The Daddy Upgrade (Boys In Need of Saving #2)

Chapter 1

OLLIE

“Is it possible for you to move any slower, Oliver?” Grant gritted out between clenched teeth, barely turning his head to direct the words at me over his shoulder as he maneuvered through the Orlando airport, impatience and irritation radiating off him like a force field.

“The flight is delayed,” I reminded him, giving in and awkwardly picking up my small carry-on suitcase since the wonky wheel meant that dragging it always slowed me down.

Grant sighed so long and loudly that a woman walking past with two small children in tow gave him a wary look, then he stopped in the middle of the concourse—blocking foot traffic—and turned to face me, hands on his hips and a scowl on his model-perfect face.

“I am aware,” he said, enunciating each word as if I was five.

“Which is why I want to get to the gate quickly before our options are gone.”

“Options?” I asked, hefting my suitcase higher and wincing when it scraped against my sunburned arms. The wince was half psychological since the sunburn wasn’t actually that bad anymore, but could you blame me?

To say that the romantic getaway I’d been hoping for had not turned out well was an understatement, and the way my pale skin had instantly freckled, then roasted to a burnt crisp when I’d snuck down to the pool while Grant slept off the late-night clubbing he’d insisted we do as soon as we’d landed had pretty much been the cherry on the shit sundae of my dreams. It had left me with the option of either letting him touch me and trying to pretend it turned me on despite the pain all weekend, or not letting him touch me… and here we were.

The man I’d pinned my hopes on—who I’d thought might finally go from a casual fuck-buddy to full-fledged boyfriend when he’d suggested I fly down to Florida with him for the weekend to celebrate some big win he’d had at work—looking at me like I was the world’s biggest inconvenience and a complete waste of his time.

I swallowed hard, willing my eyes not to tear up because I got it, I did. We’d had different expectations for this trip, and I’d let him down by not living up to any of his. But maybe I could still redeem myself if I stopped slowing him down here in the airport?

“Options,” he said impatiently, the ostentatious man purse he had slung over his shoulder practically smacking a white-haired senior in the face when Grant whirled back around and started marching toward our gate again.

“Alternate routes, seat upgrades, some form of… of recompense for the airline inconveniencing me like this,” he muttered over his shoulder, not seeming to notice that he’d almost taken someone out with his oversized accessory.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry about that,” I whispered to the senior. “Are you okay?”

I reached out a hand to steady him while darting a quick look after Grant to make sure he hadn’t heard.

I knew it would embarrass him the way it always did when I got, in his words, “distracted” …

which seemed to mean doing anything whatsoever that wasn’t giving him one hundred percent of my attention—even when he was ignoring me—and, of course, deferring to him in everything and always letting him have his way.

Those traits came naturally to me, something my bestie always said was why all my relationships failed, but I didn’t think it was so bad to want to please the guy you were with.

The sucky part wasn’t catering to whichever guy I was currently with, it was always feeling like I failed at it. That I’d disappointed him.

The old guy assured me he was okay, and I sighed as he went on his way, wishing I could put my wonky-wheeled suitcase back down.

Grant was already too far ahead though, and since his legs were miles longer than mine, I’d already have to hustle to catch up.

But maybe things were looking up, because at least when I finally did, he didn’t seem to have noticed that I’d lagged behind.

“Maybe we could do something fun with the extra time?” I suggested, trying to look on the bright side of a delayed flight.

Grant sent me a scathing look. “At the airport?”

I bit my tongue to keep from saying something embarrassing about it not being where we were but who we were with that would make it fun… because while I believed in the sentiment wholeheartedly, the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach was getting harder and harder to ignore.

Grant didn’t want to be with me. Not anymore. And even if I hadn’t technically enjoyed being with him—certainly not down here in Orlando, and maybe not for a while, if I was being honest—still, it would just be nice for once to actually be wanted.

But maybe… maybe I could still save things.

Or maybe not, because the minute we reached the gate Grant stopped abruptly, turning to put a hand on my chest and making me stumble to a halt.

“Stay here,” he demanded, the hard look he pinned me with telling me he expected to be obeyed.

“They’re never going to take me seriously if I’ve got you hanging on my arm, looking like that. ”

I looked down at myself. He hadn’t approved of my outfit this morning, but we’d been running behind, so I hadn’t had time to change.

Besides, flying—at least my one and only experience with it so far, which had been the flight down here—was stressful enough.

The seats were cramped and being bazillions of feet up in the sky was terrifying, so couldn’t I at least be comfortable?

It wasn’t like we were likely to run into anyone he had to impress…

and besides, this had been a vacation, and I was wearing vacation clothes.

A super soft pair of frayed old jean shorts that my bestie always assured me made my ass look like fire, and a Disney World t-shirt I’d bought the minute we’d stepped off the plane a few days ago. But still—

“Sorry,” I said automatically when Grant’s lip curled up in a sneer. The word had basically become ninety percent of my vocabulary while we were down here, but it didn’t seem to help.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said dismissively. “Just… don’t follow me.”

My stomach tightened into a cold ball as he abruptly turned away and headed up to the ticket counter.

Was it so much to ask for a boyfriend who wasn’t embarrassed by me?

Not that Grant was my boyfriend, he’d been clear on that from the beginning and I’d been a fool to get my hopes up, but somehow, I always seemed to hook up with guys who found me lacking in one way or another.

Not in bed, because what guy doesn’t like someone like me who got off on pleasing them? But out of it…

I bit my lip hard when it started trembling, lowering my suitcase to the floor and looking around for somewhere to sit until Grant was done at the ticket counter.

Instead, a kiosk on the other side of the concourse caught my eye—full of last-minute souvenirs and things that travelers might want for their flights—and I gravitated toward it just for a way to look like I hadn’t been found lacking and discarded like old trash.

I let my fingers flit over the head of a super cute plush green dinosaur wearing a Disney World shirt that matched mine, my lips lifting a little even though looking at toys was exactly the kind of thing that would embarrass Grant if he saw me doing it…

and he definitely wouldn’t find it cute that my and Dino’s shirts matched.

In fact, if I’d known how badly he would react to me buying myself a souvenir t-shirt in the first place, I probably would have skipped it altogether.

Although honestly? Even though Grant and I had clearly had different ideas about the appeal of Orlando, I still had a hard time believing that anyone would endure flying all the way down here and not want to go to the iconic theme park.

I’d always assumed that going to Disney—Land or World, I wasn’t picky—was basically a lifelong dream for everyone.

We all know what they say about assuming though, and since Grant hadn’t wanted to do anything that was actually fun, at least I did get the t-shirt… because I was pretty sure, the way things were headed, it was the only happy memory I was going to have of this trip.