Page 67 of Coiled Tight
In the online forums, having a Daddy was about bratting out and fighting for all the things because they knew better and they were the ones who decided what you got and what you didn’t.
Like, it was unfair. I didn’t know Daddies could be so easy. Maybe I would’ve dared to do something about them earlier.
Then again…
Nope. Not going there.
Things were happening the way they were supposed to. Or whatever it was people said when they got all into fate stuff.
“What if I just wanna order waffles for dinner with a lot of chocolate syrup, but the fancy kind, not the one that comes from a bottle?”
Daddy harrumphed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
No innuendos?
Damn.
I bobbed my head just to throw him off. “We should have a bath later. You know. In case the chocolate ends up in places it shouldn’t.”
“That’s more like it.”
Daddies were the best thing ever.
twenty-four
saúl
“Is it bad I don’t want to leave?”
Cam had the most pronounced pout after he’d stretched out on the bed only to fall right back on top of me. It was a good thing I’d been awake this time. The guy was one hell of an octopus at night, and very unaware of his own body mass.
It was a good thing my body had learned the lesson to wake up before Cam did at all times if we wanted to survive it. I was sure an untrained horse would give me less bruises than him.
“Why would it be?”
Cam pursed his lips, then stretched once more before he answered the question. “Because I complained so much about coming here?”
That was fair. I wouldn’t call it complaining, but there had been a lot of anxiety and rambling involved.
I shook my head. He’d done good in spite of it. The first few days were a bit rockier when people asked him about the animals we worked with and how the operation went, but he started to get more confident as the days passed by. I supposedpart of it was that he’d started to become more familiar with the faces. Not everyone spent the full two weeks here, but it was hard not to run by someone while grabbing food or something to drink, either within the confines of the stadium it was held in or in the diners around.
Cam hadn’t turned into a social butterfly, but I noticed how his demeanor changed when he started recognizing people from getting a flash of them eating with their boys or me introducing them when we happened to be at the same place.
“I’m glad you enjoyed your time here.” I, on the other hand, couldn’t wait to be back with the horses. The event was great, and I made a point to come every year, butdamn. It was the longest I spent surrounded by animals that were corralled or on a tight leash. It made me antsy. “For the record, I’m glad you didn’t back down.”
“You thought I was going to?”
I shrugged. Cam had his fingers on my chest, trailing shapes over the dark hairs there.
“It wouldn’t have shocked me if you did.” There had to be a better place to talk about this than the bed we’d been sharing for the past couple of weeks, but I didn’t want to move just yet. Cam was a fucking furnace, but oddly enough, I craved the heat. “You were skittish around me. I wanted to keep you around, but…”
It wasn’t often I didn’t know how to finish a sentence, but I wasn’t used to talking like this, either. It had been a long time, that was for sure. Cam was still skittish, too, even if it took a different shape.
“I’m sorry.” Cam averted his gaze. “I know I wasn’t great. First impressions aren’t my thing.”
“You’re fine, Cam.” It was an understatement. There was only so much I could put on the line. “Everyone’s going to bug you about that chili of yours now, though.”
Dwight had already heard about it. He’d only come a couple of years I couldn’t make it, or we needed an extra set of hands because we knew of an animal or two we were bringing back with us, but he’d left an impression. That impression translated into others texting him about our new vet getting the prize for Best Chili right away.
