Chapter 7
SEVEN
TRAVIS
If this was what it meant to be a Daddy, sign me up.
Holding Casey’s hand in mine as we eased around the rink made me feel ten feet tall.
It took a few false starts for him to find his feet, but once he got the hang of it, he let go of one of my hands and started gliding mostly on his own.
Every so often, he shot me a nervous look, and I answered with a smile that told him to keep going.
After a few laps, he was ready to let go completely, but I missed the feel of his hand in mine.
I fervently hoped he was as touchy-feely as I was.
Watching him reach for me like that hit something old and quiet in my chest, something that had been waiting for the right person to lean into.
“You’re doing great, bub,” I told him as he took the turn on his own, but I jinxed him. Within seconds, he lost control and landed on his butt, skidding across the ice.
The way he looked up at me with that mix of embarrassment and trust made every protective instinct I had flare hot.
“Ha. I think you meant I was doing great, and now I’m back where I started,” Casey said with a laugh.
I hurried over and braced myself to pull him up.
His legs were a little wobbly, and he fell into me.
When our chests bumped, my lungs forgot how to work.
Casey’s hands gripped my biceps, his fingers flexing through my jacket.
He was so close. His mouth was inches away, full and pouty and impossible to ignore.
I dipped my head and brushed my lips over his.
The taste was too tempting, so I went back for a second.
Casey pressed more firmly against me, and I settled my mouth on his for a longer sip.
My tongue slipped between his lips, and his met mine in a bold slide.
I felt rather than heard his small sigh with Casey so close.
I knew there were cameras on the rink, and as much as I wanted to explore every invitation he offered, the middle of this place couldn’t be it.
Casey’s fingers snaked their way under my shirt, and I literally yelped at how cold they were on my skin.
I glanced down and realized I’d left my gloves on while his hands were bare.
“Holy shit, bub. Why didn’t you say something?”
“About what?” Casey looked genuinely confused. He glanced around before lifting his face back up to me. “I’m gonna need a little more to go on.”
“About how cold you were. I don’t want you getting frostbitten in here.”
“Oh, it’s only cold when I touch the ice.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s kinda the point. You were touching the ice, and now your hands are frozen.”
“Sorry.” Casey immediately withdrew from me and shoved his hands in his pockets. Shit.
He always pulled back too fast, like he was bracing for trouble that was never coming from me.
“Nope, that’s not what I meant.” I pulled them back out and raised them to my mouth so I could blow some warm air on them. When they seemed less icy, I pulled off my gloves and put them on him instead. “Here, this will help.”
“Won’t that mean you’re going to be cold?”
The fact that he even worried about my comfort while shivering told me more about his heart than anything else could.
“Meh, I’m more used to it.”
“You know, I do snowboard.”
“Yeah? I haven’t been in forever.”
“Maybe we can trade good times?” I kinda choked at Casey’s choice of words because I doubted he meant where my mind wandered.
“I mean, you showed me ice skating so I could show you snowboarding.” Casey paused and then looked away.
He almost looked embarrassed, like he’d said something wrong. “If you wanted, I mean.”
He said it like it was nothing, but the offer felt like a door cracking open to a life I hadn’t let myself imagine.
“Yeah,” I said and raised his hands so I could blow on them again. “I’d want that.” Casey’s face transformed from fake nonchalant to the brightness I was used to from him. “But for now, let’s get you off the ice and try to get dry. All those falls left your sweats pretty wet.”
“Ugh, I’m going to get your car seat wet. Are you sure you don’t mind taking me home? It’s across town from here,” he said as he glided across the ice slowly toward the wall opening to leave the rink.
“My place is closer. Why don’t you just stay with me tonight?” I kept my voice casual, but I knew my insides were churning. “I can get you into warm clothes and some hot chocolate pretty quick.”
Inviting him home felt reckless and inevitable at the same time, like my whole body had already decided he belonged there.
I wanted Casey in my home tonight. I wanted him in my bed too, but I could wait on that if he wasn’t ready. I wanted to be the proper Daddy to him in all the ways if he’d let me.
“Have I ever mentioned that hot chocolate is a favorite of mine?” Casey said with a smile. I realized his dimples showed up even when his grin was crooked. It was a good smile.
