Total pages in book: 220
Estimated words: 212755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1064(@200wpm)___ 851(@250wpm)___ 709(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 212755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1064(@200wpm)___ 851(@250wpm)___ 709(@300wpm)
But he kept swinging our hands.
The mixed signals were going to be the death of me.
“Yes.” Aiming for innocent enough not to shock a little just in case, I nodded. “I made sure we talked about you a lot.”
It took Ian a second, but then his eyes widened and his tone said he was scandalized. “Uncle Cohen.”
Clearly Uncle Cohen was a naughty Dom, but I wasn’t worried because Ian kept giggling. “I know. I’m very helpful.”
That got another giggle, but Ian started shaking his head like he couldn’t believe I’d said that…so maybe he was bigger than I thought?
It was time to find out.
“Alright, we can go grab some dinner, because I’m betting neither of us ate much earlier, or we can go back to your place and…find something fun to do.” The area wasn’t quite private enough for me to ask him if he wanted to play with his toys, but the wicked delight in his eyes had me rolling mine. “Dirty boy. That’s not what I meant.”
Ian blushed as a woman behind us cleared her throat. I couldn’t decide if she was enjoying our banter or thought we should take it somewhere more appropriate, but either way I stayed focused on the boy who was now in my care.
“What do you think?” As the train moved out of sight, I kept hold of Ian’s hand and started leading him through the building and back toward my car. “I could go either way.”
I wanted him to know I wasn’t leading him in any specific direction, but as we got more privacy, I spelled it out more plainly. “If you want to be little tonight because today was stressful, I think that would be a very good plan.”
He nodded slowly, clearly thinking hard…but he was still swinging my hand.
So I waited.
And waited.
By the time we got to my car, I was considering the merits of poking him when he shrugged. “Can we do both?”
“Sure.” What was he picturing? “How about we go grab some pizza and relax, and then we can go back to your place?”
Ian perked up, nodding. “Deep dish?”
Laughing, I agreed quickly. “Oh yes. But do you have the patience for true deep dish?”
That wasn’t a fast process.
His grin wavered between both sides of his personality as he barely managed not to giggle. “That’s your job to help me with now, Uncle Cohen.”
Hmm. He was probably right.
“Then let’s go.” I had a thousand questions to ask him, and at the very least grilling him would take up time…and when in doubt, I could find him a game on my phone to play. Right?
Giving his hand a squeeze, I opened the passenger door and even helped him get buckled. He was at the point where little Ian found it funny and liked being helped and big Ian was giggling for much naughtier reasons.
Stupid questions flashed through my head as I wondered if he really saw me as a sexual partner without Bishop there with us, but I managed to hold them back. I could have an existential crisis on my own time. Right now, Ian needed Uncle Cohen and maybe even his friend Cohen to distract him from Bishop’s departure.
And that was probably what I needed as well.
Bishop had become such an integral part of my life in such a short time, I wasn’t sure how it would feel for him to be gone even two weeks. Not that there was an exact time frame for his return…and maybe that was part of the problem?
Pushing away the frustrating thoughts, I focused on Ian as I climbed into the driver’s seat. “So, do you have anything fun planned this week? What about a sleepover with your friends?”
We both needed to stay busy, so that was why I’d given into Preston’s insistent push to go out to dinner later in the week. But honestly, Ian’s sleepover sounded more fun than getting grilled for gossip by Preston…and that was with the chaos the last one had caused.
“Yes, we’re doing it on Friday. If that’s okay with you?” He squirmed in his seat, clasping and resituating his hands like he wasn’t sure where they belonged. “I wasn’t sure if you had plans or…”
He had a legitimate question, but he was so cute.
No smiling, that would send the wrong message.
“I think that sounds like a good idea.” As long as they stayed safer than they had last time. “Then we could spend the afternoon together on Saturday and get some toys for my house?” I didn’t even have cute plates for him, so something needed to be done about that because he couldn’t be expected to pack everything he needed every time he came over.
And he was back to nibbling on his lip.
As I started going through the motions of getting us to the restaurant, I tried to give him some space and not act like I was hanging on every breath he let out.