Page 32 of Just a Little in Love

“Daddy,” Rowan squeaked out. “The chair. It’ll break.” What if I leak?

Gabriel chuckled. “Nope. You ever seen Master Bartholemew?”

Rowan shook his head.

“Well, he’s a Bear. Belongs to a motorcycle club. He’s specifically a Daddy Dom, and he came around once to drop a file off for me to do with a new hire I was looking at. Bartholemew weighs in at nearly three hundred and fifty pounds, and these chairs support him fine. We barely weigh that between us.”

Rowan buried his head against Gabriel’s chest and didn’t reply. He was fat. There wasn’t another word for it. Daddy was just being kind.

“Do you have any idea how sexy you are or how hard you make me?”

Rowan gaped, but before he got the chance to process that, Daddy carried on. “I’m not going to ask for an answer now,” Gabriel said. “But as your Daddy, I am enforcing healthy eating. And by that I don’t mean saying you’re full when you aren’t or not having treats on the weekend. I don’t advocate eating pancakes with syrup every day, but food is meant to be enjoyed, baby, and well, you don’t seem to have a lot to smile about at the moment.” Rowan didn’t reply. “I told you that you are my most precious possession.”

Rowan was so startled he looked up.

“And not only do I expect you to look after what’s precious to me, I also expect me to, as well.” Daddy sighed. “Mom used to say, today’s a new day. When we’d messed up as kids or had been rude or cranky. She’d declare a new day at any point. It could be three in the afternoon, and you felt like you were getting a do-over. So, I’m declaring the same.” Daddy smiled. “I want you to get some food into you first. Then we’ll sort out the day.”

Rowan had a thought. “Aren’t you working?” He wasn’t even sure what day it was.

“I emailed them yesterday to say I was taking emergency family PTO. I haven’t taken my leave allotment in the last three years.” He shrugged. “Maybe they’ll fire me and do me a favor.”

“Do you a favor?” What did that mean?

Daddy nodded. “I need a push to write, and I have a choice. Stay here for a few months and see if I can do it or buy the house I want now Clare is managing her own finances.”

Except Rowan could buy him the house. Take the money his father constantly offered him. He could buy it for him and barely make a dent in his interest, but something told him Daddy wouldn’t like that idea. “Couldn’t you do both? Take the time, then change your mind if you don’t like it?”

Daddy cocked his head. “Yes, and there will be other plots of land. I suppose I’m sick of the travelling as well. But…” Daddy kissed him on the cheek. “Let’s talk about all this later, after we get something in your tummy.”

But Rowan was thinking of something else. Maybe if he could slim down a little Daddy Gabriel might want to keep him? Then Rowan could buy Daddy the house and Daddy wouldn’t have to leave to go to work. Rowan eeped as Daddy stood with him in his arms, turned, and deposited him on the chair. He was so strong.

Rowan pressed his lips together. He could say he wasn’t hungry. It wouldn’t exactly be a lie because nerves and worries seemed to fill him so full he didn’t have room for food. “I—I’m really not very hungry, Daddy.” Rowan could feel his face heating and ducked his head in case Daddy noticed.

But Daddy simply hummed thoughtfully, washed and dried his hands, and opened the fridge. He got out a cutting board and washed an apple and some grapes. Then he cut the apple into small, bite-size pieces and added a spoonful of peanut butter and the grapes in a dish that had firetrucks on it.

Rowan’s lips parted in shock as Daddy put the dish in front of him. “How about you have a healthy snack while I look at what else we have?”

“But Daddy, peanut butter?”

Daddy turned. “You said you had no allergies?”

“No,” Rowan flushed even more. “No, it’s just, well. Peanut butter is bad for you.” Plus grapes? Mother had always said grapes were packed with sugar.

“Actually,” Daddy said. “I’m not sure who told you that, but peanut butter is a great source of protein. And fruit, obviously.”

Daddy picked up one of the apple pieces and dipped it in the peanut butter, then held it to Rowan’s mouth. “Open wide,” he said a little hoarsely. Rowan obeyed immediately and Daddy groaned as Rowan’s lips touched the end of his fingers. “How can you make eating an apple so damn sexy?”

If Rowan’s mouth hadn’t been full, he would have gaped. Sexy? Him? Then Daddy went to the drawer and got out the coloring book Rowan had used and some pencils. He brought a paper napkin over as well. “In case your fingers get sticky.” Then he went to the fridge and pulled some eggs out.

Rowan stared at the coloring and the dish of yummy snacks. He felt like Alice. Like he’d fallen down some magical tunnel into this perfect place where nothing bad happened.

A few minutes later, when Rowan was absorbed in making the best picture possible for Daddy and chewing on an apple bite, Daddy came over to the table with a damp cloth and a towel. “Put your coloring down for now because breakfast is ready.”

Rowan looked up and dropped the pencil in surprise. “But I ate my breakfast.” He swallowed, the apple and peanut butter suddenly feeling very heavy in his tummy.

Daddy picked up Rowan’s hands one by one and used the damp cloth to wash them, then dried them carefully. Rowan didn’t seem able to speak.

“I made you a boiled egg and soldiers. Whole wheat toast.” Daddy grinned. “I have a friend in the UK that got me hooked on them. It’s fun dipping the toast in the egg.”

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