Chapter 13
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Leith muttered as he poured ice into the large cooler at his feet. I’d brought it from home. It had a spout on the bottom to empty it when all the ice melted.
“What was that?” I asked pointedly. He’d been banging around his kitchen for the past few minutes while I opened cases of soda and beer to add to the cooler.
“I said,” he enunciated, turning blazing eyes to me. “I can’t believe you talked me into this.”
Oh he was testy, but I had no idea why. I frowned. “You agreed. It’s better to build the deck now, than for me to put in temporary steps, only to tear them down later. And if we want to get it done in one day, we need help. Keith and the kids will be here in three days.”
“I know that!”
“Hey.” I didn’t raise my voice but I did put the Dom in my tone. He froze, dropping his gaze. This attitude wasn’t him. Something else was going on. “You care to explain yourself?”
“No.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Either he needed a beating, or he was really upset. The former, I could handle no problem. We still had an hour before everyone got here, even if it would make the rest of the day tough for him to sit down. If it was the latter, well then, I had to get to the bottom of it.
“Leith. Come here.”
It took him a solid sixty seconds to move. When he did, he limped a little, not grabbing his cane. The instant he was close enough, I pulled him into my arms and sat down, forcing him onto my lap. He didn’t exactly fit, he was a little too tall, but I didn’t care, and apparently neither did he.
“What is going on?”
Leith breathed slowly and evenly for a minute or two. I was fine waiting him out for however long it took. He had his thinking face on, pursed lips and scrunched brows, and I didn’t dare tell him how adorable it looked. Not now. Maybe not ever. I had a feeling he wouldn’t appreciate it.
“You planned this whole thing. You organized everyone. You said it was happening. You didn’t give me a choice.”
“Okay, wait a minute.” I took a gentle hold of his chin to lift his gaze to mine. “I came up with the idea and I mobilized the troops. Once you agreed it was a good idea. Only then did I give everyone the okay.”
It took a few seconds, but then Leith dipped his head in acknowledgement of that. I rubbed his back while I searched his gaze. But I couldn’t figure out what was going on in his mind.
“If you changed your mind, tell me now. We’ll just have a party instead of a deck build. And only that because Kyle, Leo, and Darien have been making the food for the last couple of hours and I’m not letting that go to waste.”
Leith sagged against me, all the fight leaving him. He turned his face into my shoulder and rubbed his nose against my shirt. Well, okay then.
“Angel,” I said softly. “I need an answer.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I didn’t intend to be discourteous.”
I pressed my lips to his forehead and murmured against his skin, “Okay, so let’s try again. Did you change your mind?”
“No,” he whispered.
“All right. Then tell me what’s going on.” I didn’t make it a question this time because he needed to know he had no choice but to answer. If I had to pull the Dom card on this to get to the bottom of it, I had no qualms about doing so.
“I’m nervous.”
I blinked, and I was sure the shock was all over my face. I was glad Leith couldn’t see, since he was still buried against my shoulder. But that was probably the very last thing I expected him to say. “Why?”
He sighed heavily, the sound of defeat. Then he lifted his head and looked right into my eyes. “Because these are your people. Your friends and coworkers. And it’s wonderful they’re willing to help at the last minute, and I’m actually very appreciative of that, despite my fractious attitude before. But I’m worried they won’t be happy we’re dating. That they’ll think we’re moving too fast. Or that I’ll accidentally call you Daddy in front of them. Because I think of you as Daddy in my head now more than Jay, and what if it just slips out?”
“Baby boy, I swear to all that is holy, they won’t fucking care if you do.”
He smiled a little at that, just a quirk of his lips, and then it disappeared again. “I care, though. I love what we have, what we’re building, but that’s for us. The rest of the world only gets to see the vanilla side of our relationship.” He cocked his head, thinking for a second, and then added, “Well mostly. I can’t help but defer to you about certain things, and I want it that way. But the rest is just for us.”
“Fair enough. But I have every faith you’ll manage to keep my title out of conversation. If it makes you feel better, don’t call me anything at all. I’ll just be hey, you today.” I shot him a playful look, crossing my eyes, and his responding smile was a little more genuine and fuller. “Now as for the rest of it, what do you mean? You don’t know Tony or Royce, sure. But you’re friends with Emmett, and he’s coming with Nick. And Kyle and Xavier.”
Leith snaked his arms around my neck and even before it happened, I knew he was going to rub the back of my head. It was a good thing I liked scalp massages, considering how often his fingers ended up there. The closely shorn hairs felt good to rub on, apparently.
“Correction, Sir. I’m friendly with Emmett and Kyle. Emmett and I have only interacted at school. And Kyle and I may talk every time I’m in the diner to compare our plant collections, but we’ve never hung out or whatever.”
I squinted at him, amused by his word choice. “You’re telling me you’ve never gone on a plant finding expedition together?”
A tiny laugh escaped as he shook his head. “We’ve said we’re going to, but neither one of us has actually planned anything. I don’t even have his number.”
I hummed thoughtfully. “Well that’s going to change today, angel. I can guarantee it. Once Kyle actually lays eyes on your jungle, he’ll have your number so fast it’ll make your head spin. As for the rest, I know you’ll like them. I’m certain they’ll like you. And not one of them is going to think we’re moving too fast.”
Leith looked skeptical. But I wasn’t done.
