Colin (Daddy for Christmas 2)

10. Rourke

Chapter ten

Rourke

Christmas morning was a strange and new thing. Colin was in my bed, and my heart was full. Did we still have a long way to go? Yes. But we were here—together. I got up without waking him, rinsed off but decided to skip shaving. Maybe later we could find out if my boy liked being scruffed. Then, I went into the kitchen and got started on breakfast.

I was pretty good with breakfast stuff. Pancakes and sausage weren’t difficult. I made a cup of coffee and got Colin’s ready to go, but would wait until he woke to brew it. And he showed up before I finished the first batch of pancakes.

“Smells good in here.”

“Mmm…coffee?”

“Yes, please.” Always so well-mannered.

We ate breakfast and talked about life. Why he had been living with his uncle. How he had dropped out of college because he hated it, but more importantly, he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. He spoke briefly of his parents, and that he had grown up in Tampa. In turn, I shared that I was born wealthy and had a sizeable trust fund, being the only child of the owner of a huge conglomerate. But I also went to college and became a stockbroker. A very successful one, but now I moved my career to where I invested in all kinds of opportunities and owned multiple companies. My father had died, and his company went to his brother, but I didn’t care because I had more than I would ever need. My mother was taken care of as well. We had a decent relationship, but since I moved to Tampa from New York, we rarely saw each other. She was more interested in socializing with her New York socialite friends, and I wasn’t interested in that.

After we ate, I cleaned the kitchen up and asked Colin to meet me in the living room. I had to give him directions. I would give him a full tour later today. The place wasn’t that big, but it wasn’t an entirely open floor plan, either. I could see him getting lost. That would be so cute. Maybe I wouldn’t show him around. Let him figure it out.

He did manage to find the right room, and he waited quietly on the sofa. He’d already changed into jeans and an oversized shirt. I reached under the tree and pulled out a small gift-wrapped box, and handed it to him. He held it in his hands like it was precious. “Open it, Colin.”

“I didn’t get you anything, though.”

“Yes, you did, sweet boy. You’re here. Now open.” I waved at him to stop being silly.

He ripped into the box. “What’s this?”

“A key. To the main house. I want you to move in with me.”

He stared down into the box and scrunched up his face. “No.”

“What?”

He moved to hand the box back to me, but I wouldn’t take it. “This is too much. Too fast. We talked about this, Rourke.” My boy had a mind of his own for sure.

“No. It’s not too fast. I want you here.” I thought giving him the key would show him how much I meant it.

“I’m close enough, Rourke.”

“Okay, fine. I’m not going to push you. But keep the key. You might need it. In case of emergencies or maybe you just want to come over. You can come and go as you please.” He glared at me. “Please?”

He didn’t look convinced, but he took the key out of the box and tucked it in his pocket. Small win for me!