Page 23 of Assassin Daddy

‘Hey, don’t mention it,’ Matteo chuckled as he drilled in one of the final pieces. ‘And who says I’m doing this for you? They don’t call me the king of the climbing frame castle for nothing!’

‘Silly!’ Kyan said, rocking his head back as he laughed. ‘You’re too big to climb on this.’

‘We’ll see,’ Matteo said, the final burst of drilling enough to secure the finished frame. ‘Not bad. Not bad at all. But don’t forget about the other stuff too.’

Matteo watched with pride as an excited Kyan raced back toward the other bags and boxes and continued to unpack the stuffies, games, fancy dress costumes, and coloring book sets that Matteo had bought.

It might have been a serious moment when he was spying on Alphonso’s men, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been able to arrange for the delivery of some seriously fun looking Little toys, games, and general supplies.

As he watched Kyan take great joy in the matching twin elephant stuffies, Matteo couldn’t help but smile. This might have been all very new to him, but it felt so undeniably right.

He’s great.

His spirit, his smile, his laugh…

But I need to hold back. I can’t lose myself in the moment…

‘Bring the elephants over,’ Matteo said, doing his best to direct the play rather than let his rapidly increasing feelings for Kyanrun wild. ‘They can be your first guests in the climbing frame castle.’

‘It’s called Kyan’s Fortress,’ Kyan squealed, charging over and immediately shimmying up the castle wall with nimble grace. ‘And these two are actually my Guardian Protectors!’

‘I see…’ Matteo laughed. ‘And who am I? The big bad Prince?’

‘Maybe,’ Kyan said, blushing slightly as the pair of them held one another’s gaze for a moment too long. ‘But even if you are my sworn enemy, I need you to do me a favor and pass Gambit up here. He needs his carrot snacks or he’ll be hungry.’

Matteo rolled his eyes and laughed.

He was more than comfortable in playing the bad guy, but it was heartwarming to know that Kyan still needed him to help out and make sure that his cherished stuffie was well fed and looked after.

And it wasn’t long before Matteo the evil warrior prince had proven that he wasn’t all bad and Prince Kyan decided to let him inside the fortress. Together the two of them had a blast and built a stuffie army whose sole goal was to keep fun and peace in the kingdom.

But when Kyan let out a long yawn, Matteo knew it was time for this particular prince to have a nap…

‘Here, take this,’ Matteo said, walking back into the playroom with a bottle of warm milk in his hand. ‘It’s just the right temperature to drink and keep your tummy all warm.’

Matteo noted a hint of hesitation in Kyan’s eyes as he took the bottle from him. For a moment, Matteo even wondered if he’d done something wrong or crossed a line without realizing it.

Fortunately, Matteo couldn’t have been further from the truth.

‘W-w-w-will you give me my milkies, please?’ Kyan asked, handing the bottle back to Matteo. ‘I want my milkies from Daddy…’

‘Of course, darling boy,’ Matteo replied. ‘Come on, let’s get cozy together. And bring Gambit too. The three of us can hunker down on Beanbag Mountain.’

‘Yay!’ Kyan replied.

Matteo watched on with a loving look in his eyes as Kyan took Gambit under one arm and crawled over toward the stack of colorful beanbags. Kyan was truly in Little Space and Matteo found himself full of awe as this beautiful young man showed him just how much of a natural born Little he was…

‘Up with Daddy, come on, get right in there,’ Matteo said as he crashed down on the beanbags and opened out his arm to welcome Kyan into his embrace. ‘Open nice and wide and then suckle to your Little heart’s content.’

Kyan took his Daddy’s words on board and began to suckle on the bottle’s orange teat. Before long, the milk was going down just as it should, and Matteo could see Kyan’s eyelids getting heavier and heavier. The boy was ready for a nap but at the same time was evidently very determined to get his milk finished up first.

‘Nearly there,’ Matteo said, his voice soft and full of love as Kyan took the final glugs of his warm milk. ‘Perfect. You’re just perfect. Now let those wonderful eyes shut and go to sleep.’

There was a questioning look in Kyan’s eyes as he held the teat in his mouth – and Matteo intuitively knew what the young man was wondering.

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ Matteo said, running his hand over Kyan’s silky-smooth hair. ‘You’ll fall asleep in Daddy’s arms, and he’ll be there when you wake up too. You can count on that. I’m giving you Daddy’s word of honor.’

Kyan smiled and shut his eyes.

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