Daddy Christmas, page 8
Then we walked through the changing rooms that probably never saw much action aside from people changing their shoes. If they were like me, they arrived in the clothes they jumped in. In my case, a pair of sweats and a body-hugging tee.
“The short end of the park has a cafeteria,” I said. “It’s down this hall.” I pointed toward the very end. “Once you go through there, you’ll look down at the trampolines. Like, it’s open or however I should explain it.”
“I think I understand.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Enjoy your rehearsal. I’ll see if I get anything done.”
I kinda hoped he didn’t! I wanted to be captivating and stuff.
On the other hand, I didn’t want him to work when we got back to his place.
We parted ways for now. I entered the park through a set of heavy doors, and I dropped my bag just inside. I sort of had to, because down here, there were no chairs or off-to-the-side benches. Just the soft mattress framework and approximately twenty trampolines in various sizes. On the opposite side from where I was now, the trampolines extended halfway up the wall too, and there were a few platforms as well. A giant bouncy castle of trampolines.
I couldn’t lie, it was the best fucking rush to combine dancing and trampolines.
“Hey, Parker!”
“Hey!” I nodded to Andy and Kim as I removed my shoes. We’d bought these ridiculously soft-sole sh…actually, I couldn’t call them shoes. More like really thick rubber socks. Perfect for jumping in.
The park’s theme colors were black and purple, so that was what we’d opted for with our workout clothes too. On the opening day, we’d get tees with the company logo.
Before I jumped over to my group, I glanced up at the cafeteria and spotted Wyatt looking out over the trampolines. I waved at him, and he smiled and waved back.
If I went nuts on the trampoline below the cafeteria, I bet I could make him laugh when I jumped the same height he was at. I guesstimated the cafeteria was about fifteen feet up.
Later, maybe. For now, I ran along the mattress framework till I reached my dancin’ buddies. It wasn’t a big crowd, but we were hella good, all nine of us.
Andy was in charge, and he was a good leader. “Five minutes of warm-up!”
I left the mattress and gave the nearest trampoline a couple test jumps, and I stretched my arms and rolled my neck.
Kim jumped over to me. “Hi.”
“Hello.” I grinned.
She pointed toward the cafeteria. “That’s Mr. Abrams up there.”
“By golly, is it?!” I swung my gaze that way, all theatrical-like. “Oh my, it is.”
She laughed and shoved me. “Mya says you’re together. Are you?”
I couldn’t pretend to jerk around anymore. I wanted to tell her. “Yeah. He’s just…yeah.”
“Oh my God, look at your face.” She grinned and shook her head. “So you faked being sick together, huh?”
I snickered and put a little more oomph into the jumps, and she followed. When I hit the surface, she was in the air and vice versa.
“We totally did.”
“Aww, that’s cute—and mildly frustrating because we had to deal with four emergencies for the conference.”
Oops?
I considered it a win the first time I did a flip in the air, and I caught Wyatt doing a double take at me.
But he’d seen nothing yet. After a music-less warm-up, Andy asked Kim and me to demonstrate the program we had so far, which covered the first minute of a song that was two minutes and forty-five seconds long. It was the chunk she and I were in charge of.
“Okay, just spread out along the sides for now,” Kim instructed. “Aadesh, you can push play when Parker and I are at the wall.”
We jumped down to the short-end wall—the opposite one from the cafeteria.
“I’m gonna film it.” Andy gave us a heads-up.
Seconds later, a slightly sped-up version of “Merry Xmas Everybody” pumped out of the speakers, and Kim and I exchanged a nod. Those fourteen seconds of semi-calm in the beginning were the perfect length to get people’s attention at the opening.
After that, the song morphed into a hardcore EDM remix, and that was our cue.
We pushed off the wall, sprinted along the mattresses before we jumped onto two trampolines—she took the left; I took the right—and we gained altitude in three jumps, then performed a double flip, landed once, jumped over to the next trampoline, two heavy jumps, we locked eyes, and we dove diagonally at the same time so she landed on the next trampoline in my row, and I landed on hers. No rest for the wicked, Kim performed a series of twists and spins in the air while I jumped up on a platform and then sprinted off it.
