Chapter 23
ONE YEAR LATER
Jasper
“Thanks for booking with us. We’re really looking forward to hosting you,” I said as I hung up the phone.
In the year since The Lavender Porch had opened, we’d had a near-constant stream of visitors.
We hosted straight couples, too, but most of our business centered around queer people wanting to get away and not feel like they had to hide any part of themselves.
A lot of our guests came from Texas, sure, but we’d also drawn people from out of state and even the occasional international visitor—thanks to my dad and his near-constant chatting up of his innkeeper son back in Texas with the fancy house and the cute goats.
What had started as a semi-retirement had turned into a full one once he caught the traveling bug.
Now he spent about half the year outside the country, working through the list he and my mom had made when they first got married.
I was a little bummed he didn’t have anyone to travel with, but he said he made friends along the way, and that was how he liked it.
Being in love with Daddy had turned me into a softie. I couldn’t even go to the damn grocery store in Kerrville without wondering if he wanted to tag along. But in all fairness to me, H-E-B was a magical place, and he should want to go there.
“Hey, boss man, here’s the mail. Your dad sent a few postcards too.”
“Oh, what did he say?”
“I looked at the picture, but I didn’t read them. Wouldn’t that be weird?”
Alec, my assistant, probably had a point, but could anyone truly expect privacy on a postcard? It was right there for the looking.
“Maybe you just have more manners than I do,” I suggested with a wink. A quick glance at the back confirmed that it was the standard “wish you were here” greeting, and I tacked the cards from Hungary and Romania on my board to join the others. “Are we ready for breakfast?”
“Yes, all that’s left is the made-to-order waffles, and those start in”—Alec pulled out his phone to check the time—“ten minutes.”
“Thank you for working it in. I know it’s a pain when we have a full house.”
“Meh, it’s fine. When you have an inn full of littles and their Daddies, how is it possible not to have waffles with all the fixings? That just seems mean.”
“They’d definitely think so.”
The current batch of littles was a friend play group that had been recommended to visit by another one.
We’d arranged an entire weekend like a mini-retreat, complete with s’mores by the river, strawberry picking from the patch Daddy had put in for me, goat yoga, story time, and crafts made with wool from the sheared Babydolls.
Even if I was arranging the little events rather than participating, they were my favorites.
I loved knowing that my place could be a safe spot for them without requiring them to hide who they were.
“What time is Hank coming back?” Alec asked.
“Hmmm?” I was too busy daydreaming about the care and feeding of littles to remember I was supposed to be operating the drink station while I kept an eye on the phones.
We had the usual coffee and tea preferred by the Daddies, and the juices, smoothies, and chocolate milk requested by the littles.
Luckily, people rarely called on Saturday mornings to discuss reservations, but there were always some.
“Hank. Time. Back?”
“He’ll be back by about noon to pick me up. I’ll handle the kitchen cleanup if you can do the upstairs refresh?”
Alec had been with me for about six months and was the fastest cleaner I’d ever met. He could be in and out of a room in ten minutes without breaking a sweat, and it still looked amazing every single time. I’d been grateful since the day he wandered onto the property looking for a job.
“No problem. They looked tidy yesterday at crafts, so fingers crossed their rooms are too.”
“Once drink round one is done, I can take over the waffle making and give you a head start up there. Are you sure you don’t mind holding down the fort while I play hooky with Da—gah, sorry, something in my throat—Hank?”
“Boss man, I know you call him Daddy.” Alec scoffed. “Every time you call him Hank, you have to shout it at him because he never realizes you’re talking to him.”
“What? No, that can’t be true.” It was totally true.
“Yeah, okay. I’m going to add this as an entry in my diary under Lies My Boss Tells Himself and Other Tall Tales.”
“Ouch, that stings.”
“But it doesn’t make it not true,” Alec added with a laugh before he went to heat up the iron skillet.
He might be the tiniest bit cheeky, but this place was better for having him around.
If that meant I had to accept a little sass from my employee, whom I wished would let me be his friend, then I was gonna do it.
“Happy birthday, Faust!”
He grinned wide. “Oh my goodness, I didn’t even expect this surprise party.”
