6. Elias

Chapter 6

Elias

"You've pissed a lot of people off, haven't you, Daddy?" Milo's eyes went wide as he studied something over my shoulder.

"Yes. There's something else I'm going to have to apologize to you about, isn't there?" Turning around wouldn't stop whatever tornado was coming at us, but the one bright spot was that I was Daddy again.

So clearly our date wasn't going too badly.

"Maybe just explain afterward?" Milo was doing his best to look calm and speak quietly, and doing an amazing job of it, actually. "I don't think you need to be sorry for other people's bad behavior. But, on the other hand, I do a lot of apologizing for Dally, so there's that…"

"Yes—" Before I could finish agreeing that I'd explain whatever chaos hit us, the chaos hit us.

For fuck's sake.

"You've got to be kidding." My sigh only made my cousin's anger worse and he looked like an angry stick that was going to explode. "You brought a whore here? He's probably young enough to be your kid. I don't care how expensive he is. This is for the family . We bring our wives and kids here."

Yes, I'd picked the restaurant very deliberately because I'd wanted to send a message. I just hadn't expected Milo to understand it yet. I was supposed to be the only one who knew the significance of bringing him to this particular restaurant for our first official date.

"He thinks I'm cute enough to…to date professionally ?" Milo's eyes widened again and he couldn't hold back a smile. "That's so sweet. But I don't speak crazy. How do I tell him thank you in his language?"

Oh, he was good.

"We're still working on teaching him to communicate as a human, but I'll do my best to pass along your message." Keeping a firm, neutral look in place, I reached over and patted Milo's hand. "You're very understanding."

"Some families just have special burdens to bear. It's not your fault he doesn't have his helpers with him." After very politely making it clear he thought my cousin had escaped his handlers, Milo smiled sweetly again. "I think it's wonderful that you have so much patience with him."

Me too.

"Amadeus can't help himself. His side of the family is…unique." And pretentious as fuck. "I'm sure someone will come and get him in a moment. But try not to make eye contact. It makes him nervous."

At least it had when we were kids.

Hmm.

Aiming dead eyes at the prick, I raised one eyebrow and waited.

Yep, still made him squirm.

"Psychotic dickhead." Swirling around like he thought he had a cape on, my idiot cousin rushed away and I was curious enough to actually turn around that time.

Yep, there was his wife.

She always looked tortured into serenity but there was nothing I could do about it. I'd offered to pay for her divorce lawyer several times but she'd politely turned me down. Somehow, the rest of the family thought I'd been rude since I'd done it in front of the prick. No one appreciated my generosity, though.

Good divorce lawyers weren't cheap.

"Well, that was fun." Subtly inching back in his chair so he could relax, Milo let out a slow, deep breath. "Every time I think I want a family, someone reminds me why I really don't."

Huh?

"I think you're owed an apology for this one." Family meant apology even if random assholes didn't. That seemed to be a reasonable rule to have going forward.

"Oh, and I want an explanation so that I can give Dally a full accounting of the evening. Right now, there's a big hole in my story and no one will be happy with that." Milo made that sound just reasonable enough that I almost missed the subtleties.

"How about we promise to trade stories?" My question, and maybe the way I was watching him more intently, had him blushing. "I'll fill in the details so you can have a clear story to tell, and you have to tell me why you need a full story."

Sighing, Milo slouched and pouted. "Deal."

Shaking my head, because I knew somehow it was going to involve Dally, I started first since it was my drama to begin with. "Well, his side of the family are assholes. Period. He's my cousin but that whole branch is very into appearances."

"That was obvious." Milo was trying to look like a grown-up but he giggled. "He thought you'd bought a professional for dinner. That'd be a terrible waste of money."

He was adorably insane.

"Yes, he thought you were sexy enough to be very expensive." Milo seemed to like that part, so I thought reiterating it would be a good idea. "You would be worth dinner at any price, though."

Yep, big smile and another giggle.

"But…" He waved his hands, probably trying to get me to forget how cute he was, and sat up straighter again. "But the restaurant part? Everyone is going to have questions."

Who was he telling?

Did he have some kind of online blog?

"That didn't start out as my fault. Amadeus's father was a man-whore who slept with anyone and everything. He did shocking things in nearly every restaurant in town, so to save the family from mortification, they picked a restaurant that would be just for the family. No casual dates, if you get my meaning, and no drama."

Milo rolled his eyes. "Your cousin ruined that one."

Trying not to laugh, I nodded. "Yes. That's not my fault, though. I didn't bring anyone casual to dinner here."

Milo couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to blush or giggle and finally did both. "Don't forget. I'm expensive."

He was never going to let either of us forget that.

"But worth it." Adorable. "I wasn't planning on telling you about the significance of the restaurant at this point, though. It was…it was more of a quiet thing for me. I knew you'd figure it out eventually but I didn't want you to feel pressured tonight."

Licking his lips, Milo reached for his water to give himself a moment to get his thoughts together. When he set the glass back down, he seemed like it had helped. "Pressured for something to happen tonight or pressured because you're assuming a future?"

"Both." That had him blinking like his brain had gone blank, but I shrugged. "I've always gone after what I wanted."

Should I apologize for that?

"Okay, well, thank you for bringing me someplace special for our date." Looking around the room while he gathered his thoughts again, Milo looked steadier as his gaze came back to me. "It wasn't what I was expecting but I like that."

It had a casual elevated southern vibe that was very deliberately cultivated. It didn't look too fancy but it was owned by one of the best chefs in the country and he'd designed the menu off his favorite foods from when he was growing up.

"I wanted someplace relaxing but with interesting options for you. I thought little Milo would like the chicken if he came to hang out instead of grown-up Milo." The menu changed frequently, but I'd made sure there was something for both of them to pick from.