I spun in the air and landed on my back on the trampoline, jumped up, landed on the mattress, jumped to the next trampoline, did a cartwheel into another, and met up with Kim on the biggest mat at the center, where we took turns doing triple side flips.
Heart pounding, adrenaline surging, I wasn’t ready to stop when Andy cut the music, but I was ready to see the look on Wyatt’s face. It did things to my stomach, and I grinned gleefully. Now, he wasn’t the type to drop his jaw or anything, but the blank stare and lifted eyebrows told me plenty. Someone had been stupefied!
Triumph.
DECEMBER 12
I grinned when I saw my cousin’s name on the display, and I quickly wiped away my bubble beard and answered the call, putting him on speaker.
“I had a feeling you’d call!”
“Well, no shit?” Cam chuckled. “Where’s that selfie from? Last time I visited, you did not have a tub that four people could fit inside.”
“Yeah, about that…” I sighed contentedly and left the phone on the edge, then leaned back comfortably in the water. “I met someone. He’s our type, Cam.”
“Oooh, what’s he like?”
Fucking amazing? Perfect? Sweet and funny and kind and sexy and…
Slight movement caught my eye, and I tilted my head toward the door, where I totally saw the shadow of two feet! Ha! Oh Daddy, you’re supposed to work, remember? You said you had to catch up on a few emails! Even though it was Sunday.
“He’s almost too good to be true,” I replied honestly. “We’re at that beginning stage where we keep saying we’re just gonna spend one more night together. Just one more.”
The plan was for me to go home after work tomorrow, though that’d been our initial plan yesterday too. Home after dance practice—and today, home after lunch, because he had work that included a conference call. I guessed that one was over now.
“What do you mean—like, it’s temporary?” Cam wondered.
Oh crap, no, not like that. “No, I mean—since it’s so new. We’re supposed to take it slow and meet up for dates and stuff when we have time. You know? But his schedule at work is so hectic, and last week, after our first proper dinner date, he finally brought me back to his place and screwed my brains out. And then we called in sick the morning after, and I’ve been at his place ever since.”
Cam sighed wistfully. “That’s the stuff right there.”
I leaned back against the bath pillow again. If Wyatt wanted to listen in, he could. I wasn’t saying anything I didn’t want him to know anyway. But knowing him, he’d only indulge a few seconds and then pull himself away. In the end, he was a gentleman.
“How are you and the boyfriend?” I asked. “Noa?”
“Yeah, he’s…” He chuckled softly. “He’s amazing. But you know our deal, right?”
“Sort of…” I squinted. “You were hoping for a third?”
“We’ll need one eventually, I guess,” he replied. “Our core kinks line up too well. He’s a brat like you, totally wild and can’t spell boundaries, and I’m…well, you know what I’m into. It just sucks because I’m so damn in love with him.”
I raked my teeth over my bottom lip and made a sudsy mountain with my hands. “Weren’t you hooked on a Dom in your community?”
“Yup, but that’s not happening. Sometimes, I swear he’s looking at me in, you know, that way—kind of lingering and stuff…but he’s evidently happy with his douchebag boyfriend. Who’s a total manipulator, by the way.”
That sucked more than one donkey butt.
“But anyway. I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time, and Noa keeps me busy,” he chuckled. “I hope you can meet next time you visit. Which—when is that happening?”
Hopefully soon. I missed DC. Our family came from all over the place. The grandparents we shared were from DC, though they’d moved to Georgia after they’d retired. Mom was from Florida, so she’d screamed yes when Dad had been offered a job there a few years ago. Her parents, however, were from out here, and Nana had moved back after Pops passed away. Here, she had her sisters. But yeah, when my sister and I were little, we’d lived in DC, and I’d spent most of my school years there.
