Page 22 of Matteo's Mettle
It’s a stupid thing to get emotional about, but he’s the first man to ever do this for me. Trent would always insist we shower, and I’d be out of bed and dressing myself during condom disposal after any of my rare hook-ups. But this tender, sweet action from London feels like the most intimate thing we’ve done all night.
I barely register him tossing the cloth back through the bathroom door, or manhandling me against the pillows, but I do pay attention to the soft kiss he delivers just behind my ear.
“Sleep, sweetheart,” he says, spooned up against my back. My eyes grow heavy, as though following his instructions is instinctive.
Best. Birthday. Ever.
Chapter Eight – London
“Iwantallthe details,” Cherie demands when I answer her call.
It’s been three days since I took Kate to Littles’ Night. Three days since I met Matteo. Three days since I discovered that I’m not as impartial to the lifestyle as I’d assumed. Three little days…and my whole world has changed.
“Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to hound me,” I tell her, knowing she can hear the smirk in my voice.
Matt and I have texted every day. At night, I call him and read him a bedtime story. We haven’t seen each other in person, but our connection feels just as strong as it did when we met. And hearing him call me Daddy still never fails to send a thrill of emotions straight through me.
“That’s because I was waiting for you to come to me, jackass,” Cherie interrupts my thoughts. “Kate came home telling me that you found yourself a little of your own.That you’re considering being a Daddy. And I just assumed you’d come talk it through when you were ready.”
I can hear the hurt behind her words. Becoming serious, I respond, “I was going to, Cher, I swear. But, not gonna lie: this Daddy thing hasn’t been as complicated as I thought it would be. Like…it’s just been easy, y’know? Instinctive? So, I didn’t really have any questions or anything after all.” And the ones I did have -the ones more specific to Daddy/little boy play- Google has helped with. “And I know you’ve been swamped with work, so I was gonna wait until you were free to chat.”
“Hmm.”
“Hmm? What ‘hmm’?”
I spin my chair around from my desk. I’m a landscaper by trade, but I work for a company that provides landscaping to large businesses and corporations -hospitals, schools, resorts, that sort of thing- and, more often than not, find myself seated at a desk sketching plans and working around budgets than toiling outside on a job site. Considering I majored in psychology, this was not where I saw myself when I graduated college. But my part-time college job as a laborer helping at sites turned into a full-time job, which turned into a promotion and…here I am.
I share my office with another guy, Tom, but today he’s on site supervising one of his projects. Our two desks are pressed together in the middle of the room, surrounded by glass walls. Three of them look out into the other offices and reception area. There’s also a boardroom three doors down, but the glass walls there are frosted. That’s generally where we host pitch meetings for clients, as well as our monthly staff meetings.
The fourth wall is a window that looks out over the city. From where I sit, I have the perfect view of the manicured grounds of the local college. It serves as a reminder of how far I’ve come and how different life is to what I’d imagined for myself only a few years ago.
“I should have seen it earlier,” Cherie muses, finally answering my question. I always allow her the time to think before she speaks, and she affords me the same courtesy. We’re very similar, and we understand each other’s limitations. This is why we work so well as friends. “That you’re a Daddy, I mean.”
“Oh?”
Her laughter is tinkling. “London, you’ve always been a natural with Kate. You barely even blinked when I told you what we were into. You just rolled with it.”
“Yeah,” I say, drawing out the word as if she’s slow on the uptake, “because you’re my best friend.”
“It’s more than that. It’s always been more than that, now that I really think about it.”
“Cher…”
“No,” she cuts me off sharply, and I can picture her shaking her head. “None of my other friends outside of the lifestyle, or my family for that matter, really get it. But from the first time you saw Kate in little space, you just went with it. Zero judgment, zero hesitation. You just called yourself Uncle London and stepped in as a caregiver. Hell, you even enjoyed it.”
She’s got me there. “I did. I do.”
Playing with Katie was always something I had fun with, as though it filled a need I didn’t know I had. And, obviously, it had scratched the itch enough to keep me from realizing that I was actually into the lifestyle itself. Until I met Matt.
Her exhale is heavy as it travels down the phone line. “So, all this time, you’ve been a Daddy and neither of us realized it.”
“Honestly, Cher, I don’t think I was ready to realize it.”
“Not until you met someone worth stepping out of your comfort zone for, anyway.” Cherie’s definitely got my number.
“Exactly.”
“And this guy is worth it?” There’s an edge to her voice again, a protective sort of bite that makes me smile.