Milo's smile peeked out as he glanced down at his water again. "Thank you for thinking of that…and for being understanding about it."

"It's no problem. I had fun with you last night and I knew no matter which side of you I got to hang out with tonight, we'd have a fun time." Reaching across the table again, I squeezed his hand. "But back to making sure you have all the details…the owner has several different restaurants in the city but they're all considered off-limits to flings or casual situations. This was just the one I thought you'd enjoy best."

And that wouldn't make me look like I was trying too hard to impress him.

Barely holding back another giggle, Milo nodded graciously. "Thank you for helping me with the details. They make a story and I promised a good distraction."

Now he had me very curious.

"What did Dally do?" My question was close enough to the truth to have Milo laughing.

"Well, it's his dad, really." When Milo could stop snickering, he took a deep breath and went into storytelling mode, sitting straighter again and looking like he was a librarian or a kindergarten teacher. "He's done something ridiculous and needs a distraction at the next family dinner. He gave Dally money to pay for my cab ride if I'd talk about my date and would be the distraction this time."

I had entirely too many questions and just ended up nodding.

"He does this every couple of years and it was my turn." Milo shrugged like he knew it wasn't normal but what could he do. "He paid Dally to come out one year when we were teenagers because he'd bought a timeshare and Dally's mother was going to kill him."

Dally's family was somehow more interesting than my own.

It was impressive, actually.

"That makes sense." Unfortunately. "I'm glad to have been useful."

Pressing his lips together, Milo managed not to laugh out loud. "I appreciate it. Most of my dates have ended so badly, I think he was expecting something ridiculous. I like that I'm not doing anything stupid in this story."

We were going to come back to the cab fare part of the story later, but for now I gave him a teasing grin. "The night is still young. You might end up doing something interesting."

Groaning, he shook his head and did his best to look sweet and innocent. "Oh no. I'm not going to be the problem tonight."

He seemed so sure of that I had to tease him. "Dally would be very disappointed to hear that."

Huffing, Milo glared at me and folded his arms across his chest. "That's cheating."

It was my turn to laugh. "Well, as long as you're nice to me, I won't tell him that you insulted him."

Frowning, Milo cocked his head and went back through the conversation. "I…I didn't say anything mean. That…that was you. Wasn't it?"

Doing my best to look serious, I shrugged. "Who's he going to believe?"

"The man with the better story." Milo didn't like having to admit that but I could see the barely suppressed laughter just under the surface. "Smart people are sneaky."

And littles were adorable even when they were big.

"Do you remember what I said?" Leading him up the stairs to my townhome, I peeked over at Milo, who was looking just a bit too thoughtful.

"That it doesn't matter if we play little games or grown-up ones. We're going to have fun doing something to keep our date going because you're not ready to let me go yet." Somehow him saying that sounded a bit creepy.

"How about we not make me sound like I'm kidnapping you?" My slightly dry retort got a giggle from him that didn't sound especially big.

Littles repeating things definitely changed the feel of a sentence.

"It was sexy when I said it." Glaring at him as I keyed in the number on the pad that would unlock the door, I did my best to look stern but he kept giggling. "I'm not abducting you in an ice cream truck or anything nefarious."

Bright eyes smiled back at me. "You're just being naughty."

I wasn't sure if I should admit that or not, so I shrugged. "You're being silly."

That got more happy sounds and he nodded, no longer as nervous as he had been before. Grown-up Milo worried about how the date would go and what would happen next, but little Milo didn't have the same concerns.

I'd wondered if I'd misread the situation when we'd first met, but no, Milo found his little headspace fast when he was nervous.

But he hadn't declined my invitation to come back to my place and he hadn't said anything close to a safeword. Nerves were not necessarily a bad thing, so I just had to take it slow and we'd figure out what to do next.

Spending time with him was my only goal, no matter how he'd made it sound.

"Come on in." Stepping back from the door, I acted like the butler and made him giggle again. "Do you want a drink? We could have juice or juice with stuff in it. But only one. I remember what Dally said."

That got a wicked little giggle from Milo. "He'll know if I have more than one."

"Because you'll tell him." I wasn't stupid. "And then you'll probably tell everyone at dinner just to save Dally's father."

They were interesting.

Nodding, Milo smiled even wider. "Yes. Dally likes stories."

"Because you probably tell very good ones." I hadn't been sure exactly how to respond to him, but it seemed like I'd done a pretty good job when he beamed at me. "Now, juice?"

"Do you have a big cup or little cups?" Milo headed into the house, looking around and searching every corner for more things to tell Dally's family about.

Or maybe it was Milo's family too.

I was still a bit confused about the family side of things, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask about it. "Well, I have mostly big cups but I did order a few special things for you, and now I have little cups too."

Eyes going wide, Milo sucked in a breath. "For me?"

"Yes." Running my hand over his head, I resisted the urge to kiss his cheek and focused on locking the door. "If I'm going to be your Daddy, I needed to have the right things for you."

Of course, I'd taken a guess at what some of those things would be. Our discussions last night hadn't given me a lot to go on about things like training pants or diapers, and I wasn't sure if plates and cups needed to match or not.

Then there were divided plates versus open ones.

Sippy cups or handled cups for slightly older littles.

Binkies versus thumbs.

Yes, I still had a lot to figure out according to the online lists I'd found.

"Thank you." Milo bounced on his toes and then leaned in to kiss my cheek. "Thank you, Daddy."

"You're welcome." Since it seemed like cheek kisses were considered appropriate, I kissed his cheek too. "And thank you for coming over to hang out and play with me."

However that ended up looking.