“I’m no barista, but I do my best. You’ll have to give me your professional opinion on it. I know you make a lot of them at the restaurant.”
“Let’s see what you can do then.”
“Travis, you may have missed your calling in life,” Casey said with a cheeky grin.
Casey snuggled under a blanket on my sofa, wearing my sweatpants that hung off him and one of my Rainier shirts with my number on the back was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. Casey’s tongue darted out to swipe the whipped cream on his upper lip.
“You think so? That means a lot coming from you. I’ve heard the boys talking about how good your drinks are down at Stone.”
“They’re so sweet. My favorite customers. Good tippers too.”
“Are they the reason you came to Little Night?”
“Yeah. They said I should check it out, but they didn’t know I was a little.”
“How surprised were they?”
“Maybe a little, but it takes all kinds, right?”
Casey paused for a sip, which led to another swipe of his tongue. I almost swallowed my own watching him. “How long have you been a Daddy?”
The way he said it, small but sure, wrapped around me tighter than anything ever had.
I flopped against the cushions on the opposite end.
When Casey stretched out, his toes wedged under my thigh beneath the blanket, the temptation became too much, and I pulled his feet into my lap, pressing my thumbs into the soles.
I tried to remember what the physio guys used to do that recharged me every time they touched my feet.
“I always knew I was one, but I never wanted to split my energy between fighting to stay pro and actually being one. I was a decent player, but I wasn’t a superstar with endorsements and private jets.
” Casey snorted but didn’t interrupt. “To keep my spot, I had to fight like hell. In my head, a Daddy needed to be fully devoted to his boy, and being gone all the time or being trapped in my own head on the ice didn’t fit that. ”
I’d spent years pretending I didn’t want more than the grind, and sitting here with him made that lie crumble.
We talked about everything and nothing as we stayed on the sofa.
Casey’s little moans wrecked my attempt to keep my dick from hardening.
Having my hands on him while any part of him brushed close to my cock was too much.
The first time he grazed me, I thought it was an accident.
The second time, I knew it wasn’t. When I glanced over, he was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
That answered that.
With a laugh, I pounced on Casey. He wrapped his legs around my hips and anchored me to him. My arms braced around his head, caging him in. The bemused smile was all I needed.
Every part of me wanted to take my time with him, learn the shape of every sound he made. And find out what it meant to have a little who looked to me to take care of them.
“Hey, Casey?”
“Hey, Travis.”
“You know how at Wilde Dandies, I got to be your Daddy for the evening?
“I do remember, yeah.”
“What if we kept doing that?”
“It took you long enough,” he said, brushing his mouth across mine. The brief pass left tingles and a desperate need for more.
“I didn’t want to rush you. Or push you.”
“Glacial.” His cheeky, open smile cracked something wide in my chest. How anyone hadn’t snatched him up before me was beyond comprehension. I rested at the junction of his thighs, feeling his hard shaft press against mine.
Hearing that tease slip out of him lit something bright and stupidly tender inside me.
“I’ll make up for lost time,” I murmured, finding the sweet spot behind his earlobe. When he shuddered, I knew I was right. My nose nuzzled the sensitive skin before I kissed down the column of his throat. His pulse beat a rapid rhythm under my mouth.
While my mouth worked, Casey slipped his hands under my T-shirt. His calloused fingers explored my back until I was tight with need. When he kneaded the muscles in my shoulders, I thought my soul might leave my body.
“Baby, you’re killing me,” I growled.
Casey’s soft laugh was my only answer. He repeated the motion.
“You’re a brat.”
He unraveled me without even trying, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hold anything back anymore.
“Maybe a little bit.”
My smile against his throat earned another chuckle.
My lips brushed his once, then again. The taste of cocoa, peppermint, and Casey himself was a heady mix.
I slid my tongue into his mouth and dove into the wet heat.
Our tongues twisted together, each movement pulling me closer to a break I didn’t have a name for.
My hips rutted against him. His hands slid down my sides to grip my ass and grind up against me. His assertiveness lit me on fire.
I might be a Daddy, but I sure as hell didn’t mind a guy who knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to say so.
I didn’t need someone bowing and simpering.
I needed someone who let me be useful, who let me fix things.
And right now, the sweet, delicious problem under me was the only one I cared about.