Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
I assumed they would start a relationship. They could invite me as a play partner when Gael was no longer my student. I’d be happy to go to town on both of them. I’d been drawn to Joshua for as long as I’d known him, and Gael ticked too many boxes for me to count. And by admitting that, I was already backing down on my statement about me being too old for him. Which was still true, but if the boy wanted to play with me, I wasn’t going to be able to resist. I could only imagine how mouthwateringly sexy he was naked, all little and soft and needy and…fuck.
“I agree not to start anything tonight,” Joshua said with a firm nod.
“And the rest?”
“I don’t agree to that. I thought an esteemed professor like you could draw your own conclusions without my spelling shit out.”
I gave him the same look I offered to students when they brought terrible excuses instead of papers.
“You still crossed a line, pet,” I told Macklin. A harsh wind swept through the porch, and I zipped up my jacket some more. “What happened out in Mclean—I understand I worried you, and I’m very sorry, but it’s not a common occurrence. You’ve certainly never seen it before. I promise I’m careful. All right?”
Sometimes, the worst part about having diabetes was managing other people’s expectations, concerns, and fears. It had been the first time my glucose levels had dropped so far in years—and it’d been a damn fluke. A perfect storm of stress, missing my brother after we’d had a fight, and forgetting to eat. The aftermath was ten times more severe than the actual incident.
Macklin huffed on the other end. “Fine. I’ll lift the ban, I guess.”
“That’s mighty kind of you,” I drawled. “Can you put Walker on, please?”
“All right. Later, Sir.”
“Bye, troublemaker.” I glanced through the kitchen window as Gael joined Joshua there, having just changed into pajamas.
Joshua had promised not to take things further, yet the first thing he’d done when we’d arrived at his house was to encourage Gael to “put on PJs.” If that didn’t scream Daddy behavior, I didn’t know what did.
The boy was awfully precious in those pajamas, though. And I wasn’t even a Daddy Dom. I could shoulder the role for playtime, and I did enjoy the extra nurturing aspects, though that wasn’t only reserved for Daddies.
I missed having someone to take care of. Someone to both push hard and spoil rotten.
I’d had a brief relationship in San Francisco I’d initially thought would lead somewhere… Alas. It was extremely hard for me to form close connections outside family.
“Hey, you.” Speak of the devil…
Walker’s voice always worked. I was fairly close to all my foster brothers—so was Walker—but the two of us had something extra as the two eldest. He was equal parts my best support, a friend to lean on, and my six-years-younger, antagonizing kid brother.
“Hey, hothead,” I replied. “Did you give that boy of yours the green light to pull his stunt at the restaurant?”
He chuckled. “Nope, but I knew he was gonna do it. I told him he’d suffer your consequences.”
I smirked to myself. “You threatened him with a good time?”
“Well…”
Fuck. We had to get together soon, the three of us.
Then I lifted my gaze and peered into Joshua’s kitchen again, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have us all together for a group-play scene at the house in Mclean.
“Where are you?” Walker asked. “It sounds like you’re standin’ in the middle of a field during a storm.”
Close enough. Joshua didn’t have many neighbors nearby, and fields were exactly what we were surrounded by.
“I’m actually at Joshua’s house,” I admitted.
“Who?”
I suppressed a sigh. “Santiago.”
“Oh yeah? Macklin was wonderin’ if y’all were gonna get together,” my brother answered through a yawn. “Maybe you actually try to get close to someone this time.”
It wasn’t a matter of trying. I’d always tried.
I watched Joshua and Gael laugh at something; Gael was trying to chop carrots as quickly as Joshua was chopping bell peppers.
I smiled.
“You wanna do lunch tomorrow?” Walker wondered. “Macklin’s ditching me to put together a wine tasting for a friend.”
“I’ll let you know when I get up tomorrow,” I said.
Walker laughed lazily. “You do that. Tell Santiago I said hello.”
“Will do.” I’d gotten the answers I wanted. Walker hadn’t precisely green-lit Macklin’s operation; instead, he’d given me permission to punish his husband as I saw fit. And I was thinking it’d been a while since I’d exercised my favorite paddle. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said, just as the vision of my paddle meeting Gael’s round little ass smacked me in the face.
Fucking hell.
He was my student.
I pocketed my phone and headed back inside to a house that needed some work. I happened to know Joshua had moved several months ago, so why he still had moving boxes littered about was beyond me. The furniture seemed to be in place. It was the rest that was missing. No personal belongings like pictures or books or art.