Chapter 6

Reed

“This one is perfect, Papa!”

I was certain Jakob didn’t realize he’d called me Papa, but I sure as hell wouldn’t be correcting him. He’d happily sung Christmas carols for the entire trip. I had to sit on my hand a few times to avoid reaching out and touching him while we drove. In hindsight, how exactly he ended up in my house after such a chance meeting was a little fuzzy, but here we were. And then for him to be little? What were the damn odds? I was going to buy a lottery ticket just in case.

Keeping my hands off Jakob was becoming harder and harder. He had this effortless vibe that was sexy as hell. His utter delight in small bits of happiness was like being filled with a warm light I wanted to forever keep shining.

“Are you sure? The last two were the ones until you spotted a more perfect one. I just want to make sure it’s exactly what you want. Your first Christmas tree ought to be the best one ever.”

Jakob walked around the tree, crouched to look at various angles, and ran his hand along the sides. “Yep, this is the most perfectest Christmas tree.”

“Okay, this is ours then. Can you hold it with your good hand while I saw?”

Jakob nodded enthusiastically and sang cheerfully about sleighs and snow while I sawed through the tree trunk. Once on the ground, we maneuvered the tree into the wagon we’d borrowed from the check-in desk. The tree farm’s terrain was a difficult combination of dirt, rock, and ice that Jakob struggled to navigate.

“I’m sorry I’m falling all over the place. I don’t think my sneakers were made for this.”

I looked down and realized he was wearing shoes with a soft sole intended to be bendable. Every rock he stepped on would be felt straight through to the bottom of his feet. No wonder he was struggling.

“They definitely aren’t. I should have asked about hiking shoes when I thought about coming here.”

“Oh, it wouldn’t have mattered because I don’t have any. I’ve never been hiking.”

“What? Not even around Rainier? They have some gorgeous trails.”

Jakob shook his head and kicked the dirt beneath his sneakers but then struggled again when we hit a particularly rocky patch. I grabbed his uninjured hand to help steady him. Once we were past that section, I knew I should let go, but by then, I’d curved my fingers around his, and, damn, I didn’t want to release him. “Is that something that you’d like to do? Hike Rainier?”

“Yeah, it’s on my other list.”

“What list is that?”

Pink tinged Jakob’s cheeks, and I couldn’t tell if it was the cold wind or a blush. Truthfully, it was probably a combination of both. “My life to-do list. I’ve been working on it for years but haven’t gotten very far.”

“Any particular reason you haven’t or simply no time with your schooling?”

Jakob’s heavy sigh weighed on my heart. He sounded so defeated and tired. Hell, I wasn’t completely sure how old he was, but whatever age he was, it was too damn young to be world-weary. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-three. I graduated from high school when I was a kid. By eighteen, I was finished with college and graduate school. I have a PhD in bio-science and work in the lab refining a program that uses nano-data mining technology for detecting medical patterns. My parents are accomplished in their own right, so I’ve never understood their obsession with ensuring I was always being pushed academically. They say my brain is a gift and it’s unfair for me to squander it, and they’ll make sure that never happens. And they’ve done it in spades.”

I moved closer to Jakob to share my heat in the chilly wind. It took every ounce of my self-control to keep my touch confined to his hand in mine. He, on the other hand, had no reservations and snuggled close to me. It felt so damn natural that I kept forgetting we’d only known each other twenty-four hours.

“Are your parents in the medical field? Or your brothers?”

“Nope. My parents are both corporate lawyers. One of my brothers works in shipping, I think, and the other works in construction. I told you they’re older, right?”

He waited for my confirmation before continuing, “I remember a few fights about what they wanted to study. My parents were so mad about it. One night, I was hiding in my room when they were fighting, and our parents told them if they didn’t pick appropriate majors, they wouldn’t pay for college. Both of them moved out a couple of weeks after that. My middle brother was only nineteen.”

“Have they reached out to you since you moved out? How long have you been out?”

“When I first left, they texted me one right after the other and said I should go home, but since then, they haven’t hounded me like our parents,”

Jakob said with a shrug. “I appreciate the silence. Maybe they don’t care? Maybe they support me? Either way, I’m not going back.”

“And when did you move out?”

“Two weeks ago, give or take. I paid for the month to buy me time to find a place I liked and not be rushed into anything.”

“You’re a clever one, love.”

Jakob’s giggle was too cute. I looked down, and he looked up, and suddenly, neither of us was laughing anymore. The chilly wind whipped around us, and the scent of the first snow was heavy in the air. At some point, we turned and stood chest to chest. I felt the movement of his breathing against my body, and it sent sparks through my veins with every brush against me. My cock thickened and pressed against my jeans. I leaned in slowly to give him every chance to move back, tell me no, or turn his head. Jakob did none of those things. Instead, he pressed closer.