“Work is usually slow after the holidays,” I said pensively. That was when airfare wasn’t outrageously expensive either. “Maybe I can take a few days off in January or February…?”
“That would be awesome,” Cam said. “You can stay with Noa and me—unless you wanna go to my parents’.”
“Hell no, I’ll crash with you if you don’t mind,” I laughed. “How are the mean girls?” Totally referring to Cam’s sisters. They’d mellowed out a lot as we’d grown up, but man, they’d been cruel once upon a time. In that annoying sit-still-I’m-gonna-paint-your-nails way.
“They’re vicious,” he exclaimed. “They stopped eating carbs, so I’m not going near them.”
I laughed.
“By the way, before I forget,” he moved on, “what’re you doing for your birthday?”
“Mom and Dad are flying out,” I answered.
“Cool. How’s Uncle Keith anyway?”
“Still in a cast for another couple of weeks, which works out great because that means they’ll stay at a hotel and I don’t have to clean the apartment,” I chuckled. “I’ve never been so glad I don’t have an elevator in my building.”
He chuckled too. “Are you gonna go to a restaurant or…? I mean for your birthday.”
“I guess so.” I shrugged and scratched my neck. “I wonder if it’s too soon to introduce Wyatt…”
“Ooh, Sir Wyatt. I like it.”
“Daddy Wyatt, yo,” I corrected. That was the difference between me and Cam—he wanted the Master, and I wanted the Daddy. “Eh, I bet he’s busy. He has so many business dinners and meetings.”
“Maybe, but you should still make sure,” Cam responded. “I bet he’d at least appreciate being invited.”
That was true. I would do that.
“Yeah, you’re right. I just gotta add that I don’t want a gift from him, and…like, I don’t have any expectations. I mean, I don’t want him to feel pressured since it’s so early.” I looked toward the door again, relieved when the sliver of brightness didn’t come with shadows. He wasn’t there anymore.
“How old is he?” Cam asked curiously.
“Forty-six.”
“What does he do for a living?”
“Oh—he’s part of a huge corporation. It’s a family thing. His uncle is the CEO, and I’d say Wyatt is one of three or four relatives who will eventually take over.”
Cam hummed. “So he’s a mature man, maybe well-off…? Dominant. A Daddy. Presumably lives his life just fine. So I’m thinking he’s capable of deciding for himself what he’s ready for?”
Oh, turd.
“Dude, you don’t know what he’s already done for me,” I said in my defense. “After our date when he brought me back here, I made some comments about how he didn’t have any Christmas decorations…? And before I knew it, he hired a freaking decorator to come over, and now I’m walking around in Santa’s workshop. And like, dinners and lunches and—all of it. He insists on paying. He drove me to dance rehearsal, he—”
“He likes to dote on you,” Cam murmured. “What’s wrong with that?”
I huffed a breath and deflated. “What can I give in return?”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know he measured affection in money. I guess you’re shit out of luck.”
I rolled my eyes to myself. “And you say you’re not a brat.”
“I’m not!” he laughed. “I’m serious. Unless he’s one of those rich fuckers who only sees money, chances are he doesn’t give a fuck. Maybe, and hear me out—this might sound crazy—but maybe he just wants you.”
I opened my mouth to respond, because I actually had an argument, but that was when I heard a knock on the door, which meant only one thing.
“Crap,” I whispered. “Cam, lemme call you back. I think Wyatt’s been eavesdropping.”
“Oh shit,” he chuckled. “All right, later.”
“Later.” I reached over and ended the call, and I told Wyatt it was okay to come in. Then I ducked lower into the water so he could barely see me over the bubbles.
“Hey, brat.” He smiled carefully and stuck his hands into the pockets of his suit pants. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his dark blue shirt at some point, and I appreciated the forearm porn.
“Hello, sneak.” I blew away some bubbles.
His mouth twitched, and he walked closer.
“How much did you overhear?” I had to ask.
