Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
He managed not to laugh but it looked hard. “Yes. Would you like us to pick out something that’s a bit more relaxing?”
“Yes, please.” The ding-dong sound was going to make me crazy. “Thank you, D—”
Oops.
“Enzo. Thank you, Enzo.” Daddy lost control of his giggles and they made me shiver. “You can’t do that.”
If I had to do my best to stay big and polite, he couldn’t laugh.
“Sorry.” Going back to his bored face, he let out a deep breath. “You’re just so cute and they’re so insane.”
They’d broken Daddy.
It was okay, though, because I was going to keep him safe.
“I’m not cute. I’m your grown-up boyfriend.” Hmm. “You can’t tell them we’re just dating or something. If I can’t call you Daddy, I’m going to call you boyfriend.”
Or partner if he was a pain in the butt about the boyfriend thing.
Daddy must’ve realized I could get clingier because he nodded quickly. “Boyfriend. Got it. That’s very reasonable considering how stressful they are and how serious we are.”
Good Daddy.
“Yes.” Kissing his cheek was my first instinct, but as I stepped back, I frowned. “We’re going to try that again.”
His lips twitched as I leaned in and gave him a boring dating guy kiss, but I knew I’d done better. “Thank you, Enzo.”
Daddy’s eyes got wide. “That’s weird.”
Ha.
Got it right.
“I can be a boring grown-up.” It was just weird. And boring. And felt stupid. “I do it for work on a regular basis.”
I just had to think of it like work and not like real life.
Daddy scrunched his face up. “I don’t like that. You should be able to be yourself.”
It was kind of sweet that he thought people wanted to see the real me all the time. That wasn’t a good idea, though. “This is the not-personal me. I’m professional and I do my best to be boring. Sports confuse me because I’m very smart, but I like reading books about World War II, and I hint that I’m into D and D. People understand that enough to nod along and then they wander off.”
His head tilted. “Do you own anything related to Dungeons and Dragons?”
“No.” I shrugged. “I don’t let people in my house unless they can see me little. Well, contractors don’t count.”
That had him flashing me a grin. “Luckily for me.”
He was ridiculous…but he was cute, so I needed to give him another kiss. “Boyfriend kisses are firmer and look serious. No smiling.”
He kept trying to smile.
“I will do my best not to smile or twitch when you call me Enzo and look so boring.” Daddy stood straighter and nodded. “We can do it. You’re right. No one has to see my Terrence unless that’s what we decide. Everyone else gets boring us.”
“Perfect.” Now I just had to make sure I remembered to stay in character and not call him Daddy.
“You ready?” Daddy took my hand, still looking slightly worried and Daddy-ish, but I wasn’t sure he was a good-enough actor to look boring at the moment.
“Yes.” The worst that could happen was that they didn’t like me and they finally stayed away when I was over at Daddy’s house. “It’s going to be fine.”
“It will.” Kissing my head, he did his best to look like my boring contractor. “We’re going to handle their nosy behavior as best we can and then leave when it gets to be too much.”
No, we were going to do our best to teach them manners and then we’d leave when they got to be too much.
“As long as I don’t have to hear the doorbell anymore tonight, I’ll be fine.” And I was going to get a cheeseburger and fries and dessert and have lots of stories to tell Leander.
It was going to drive him crazy that they didn’t have any manners.
Daddy kept his boring face in place. “We’re going to look for a new sound. You’re right. That one is…well, I’ve heard it a bit too much.”
“Maybe we can find one that plays a different sound each time?” That would be easier to listen to. “Oh, and you need a camera on the back of the house. I don’t know who to punish if I can’t tell who tries to pick the lock.”
He sighed but nodded. “You’re right. I let it go on too long.”
Because he was too nice.
I wasn’t big but I also wasn’t nice.
I’d take care of Daddy.
“It’ll be okay, Enzo.” Ha. Remembered. “See?”
I was very proud of myself but I managed to still look big. D—Enzo even noticed and gave me a grown-up kiss. “Yes. It’ll be fine and then we’ll come back and have a quiet evening.”
Yeah, we were definitely going to need time to recuperate.
“If anyone asks what we’re doing later, we’re just boyfriends hanging out.” What did regular couples do around the holidays? “We’ll tell them…oh, we’ll tell them we’re going to watch Die Hard. Leander said that’s a grown-up, look manly and boring Christmas movie.”