“Jakob, would you mind if I kissed you?”

I asked him. The last thing I wanted was for him to think I felt entitled to any part of him because he’d become my unexpected roommate.

“Why would I mind?”

he whispered in response. “I’ve been waiting and waiting.”

“Waiting? We met yesterday.”

“And that’s a very long time, Papa, but I’ve been waiting a lot longer than that.”

His words forced a strangled sound from me, an uneven mixture of a groan and a laugh.

I lowered my mouth to his, and he met me halfway. I laid a soft kiss on his pouty pink lips and was rewarded with a soft sigh before I pulled back to look at him again. His hooded eyes made my pulse quicken. My hands found their way to his hair, and I threaded my fingers through his soft curls. His body swayed a little closer, and truthfully, mine did the same. I’d never had such an immediate attraction to anyone that wasn’t purely lust. Obviously, I’d been in lust before and even close to love once or twice, but never this urge to protect and wreck someone who was, for all intents and purposes, a stranger.

“Papa?”

“Mmmm?”

“Can you think a little less and kiss me a little more? ’Cause I think that would be super-duper awesome.”

“Brat,”

I murmured before I caught his mouth in the kiss that, in hindsight, I’d wanted since the first time I’d laid eyes on him. His parted lips permitted entry, and I plunged my tongue into his wet heat. His tentative, hesitant response drove me wild. He was a maddening combination of sexy and innocent. His technique was inexperienced but he more than made up for it with enthusiasm. When he ground his hips against mine, there was no doubt we were on the same page, and I deepened the kiss.

Luckily, we were in a more remote section of the tree farm because our display wasn’t for public consumption. Jakob snaked one arm up my chest and looped it around my neck to pull me closer. Then his tongue sought my own, and it was his turn to explore me. He traced along my lips until I parted them to give him greater access. His tongue stroked against mine, and sparks coursed through me. All I wanted to do was find somewhere private, strip Jakob down, and let us have free rein to explore. I could fuck him, he could fuck me, and all stops in between. His practically innocent kiss was driving me wild, and we’d barely touched each other.

It was only the hooting and hollering of a group of teenagers that forced us apart. I felt Jakob’s smile against my mouth and returned it with one of my own. When I drew back, his eyes twinkled with a wickedness I hadn’t known he possessed. “Papa, that was the perfect first kiss. Thank you.”

“Jakob,”

I said with a strangled laugh. “I’m fairly certain no one has ever thanked me for kissing them.”

“Well, they should have because you did a very good job.”

“I’ll have to mention it to them, I guess.”

“No, that’s not necessary,”

he said with narrowed eyes. “They missed their chance.”

I knew he was trying to be intimidating, but he came across more like an angry puppy. “I guess they’ll never know.”

“That’s right, Papa. They better not ever know.”

“Or what?”

I tried to school my features so he wouldn’t see me laughing and think I was mocking him.

“Or I’ll…I’ll…I’ll be mad at them and think of something awful to do.”

“We can’t have that! C’mon, love, let’s get this tree paid for so we can pet some reindeer and have lunch in town.”

I grabbed Jakob’s uninjured hand with one hand and grasped the wagon rope with the other so we could head back to the barn to wrap the tree and load it into the back of my truck.

Once that was handled, we walked to the reindeer pen next to the barn. I insisted Jakob keep his injured hand high on his chest. He started to argue, but when given the choice of listening or not going in, his objections vanished. I was beginning to realize Jakob was just this side of a brat, and damn, if I wasn’t here for it. My usual type was sweetly obedient, but I’d suddenly found a new appreciation for a little brattiness.

The reindeer were completely acclimated to being around people, so once inside, I worried less about the potential of jostling his hand. Still, I stayed by his side and held the food cup so Jakob could feed the reindeer. Jakob’s laugh when their lips tickled his hand was the sweetest sound I’d heard in approximately forever.

“Papa, you wanna feed the reindeer?”

“I’m good, love. I’ll keep holding the food for you.”

Jakob made sure he shared some food with every single reindeer in the pen, along with a picture of each. He thanked them individually for letting him visit today.

Jakob might be the tiniest bit of a brat, but he was also a sweet boy who didn’t want any creature feeling left out. I imagined that had something to do with the exclusion his parents had forced upon him, but I wasn’t willing to spoil the day with quite that much introspection. Sometimes, good days just needed to stay good days.