“I wouldn’t care if they did, just so you know. And if you need a break, if you’re overwhelmed or whatever, just escape to your room for a few and breathe. If you need me to help center you, then give me a signal.”
It was Leith’s turn to squint. “What sort of signal?”
I had to think for a second. “Tell me your having trouble with one of the grow lights.” I waggled my eyebrows. “And if Kyle overhears, and wants to help, tell him it’s my fault in the first place so I have to fix it.”
Mirth flittered across his face. “It sounds dirty when you say it like that.”
That was exactly why I said it like that, and he damn well knew it. “I got you, baby boy. I take care of you, right?”
“Yes, Daddy.” He sighed happily, the weight from earlier lifted.
I narrowed my gaze. “But don’t think that gets you out of a punishment for your attitude.”
He groaned, but he wiggled on my lap, too, so I figured he wasn’t too upset.
* * * *
When you had four guys who were experts at construction, plus one more who was pretty handy, building a deck was an easy job. Leith had allowed me to pick the design, and because of the shape of the back of the house, and the space he had, I’d decided a floating deck was the best and quickest option. It meant we didn’t have to put in concrete footers and didn’t have to worry about leveling the ground outside the back door.
Nick and Emmett arrived first, with the stone pavers and half of the lumber piled in the back of Nick’s Ford F-350. Tony and Royce rolled up a few minutes later with the rest, and it didn’t take us long to unload it all. We were practiced at it. We were in the backyard when I heard Kyle arrive.
“We need big, strong, hunky men to help!”
Damn his voice carried. I shook my head, Nick chuckled, and Royce looked spooked. You’d think he’d be used to shouting, with all we do on sites. But perhaps it was the tone and words. He shook it off though, smacked the back of his hand on Tony’s chest, and the two jogged around the corner of the house to help unload things.
Kyle, as usual, was efficient and bossy. By the time we were ready to start on the build, Kyle had a couple of folding tables set up. One had two huge drink dispensers on it, one was filled with water with lemons floating in it, the other was probably tea from the looks of it. There were also several trays of fruit and mini bagel sandwiches. The other table had the bases for chafing dishes. My eyes widened.
“What all did you bring?” I didn’t even try to hide my shock.
He gave me a look. “You asked me to feed you and feed you I shall. Dad or Uncle Darien will be by with the hot dishes around lunchtime. Eat up, everybody. Stay hydrated. You’re going to need it.” He whipped around, gaze zeroing in on Leith. “Now, you sweet angel baby, show me these plants you’re always bragging about. And we need to swap digits because if we don’t actually go plant shopping together sometime soon, I’m gonna cry.”
Leith shot me a wide-eyed look. I just smirked. Kyle ignored us both, grabbed Leith’s hand, and tugged him along.
“Your boy’s cute,” Nick said, having come up beside me when I wasn’t paying attention. I gave him a look. We’d never talked about BDSM and the lifestyle, but my boss was nothing if not observant. He’d figured things out.
“He’s perfect, is what he is.”
Nick’s gaze turned assessing. “Nobody’s perfect.”
That was the truth. I shrugged. “Perfect for me, then. Can we get started?”
“Sure thing. Royce, Tony! Let’s do it.”
The deck design was only two hundred square feet. Big enough to sit on, definitely room for plants, and maybe a table. I had plans to expand on it in the future and build the smoker and grill station, but that could wait for now, since that would need certain materials. The deck itself was only about two feet above ground level, so there’d be two steps out of the house to the deck, and then another two off the deck to the grass. Because of its height, we didn’t need to put up railings. But since Kira was only four, and Leith expected Luka to test his luck repeatedly by jumping off of it, we were going to add them anyway.
Getting the pavers in place was the longest part of the job. They needed to be settled just right, but they were heavy enough that they weren’t going anywhere. Building the frame went a lot quicker with all of us working on it. It took an hour, maybe a little more, before it was completed. By the time Leo arrived with lunch, we were half done with the decking. Kyle and Xavier went to work setting everything up, Emmett dropped his hammer to go get the folding chairs they’d brought, and Leith sidled up beside me. I didn’t hesitate to wrap an arm around him, and he leaned into me.
“How you doing?” I murmured, not wanting to draw attention to us.
“You’re very sweaty.” Leith wrinkled his nose, but then smiled. “I’m fine. Kyle is chatty enough that all I have to do is listen.”
“That’s the damn truth.”
Leith laughed, then he peeked up at me through his lashes. “The grow lights are working fine. Everyone has been wonderful. I don’t know how I can ever show my appreciation.”
“Just treat our boy here right, and that’s all we need.” Tony walked closer. “We’re just here helping out a friend. Next time it’ll be one of us, and you can follow Jay and help, too. Kyle says lunch is ready and you better come eat or he’ll pout.”
I rolled my eyes. “We can’t have that. Thanks, T. We’ll be there in a sec.”
He nodded and walked away. I waited until he was out of earshot, and made sure no one else was close enough, before I whispered. “I told you so, baby boy. Daddy’s always right.”
He blushed a deep red, but he looked pleased, too. He snuggled in more and I took that as a cue that he needed me close, no matter if the grow lights were working or not. “Come on, let’s go eat.”
Watching Leith open up, become talkative and laughing while we sat around eating was the best sight I’d seen all day. He still stayed close, reaching out on occasion to brush his fingers on my arm or my leg. But the longer we sat there, the more comfortable he became. And when we all got back to work, Leith stayed where he was, engaged in conversation with Kyle and Xavier.