Page 39 of Just A Little Love

Jakob: YAYYAYYAYYAY

Chapter 22

Rory

“Alright, folks, we are so close to the finish line. You are almost through with this class and I’m sure you're sick of me by now.” A chorus of cheers erupted from the students. I laughed at them and continued, “but you still need to finish your research project. It is a cumulative project and used to demonstrate you’re ready for the big leagues. My office hours remain unchanged. My door is open to brainstorm ideas, review your writing, whatever. If you need to meet outside those hours, email me and we can figure out a time in person or on Zoom. I want all of you to hit it out of the ballpark. Oof, for a guy who knows nothing about sportsball,I’m hitting these metaphors hard today. Oh, did you see what I did there?” My students laughed again at my dad jokes as they packed up their belongings.

The door at the top of the stadium stairs into my classroom opened and light flooded into the darkened hall. When the gorgeous, sex-on-a-stick man stepped through, I made no attempt to mask my excitement. I wanted to be chill and cool, but my hand waved like a fool on a string. One day, I will do that cool sophistication thing that so many of my colleagues mastered early, but today was not that day. Tomorrow won’t look good for it either. Daddy momentarily forgot to be the effortlessly cool person I knew him to be and a wide, completely dorky, smile that mirrored my own was plastered on his face. We were saps, and I liked that about us.

Holy shit, when did I put us together as a matching duo?

Daddy waited semi-impatiently, if I went by his foot tapping when students filed past him. A few bolder ones gave him curious looks, but he stood there staring down at me with his crooked grin firmly affixed to his too handsome face. My insides had given all hope of staying together and I felt myself turning to goo as he continued to look down at me. Daddy had the singular ability to look both affable and commanding, It drove me insane. No one should be so self-assured while simultaneously being sexy as fucking sin,andbeing so damn nice. So unfair.

“Hello, sir, how may I help you?” I called up to him when the last straggler was out the door.

“Oh, now there’s a word we haven’t used. I might be into it.” Daddy’s raised eyebrow and the instant heat that flared in his eyes told me it wasn’t a complete joke.

I felt my face flush and get hot. Hmm, maybe I was into it too? We would definitely need to put a pin in this one for some exploring later on. I’d never had an interest in BDSM, but I’d never been into Daddies and littles either, so who the hell knew anymore. If nothing else, this thing with Daddy and I was teaching me I didn’t know myself nearly as well as I thought I did.

Daddy descended the stairs and immediately enveloped me into a hug when he reached me at the bottom. It didn’t matter if I was at work. My sexuality was no secret, and no one batted an eye when straight couples showed a little affection. Daddy’s greetings were the best. He had this way of squeezing that made me think he’d been waiting for forever to do that very thing. The kisses were pretty damn good too.

“How’s my favorite boy?” Daddy whispered into my ear with his arms still wrapped around me. Daddy gave me a firm kiss on the lips that felt very much like a claim, and a second, softer one on the forehead.

“I’m good. Trying to rally my classes for their final project of the class.” I glanced down at the craft paper bag in his hands. “What’s that?”

“That, my perfectly sweet boy,” Daddy said, “is the lunch that I hope you have with me. The weather is shockingly nice forDecember so I thought I'd try to convince you to abandon your office and eat with me instead. I missed you.” Daddy finished his explanation by giving me another forehead kiss. The butterflies that lived inside me began a happy formation.

“Sounds good to me. I can’t believe there is honest-to-God sunny weather in Washington in December. I thought we might actually drown with all the rain this week. Someone probably sacrificed a virgin to make the sun happen.”

Daddy chuckled and grabbed my messenger bag off the floor and handed it to me. I shoved all my papers, folders, and books as quickly as I could into it so we could head out. I pretended not to see Daddy wince at my disorganization.

He took my hand as we walked up the stairs together and only let go long enough to open the door for me. As soon as we were past it, he entwined our fingers again as we headed down the hall towards the unexpectedly bright day. I nodded toward the picnic benches in the quad and we headed over there. It might be sunny, but there was still a bite in the air. I moved closer to Daddy’s heat.

“Da-Gabriel, will this work?” It was always so hard to remember to use his name in public. Maybe it was paranoia on my part? Realistically, no one gave a shit what I called him.

“Yep, and why did you call me by my actual name?” His question sounded more curious, rather than annoyed. He put his free hand on my lower back to usher me toward the benches, and I felt giddy at his touch.

“Because what if someone heard me and you got embarrassed?” Daddy gave me a look that had only been pointed in my direction once or twice.

“Who’s going to be embarrassed? I don’t know a single person on this campus except for you. If you would rather not call me Daddy when we are out, that’s fine.” Gabriel assured me. “You can call me Gabriel or Gabe or some other nickname, but I will never be embarrassed for anyone to know I'm your Daddy and you're my boy.” He reached over and lifted my chin so I was forced to look him in the eyes. He leaned down and brushed a chaste kiss across my lips. I couldn’t suppress my sigh. It was a wonder I could do anything around this man because all I wanted to do was melt into a puddle of happiness.

He sounded so sincere that I couldn’t help but imagine what being with Daddy long-term would be like. He said he loved Uncle Tobias’ house, but did that mean he could see himself living there forever? Would he want to be my daddy forever? I was doing all this work and effort because I honestly couldn’t imagine living anywhere but that Victorian. I might like to chance to see other parts of the world, but I’d always want to call it home.

Daddy started pulling boxes and utensils from the craft paper bag. I was glad he remembered how much I love The Diner because my mouth started watering the minute I saw the logo on the embossed containers. When he took off the top one and he handed it to me along with a fork and napkin. The savory smell of roasted chicken with veggies wafted up, and my stomach grumbled in response. Daddy smirked at the sound and pulledan identical container out for himself. He pulled out an identical one for himself.

“Bunny, tell me about your project.” That request was all it took to launch me into a rundown of the cumulative project my students would do for their final assignment. I hoped all my students found a topic interesting enough that we covered during the bootcamp that they wanted to become subject-matter experts in it. I explained to Daddy that each of them would teach the class their chosen topic as resident experts. It was a lot of work, and I know some of them were coordinating on it to create a pathway. It thrilled the teacher in me to hear about their collaborative learning plans. Excited as I was for them, I was equally excited about the week-long break the changeover to a new semester would give me.

I hadn’t wanted to say anything because Daddy always brought out this unfamiliar neediness in me, but I wanted a few uninterrupted days with him. Of course, I didn’t know if he could swing it. He was always so careful to consider my schedule, to ask for more felt selfish. Ugh. I should ask him to put me on his schedule. Would that be weird? I could call Nico and ask to get on there, but then Nico would know that we were dating or seeing each other or something else pretty undefined.

“Oh, hey, Rory, fancy meeting you here.”

Shit. Damn. Fuck.

“Hey, Charles.” I tried to keep the dread out of my voice. Of all the people I didn't want to stop by while eating lunch withDaddy, Charles was at the top of the list. More often than not, he tried to be charming but only pulled off smarmy. He wasn't even trying to hide his interest in Daddy and what we were doing out here. We were required to work together in the history department, but I tried my best to maintain a distance. Literally. I found out quickly that the man never learned about the value of personal space. Why I ever dated him was a mystery to even me.

“Did you see that memo from Dean Farrington? It looks like we’ll be working on the new curriculum alignment committee. I can’t wait to see how you handle me. Again.”

Gross. I didn’t touch him with someone else’s hands.

---