Chapter 8

Reed

Iknew exactly what Jakob wanted—proof that I would keep my word. Cursing was hardly the end of the world, but if that was the hill he wanted to climb today, I wouldn’t stop him.

Jakob looked at me suspiciously when I stood and reached out my hand to him. He grasped it with his uninjured one and got up too. “Love, you say red, and everything stops. Understand?”

“Yes, Papa, everything stops if I say red, but I’m not gonna.”

“Oh, going to take your punishment like a good boy, Jakob? Do you understand why you’ve earned a punishment?”

“Because I cussed and talked back and wasn’t listening.”

“That’s right, come with me, and we’ll get started.”

With his hand still in mine, Jakob trailed behind me as I led him to the corner of the family room. The closer we got to the corner, the more his feet dragged. My lips twitched at Jakob’s look of betrayal.

“You are putting me in the corner?”

Jakob’s crestfallen face forced me to swallow my laughter. “This is not fun, Papa.”

“That works out well because it’s not supposed to be fun. You’re going to have ten minutes here facing the wall to think about whether it’s appropriate to sass me or use naughty words.”

I brushed the curls off his face and gave him a kiss on the forehead before I asked, “What is the safe word?”

“Red,”

Jakob answered with a huff and a roll of his eyes, which I decided to ignore because it wouldn’t change anything. I put my hands on his shoulder and gently turned him so he faced the wall and could no longer see me.

“I’m setting the timer on my phone for ten minutes, love.”

When I stepped away, he puffed a few harsh breaths but didn’t turn around. He couldn’t see me, but I stayed in the room with him. After a minute or two, I noticed he was slightly favoring one side, so I grabbed a chair out of the kitchen. When I returned, the lean was much more noticeable. Aside from the jammed fingers, the accident might not have injured Jakob, but that didn’t mean his muscles wouldn’t be strained after the walking we’d done today.

Once the chair was placed behind Jakob, I put my hand on his shoulder. He glanced at me and tears threatened to spill. It was an absolute gut punch, and I almost told him to never mind with the remaining minutes. “Love, sit down. I don’t want you to wear yourself out.”

I couldn’t resist the lure of Jakob’s skin and placed my hand against his cheek. There was the hint of scratch against my palm and my thumb traced over his kissable lips.

When he nuzzled into my hand, my heart melted a little more. This boy was everything I’d ever dreamed of having and hadn’t found. Without speaking, Jakob looked up at me before taking his seat. I followed him down and brushed a kiss across his lips. “Finish your time, love.”

Jakob nodded and faced the wall while I returned to my seat on the couch where I could watch him. He settled into the chair and lay his head back. I heard a few sniffles, but otherwise, he seemed all right.

When the timer beeped, I went to fetch him from the chair. His eyes were a little red-rimmed, but I was surprised when he leaped out of the chair and threw his arms around my neck. The guerrilla hug surprised me, and I stepped back a few paces to steady myself from the impact. Jakob clutched me tight and plastered his body to my own.

“Papa, I’m sorry I was being bratty.”

“All forgiven. Thank you for apologizing.”

When I leaned back to look at Jakob, confusion was evident on his face. Given what I’d observed with his parents, I imagined any apology had always been a gateway to a longer discussion about further ways he’d screwed up.

“Really. There is nothing more I want than to have this discussion with you, but now isn’t the time. It’s late. You have work in the morning, and I need to know you’re clear-headed for a discussion like that. You’ve upended your life over the last couple of weeks, and I damn sure don’t want you agreeing to something or participating in anything you don’t truly want.”

“Ugh, I don’t like it when you make sense.”

“Sorry. I’ll try to do better, love.”

“I don’t think you mean that, Papa.”

“Caught me again.”

“Do you think we could talk a little over dinner tomorrow? It’s a long day but not a hard one.”

“Absolutely.”

I smoothed my hands up and down his arms because I needed to touch him for my peace of mind. I wanted to keep him with me at night. Knowing he was across the hall but out of my reach had left me tossing and turning for hours last night. Fuck. He’d squirmed his way into my life but damned if I wanted him to leave it now.

#

“Hey, you.”

“Hey, yourself. I didn’t hear you come in.”

Jakob nodded and plopped down on the couch next to me.

“I’m a secret agent, and I’ve got skills.”

His cheeky grin didn’t match the tired droop of his eyes.

“That you do, love. I’m glad you made it home earlier than you thought. Your meeting go quicker than expected?”

“Yeah, they’re looking to expand the research team and, for some reason, thought we needed a meeting to discuss that. We all said yes, good idea, please let us go home, and that was it.”

“Hospital bureaucracy is a pain in the ass.”

“It really, really is, Papa.”

“Do you want to eat first or get comfy to talk?”

“Can we eat first? Breakfast was a long time ago.”

Jakob pushed himself off the couch and headed into the kitchen. Breakfast had been more than twelve hours ago, and that was too damn long. He wanted a conversation about what this thing between us was, but if it wound up with me as his Papa, then I was damn sure going to lay down some rules.

“You didn’t have time for lunch?”

Jakob sat at the kitchen table while I dished up our dinner.

“I didn’t notice the time, and every time I thought about it later, I got distracted again.”

“I know your job is important, but you’ve got to eat. It’s not good for you.”

“Did you skip lunch today, Papa?”

I turned and gave him a stern look, but Reed just laughed. “I’m not going to answer that, brat.”

“Ha! That must mean you did.”

Jakob’s infectious smile coaxed a smile out of me.

“Fine. I skipped lunch, but we’re not skipping dinner.”

Because Jakob liked the little plates, I put his roasted chicken and salad on the divided one while I used a regular one. “What would you like to drink?”