Behind him, Bert rolled his eyes, though he clapped and smiled anyway. Beside me, Hank did the same, but I shut him down quick. If Faust wanted to pretend it was a real surprise, then I was going to let him.
The whole thing had fallen to me to plan.
Hank was buried under an influx of new herds, and Bert had picked up official part-time legal work because he’d redecorated his house again.
He blamed me because I wouldn’t let him redecorate The Lavender Porch, so he was bored.
Anyway, with everyone busy, I’d stepped in and volunteered.
Within a week, though, Faust was already calling me with his own ideas for the theme of a get-together he wasn’t supposed to know about.
He wanted a Miami Beach in the eighties theme—neon pastels, slick and bright, with an abundance of flamingos.
No small feat to wrangle in the middle of Texas, but the delivery lady and I became very good friends.
I’d snuck over last night—meaning Faust met me at the door with sweet tea—and decorated their sun porch, which Bert had told him was off-limits because of spiders.
Faust, Bert claimed, was deathly afraid of them and wouldn’t even step into the room if he thought there was a chance it was true.
All lies, of course, because Faust had helped me set up the streamers.
When I asked about the guest list, Bert said the only people Faust wanted there were Hank and me because he needed to talk to us.
That alone set my nerves jangling, but he promised it would be fine, that Hank would be happy about it.
Daddy groused about hating surprises, but the undercurrent of fear was palpable when he made the request.
“Hank?” I called, trying to get his attention to help me bring the food from the kitchen to the porch. He didn’t even look up. “Hank?” Nothing. “Daddy!”
“Geez, sugar, you don’t have to yell. I’m comin’,” Daddy said as he finally noticed me standing in the doorway. As he passed me, he kissed my cheek and patted my butt. I hoped I never stopped getting butterflies when Daddy touched me.
“I have to yell because you never hear me when I use your name,” I said exasperatedly. Alec’s words echoed in my head, but I quickly shoved them aside.
With an easy grin, Daddy took me by the elbow and guided me into the pantry.
He took the platter out of my hands and set it gently on the shelf.
Then, before I knew what he was about, he crowded me against the counter and nuzzled the sensitive skin behind my ear.
He nosed along the edge of my jawline, dropping kisses as he went.
My fingers flexed against his tight biceps.
“Daddy, what are you doing? We’re supposed to be setting up for lunch.”
“Lunch can wait.”
“Wait for what?” My breath came quicker than I intended. It was hard to regulate oxygen with a man as sexy as my Daddy this close.
“Wait until I’ve gotten a kiss from my boy, even if he yells at me. I need one,” he murmured.
“If you’d answered the first time…” I trailed off when Daddy sucked my earlobe into his mouth and delicately nibbled the fleshy spot. A shiver racked my body, and I felt him smile against my skin.
When his mouth migrated to mine, another shudder wracked my body.
Then, when he slipped his tongue inside, I melted right there in his arms. His tongue mapped my own and then explored the deep recesses of my mouth.
He tasted like the sweet lemonade he’d been sipping earlier and something that was all him.
I wanted to lose myself in the sensation of his kiss. Each thrust of his tongue wound me tighter and tighter into a coil. I felt him hard against my torso, my own body responding instantly. He deliberately rubbed his denim-covered cock against mine, and I whimpered at the friction.
“Daddy, what are you doing to me?”
“It’d be easier to keep my hands off you if you weren’t so goddamn sexy, sugar.
” Daddy sealed his mouth against mine again, plunging his tongue between my lips.
I met each thrust with one of my own. I was desperate for us to be skin to skin, but in the pantry of his de facto parents’ house, it didn’t seem like the best timing.
“All right, boys, get out of there. It’s not the time to make out.”
Daddy drew back from me with an annoyed expression that I knew wasn’t directed at me.
“What makes you think we’re making out in here?” he called through the closed door.
“Because that’s where Bert and I make out when we’ve got company,” Faust shot back.
A shadow crossed Daddy’s face, dark and decidedly unsexy. “Christ on a cracker, Faust, I don’t want to think about you and Bert doing that shit.”
“People have needs, Hank! People have needs!” Faust yelled back.
