Page 17 of Leo

Backspacing, I removed the endearment. Until I knew how I wanted things to proceed, I didn’t have the right to call Leo pet names. Pouring myself an iced coffee, I sat beside Dezi and tried again.

Good morning, it was a treat to sleep in. Thank you for helping with Dezi, I hope she didn’t wake you up too early? You’re right, I am processing. I’ve never kissed a man before, let alone…everything we did. I appreciate your discretion at school. Let me know if you need to talk.

There, I’d said what I wanted to say without promising more. I would take some time to think and focus on Dezi. I wasn’t goingon the apps like I’d thought, that wouldonly muddy the waters. I also promised myself I’d reach out to my friends.

Thanksgiving was coming up, which was often family time. Maybe I could have them over for a Friendsgiving the weekend after the holiday? Many of them were in committed kink relationships with pets and children. I could be the welcoming place for them to gather, and show Dezi I wasn’t the only family she could rely on.

Sipping my coffee, I drafted a group message to send to my friends. I made it short and to the point, with no requirements, because it had been too long.

Now that it’s been almost a year since I have seen you all, I want us to gather and be thankful for our chosen family in San Francisco. Join Dezi and me for Friendsgiving the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I’ll make the turkey and gravy, you bring the fixings and dessert if you’re able. Pets and children are welcome!

Within seconds, I had replies from friends saying they’d be attending or would try. This was a start, and something to focus on beside my sexual awakening.

Chapter eleven

Leo

Call it a hunch, but I sensed Isaac would wake up and wonder what a man was doing in his arms. I wasn’t curvy and feminine, and he’s also said he hadn’t played at being a Daddy in years. I’d called men Daddy in bed, but never one who was experienced with the kink. My mind had gone to a different plane of pleasure, and I barely remembered him washing my body and getting me into his bed.

Even if he didn’t freak out, I was. Just a little bit.

Most men thought the title was hot in bed, but less so in a relationship. Isaac seemed on board for both. It scared me.

Either I’d made this amazing connection and we could pursue how it fit us, or he rejected me because I wasn’t what he wanted. The latter seemed more likely.

So instead of waking him up with a kiss goodbye where he might want to talk, I’d taken the easy way out. Dezi was easily entertained, and when she said she wanted her Daddy to make pancakes, I sent her to wake him up.

Call it cowardice or self-preservation, but I high-tailed my gay ass out the door as soon as I heard him reply to her. I composed a message before the elevator arrived, and made my way across the city in a daze. I really did have plans with my sister and brother, but not for a few hours.

Isaac didn’t reply until the bus was pulling up to my North Beach neighborhood, but I waited until I got off to read it. If I was going to be upset, I didn’t want to do it on a public bus.

Most of his words were thanking me, and I wasn’t sure if it was the response I wanted. Was I expecting him to tell me I was a good boy and should come back to stay the night again? He was a single dad, he didn’t want a relationship with a man he barely knew when he’d never done anything like that before.

“I’ve never kissed a man before, let alone…everything we did,” he’d texted. Isaac had said something similar when we kissed, but he hadn’t hesitated in the moment.

No, the man had me coming on command and feeling like I’d been drugged.

Unlocking the gate to my sister’s house, I put in the code for our door and slipped inside. I could hear Nacho laughing to something playing on his tablet from his room, and I smelledbreakfast. Following my nose down the hall, I found my sister in the kitchen at the back of her first floor unit.

“Hermano, you’ve returned!” Cam greeted me with a feline grin, wielding a spatula like a weapon. “I take it your walk of shame means last night went better than expected?”

Cam was my best friend, besides Nacho, and I’d told her about my silly crush on the straight dad. She wouldn’t let me off the hook after I’d raced to his place and stayed over the week before. It was all I could do to keep her from telling our parents when we’d visited.

“I, yeah. Better than just dinner,” I admitted, snagging a piece of bacon from the plate she was making, earning a smack on the back of my hand from the spatula. “Ow, I’m hungry.”

Cam waggled her eyebrows, “Worked up an appetite with Dezi’s Daddy?”

“Don’t call him that,” I groaned.

“No?” Something in my tone or facial expression must have clued her in, because her cat caught the canary grin widened. “Only you get to call him that? Or is it Papi?”

Turning to leave, I found a greasy spatula across my path. “Cam, I’m not talking about this with you.”

She frowned and crossed her arms when I leaned against the door frame, “Why not? You’re finally seeing someone and I don’t get to hear about it?”

“I’m not seeing Isaac,” I hedged.

“Why?” Dezi straightened, her face turning stony. “Did he reject you? Use you and then say he was straight? I’ll kill him.”

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