“Can I have some chocolate milk?”

“Sippy cup?”

“Yes, please.”

With a nod of agreement, I mixed his drink and brought everything to the table. On my way over, I noticed his socks. They were baby blue and covered with teddy bears. It was enough to remind me how little time Jakob had so far gotten to explore being a little. I couldn’t imagine his living situation with his parents allowed him to explore at home, and I doubted he was even aware the local kink club had a playroom for littles.

“Get some food in you, and then we’ll talk about all the things.”

I tried to keep my voice even, but if his smirk was anything to go by, I failed. “By the way, how’s your hand?”

Jakob extended it over to me so I could inspect it. While I checked the flexibility of his fingers, he said, “It hardly even hurts. More like an annoying ache, and I took something for it this morning and again this afternoon. I probably won’t even need to take anything tomorrow.”

I laid his hand back down on the table but left mine carefully covering it.

“You know you don’t get extra points for toughing it out, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”

Despite his statement that his hand wasn’t hurting, Jakob still tried eating with his nondominant hand. Clearly, it still hurt at least a little.

“Here, let me help.”

I took the fork from his hand, and he relinquished it without an argument. “Did you get a chance to talk to the insurance company?”

Jakob’s long sigh told me no. “What happened?”

“They called and left a message, but I didn’t know what to do, so I just ignored it.”

The dejection and embarrassment in his voice were unfair to himself.

“Hey, you don’t know what you don’t know. I’m on the overnight shift, so I can give you a ride to work in the morning and then come back here for a nap. If you pop down at the end of your day, I’ll call the insurance company with you.”

“You don’t mind if someone sees us?”

“Why the hell would I mind? They might wonder why such a pretty boy is with the old guy.”

“Papa, you’re not old…barely middle-aged.”

Jakob straight up guffawed at his joke, and damned if I didn’t fall a little harder for him.

His eyes twinkled and the warmth of his laughter could melt an iceberg. Maybe there was something to that Christmas list of his. Whether he stayed my boy or not, I wanted to cross off every damn thing I could on that list with him. And then make a new one.

“Oof, that one stings, love.”

Jakob’s unrepentant grin never wavered. “Even though you’re a cheeky monkey, we need to have the conversation we started yesterday.”

“I’m in. I want you to be my Papa.”

“C’mon.”

I laughed. “You ought to give it more thought than that.”

“I’m in.”

“Jakob, there’s more to it than that. I’m happy to help you explore, but you just left your family’s house. You’re young, and the world is pretty damn big. There are a lot of things out there.”

I knew it probably felt to Jakob like I was trying to weasel my way out of being with him, but it was the exact opposite. “There are a lot of men out there.”

I desperately wanted him to say fuck all of that, but it had to be his decision and without influence from me.

“Reed, real talk.”

Jakob huffed. “What do you think my IQ is?”

“I don’t know…somewhere around one-thirty, I guess. Why?”

I was thoroughly confused about where he was going with this.

“It’s one fifty-three. If you think I haven’t made a matrix of the risks and rewards of this relationship, then you’re delusional. But do you know what I like best about you?”

He took my silence as permission to continue. “It’s that you haven’t asked about that matrix. You haven’t asked my IQ because you don’t give a shit about it. You care about me, not my brain. That’s exactly what I like about you. I want a life where people like who I am, and not because I’m a super smart guy they can show off like a trained dog. I don’t want to spend my life doing party tricks. I want to spend my life learning about the boy I know I am with the Papa who wants to find out with me.”

“That’s quite a statement.”

“I’m not done.”

I shut up and waited for him to continue. “I don’t know how to talk to the insurance company or pay the light bill or whatever the fuck else adulting entails. You obviously know I haven’t done anything sexual except make out with you. But to presume I don’t know my own mind about relationships and preferences? That’s most definitely not acceptable, and you should give me more credit. I’m a virgin, not an idiot. I am willing to concede I may be the teeniest bit touchy on this last part. Insecurity is a bitch. I know enough to know this is fast, but I also know enough about myself that I want to see where it goes.”

Jakob never raised his voice or wavered in tone while he read me the well-deserved riot act.

Before I could say all the things that needed to be said, I had to kiss him. I reached out and threaded my fingers through Jakob’s light-blond curls. With a jerk, I pulled him toward me and captured his mouth. I plunged my tongue into his willing mouth and stroked against his tongue until he made the sexist little moan. Our tongues twisted around each other until I was just as breathless for him. When I reluctantly pulled away, his sound of protest almost had me forgetting what needed to be said.

“Let’s lay out some ground rules.”

Jakob grinned like the cat who had stolen all the cream. “Rule one is to take care of yourself, so no skipping meals and working day and night in the lab.”

Jakob nodded, so I continued, “Rule two, if there’s a worry or want or a whatever, you bring it to me. I can’t help what I don’t know.”

Jakob smiled at that one. “Last, if you change your mind about anything, we discuss it.”

“I can live with those, Papa, but I have a few rules of my own.”

“Yeah? Let’s hear them.”

“I get an equal voice in the big stuff. And my career is all my own. What I hated about the life my parents laid out for me was that I wasn’t allowed to make decisions about the direction of my life. They picked my college. They picked my major. Hell, they picked my career. They tried to pick my research focus, but I was already onto them by that point and managed to steer away from what they wanted. I want you as my Papa, but I need to keep that control.”

I leaned forward again and gently brushed my lips against his. “I will never interfere with your work or your career. There may be times I’ll insist you take a break or get some food and rest, but I have no desire to have a say in the trajectory of your career. None whatsoever.”

“Thank you, Papa.”