“All right, you win. We’re coming out. Just give me a second.
I need to make sure Jasper looks presentable.
” Daddy straightened my clothes, with particular care given to my cutoffs.
Then he ruined the plan to get us out in a hurry when he palmed my butt and claimed it was to make sure they were straight—but when he slipped his hands under my tank top, not even he could keep a straight face.
Biting my lip was a last-ditch effort to contain my moans, but it was a struggle.
“Hurry up in there because I’m fixin’ to tell you all about it, Hank. In. Vivid. Detail.”
“I need brain bleach,” Daddy muttered to himself.
“They’re old, not dead,” I said with a conciliatory rub on his arm as we came through the door.
“Who are you calling old?” Faust said with mock outrage, but he ruined it by promptly complaining about his back.
“All right, we’re done here.” Daddy dragged me off to the sun porch, trailed by Faust’s wheezing laugh.
“Jasper, you really outdid yourself with fixing this place up. It looks beautiful,” Bert said with an approving nod. “It’s exactly what Faust described.”
“Well, I had help from a little birdie,” I answered brightly.
“A birdie named Faust?”
“Don’t be silly. It was a surprise party.” Hank snorted at that, but situated himself in the chair next to mine and then hauled me close. He settled his arm around my shoulder before he asked the question that had been weighing on him since Bert told him about the party.
“Faust, what did you need to talk to us about?”
“Since your engagement, I’ve been thinking about family.” He glanced between us and Bert. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Bert nod approvingly and encourage him to keep going. “Hank, you’ve been my son in every way but blood. I love you.”
Next to me, Hank tensed. I dropped a hand on his thigh and did my best to keep my expression neutral.
“I love you too.”
“In my family, it’s tradition that the father passes on his wedding ring to the oldest son when he gets married.
It’s what Bert gave me during our commitment ceremony after getting it from my dad, since it wasn’t legal back then for us to get married.
Now, if you want it, I’d very much like to pass it on to Jasper for safekeeping until he puts it on your finger. ”
Daddy’s breath came out in one giant whoosh. “Christ almighty, Faust. I thought you were gonna tell me you were dying or some shit.”
“Well, that’d be one helluva way to bring down a birthday party.”
Daddy’s shaky laugh was the best he could do, and I knew it. He huffed a laugh, but his chest was rapidly rising and falling next to me. “I’d be honored,” he finally managed to get out.
“And our wedding present to you both is that we’re covering the honeymoon. Wherever you want to go, it’s on us.”
“Oh my word,” I gasped. “That’s too much! We were going to spend the weekend at the Riverwalk or something.”
“You can do that too for your wedding weekend or whatever, but everyone deserves time away after the stress of putting together a wedding, and we’d like to give it to you. Please.”
Daddy gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze and glanced down at me. He removed his arm from my shoulder and took my hand in his and laced our fingers together. It didn’t stop my tears from flowing.
“It might not be straight after the wedding, but we appreciate the gift. Thank you for accepting Jasper into our family,” Daddy said.
I tried desperately to stop my tears, but nothing was working. They slipped free even when I didn’t want them to.
“Jasper, it’s not sad!” Faust exclaimed.
“I thought something was wrong,” I wailed. Daddy nodded in agreement.
“I do have one more teeny, tiny thing to ask in return.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I want to try drag before I die. The Lavender Porch gets lots of littles, so I want to do a drag queen story hour.”
“Since when do you do drag?” Daddy asked, looking puzzled.
“Since never. That’s why I want to try it before I die.”
Hank looked stricken at his words.
“Good lord, Hank. I’m not actually dying. I wouldn’t ruin a perfectly good birthday lunch—by the way, everything looks delicious, Jasper—with bad news.”
“Faust, you can practice drag with the littles anytime you want. Hank, we need to pick a destination worth all this worry. Bert, you wanna lay anything on us?”
“I’d like to discuss a refresh of your office. It’s sad. Dismal even.”
“See?” Faust crowed. “Everyone’s got needs!”
Thank you for reading Finding Home in Comfort. I hope you enjoyed Hank and Jasper’s love story as much as I enjoyed writing it.