you now?” Daddy trailed his fingers along my arm until he could grip my hand in his and tug me forward. “Let me give you the rest of the tour.”

“This is the kitchen.” He waved into a kitchen that looked like it just came out of a magazine.

“Wow, do you cook a lot?”

“Not really, but since it needed to be updated, I decided to make it as nice as possible in case I decide to sell.”

I swallowed hard as I thought about what that meant. “You’re going to sell? Are you moving?”

“I don’t think so.” His eyes were sincere as they locked with mine. “But until very recently, I had nothing really keeping me in this town, so I was open to moving.”

“And now?”

“And now, I have a sweet boy in my arms who I don’t ever want to move away from.”

“Show me your bedroom, Daddy.” I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed more. I needed to be claimed in the most primal way possible.

His breath hitched as his whole body tensed against me. “Brayden…”

Before he could try to talk me out of it, I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. As soon as I did, all the barriers he’d tried to keep up between us were obliterated and he kissed me back.

Hard.

Daddy’s fingers curled into my biceps, and he lifted me off the ground until I wrapped my legs around his waist and deepened the kiss. Our tongues and teeth collided as I humped his abs, trying to merge with his muscular body while he walked me down the hall and up some stairs.

When he finally lowered me onto a bed, I knew it was his by the way it smelled faintly of his cologne. Just like my Daddy.