He released a breath. “Let’s see. I stopped outside the door when I heard you telling your cousin you’d met someone. Then I left when you asked how he was doing. Once I got to my study, I remembered I’d forgotten my coffee in the kitchen.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I told myself I was better than someone who eavesdrops, so I walked back to the kitchen through the living room instead of the hallway, and then I failed taking the same route to the study again, so now there’s a cup of coffee on the table right outside, and I started listening in when I heard ‘Daddy Wyatt, yo.’”
A giggle burst out, ’cause it was funny to hear him say “yo.”
But that was one impressive run-through.
“I take it you have a birthday coming up.”
I nodded. “On Wednesday.”
The tension was a little nerve-racking. I didn’t know what he was thinking or if he was mad or…
He nodded once and took another couple steps toward me. “I see. That’s, ah…” He cleared his throat and eventually sat down on the edge of the tub. “I won’t intrude on the birthday talk, but I felt the need to let you know that everything your cousin told you is spot-on. If I valued money more than…whatever else, I would’ve been happy before we met. I would have loved my life, Parker. Instead…the man you met in the office when you came up with the Christmas present for my uncle…” He lifted a brow.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek and nodded slowly. That man hadn’t been happy. He’d been rude, indifferent, and closed off.
“I spend recklessly sometimes because I don’t care,” he murmured. “I haven’t earned half of what I’m worth. I was born with money, and it made me resentful long before I sank into a lifestyle of repetitive comfort.”
I half squinted, a little confused. “What do you mean by resentful?”
He shrugged slightly. “I was never really close to my own parents, because they do value money more than anything. If a hobby doesn’t cost more than what most make in a year, they don’t bother. It has to be golf and yacht clubs with them. And you won’t see them at the public course in Calabasas—it’s Scotland, Florida, and Spain. Clothes have to be expensive. They have to fly private. They need to host big dinner parties just so people can see how much they have.”
He was closer to his uncle, I bet. Not that I knew much about Clarke Abrams, but I’d heard enough through the company grapevine. He cared for his employees—we had good benefits and stuff. He absolutely loved his family, and he adored his wife very, very much. Employees with children could send their kids to a private day care near corporate for less money than most people spent.
Wyatt motioned for me to turn around, and he grabbed the shampoo bottle and the showerhead.
I smiled curiously and slid closer, and I turned my back to him.
“My siblings and I all wanted to pursue different interests over the years that didn’t please our parents.” He turned on the water and waited till it was hot before he began washing my hair. I tipped my head back and closed my eyes. “That sort of thing causes rifts.”
Yeah, I could see that.
“I’m not saying I wasn’t fortunate,” he added. “I was, and I am. Very much so. I’m only saying it was never what made me happy.”
I shivered at the feel of his fingers in my hair—and the warmth of his voice.
When he switched off the water again, I peered up at him, so he was totally upside down. “I make you happy?”
He smiled. “Incredibly. You’ve breathed life into my existence, Parker. You can’t put a price tag on that. You walk into a room, and the whole place lights up.”
Goodness, he had a way with words.
“Close your eyes.”
I closed my eyes.
He started working shampoo into my hair, and I groaned at how good it felt.
“When I was in college, I grew closer to my uncle,” he went on. “I trusted him, and he listened when I complained about my first-world problems. I was furious with my father, who wouldn’t let me minor in ecology.”
Whoa. I cracked one eye open. “Like, plants and stuff?”
He chuckled. “That’s the start of it, I suppose. Partly. But I was drawn to finding solutions in developing countries. I spent a summer in Botswana before my senior year in high school—looked great on my college application, my parents said. We built a school there, and all I saw was this barren land, and I came home with the niggling worry that life couldn’t flourish where nothing grew.”
Fuck, now I felt bad. There was so much to learn about Wyatt, and I’d barely scratched the surface. I’d asked the most basic stuff, like siblings, how many celebrity chefs he knew, what his favorite foods and music were. We talked so much, and a simple two-second question could easily turn into a two-hour conversation. And I loved that. I loved that he was easy to talk to—and he listened as well. He didn’t mind when I rambled.
