Chapter 4 Henry
I’d made a mess with all that whipped cream, but it tasted so good, especially coming off Leo’s skin and tongue.
“I—” he said in the brief moment he pulled away before going back in, and his tongue immediately latched onto mine again. So sweet, so delicious. I held the back of his head, keeping him in place as I accepted every part of his tongue in my mouth, wrestling with it for the taste.
We were now so sticky from the dried up cream that his eye had stuck in a permanent wink and my facial hair had begun itching. “I think we should clean off.”
“I still want to try the pies, though.”
“Really?” I asked, taking his hand and guiding him along to the large empty basin. “Because I didn’t know if you thought I was just being friendly or trying to see if you wanted to go out on a date.”
His warm hand slipped right out of mine. “You like me?”
“What’s not to like?” I looked him up and down, a smile etched on my face from all the mess I’d made with the whipped cream. I took complete blame for that. “You’re helpful, you’re cute, and best of all, you’re always smiling.”
“I thought maybe you were just being friendly, and I was trying to figure you out,” he said.
I pulled the faucet out; it was attached to a metal hose for ease of cleaning. “All you had to do was ask. I’m a pretty open book, I think.”
He snickered. “Yeah, I can see that now, but I didn’t know it before. Plus, you’ve got this business to run. I thought you were just being kind to me because I have connections.”
I couldn’t help laughing a little. “That was not why I was being kind,” I told him. “Now, do you want me to hold the pressure nozzle, or do you want to do it?”
He touched the side of my hand and nodded. “I think I trust you.”
“Ooh, just thinking, well, I’m not sure you should.
This thing kinda has a mind of its own.” I attempted to demonstrate, finger-tapping the metal release, and for the second time today, I was the reason a mess was made as a fountain of water gushed out above us, hitting the ceiling and raining down on us both. I immediately removed my finger.
“Okay, maybe I should do it myself,” Leo said through his laughing.
“And you’ve got settings on here. I think it’s on the jet setting right now.
” He took the tap from me. “I’ve worked in a kitchen before, washing dishes as a teen.
This one’s good for really going in on those crusty bits.
” His eye twitched beneath the cream sticking it together.
“Okay, I think this one should be a gentle one.” Raising it to his face, I watched, ready to jump in front of it in case it was going to soak him.
I had to show him this wasn’t just a friend thing.
After getting the sticky cream residue off both of our faces, I held his hand, and we stood at the counter. I spoon fed him a bite of each pie, asking for his thoughts on each of them. He only had good things to say, and every time I raised the spoon with a scoop of pie, his eyes lit up.
“I think I’ll burst if I have to eat all of them,” he said.
“Just a taste is all. The rest you can take with you,” I told him.
“Before this goes any further,” he began, looking away. “I need to tell you something about me. And it’s a deal breaker. So before we get too carried away with how good it feels to have your tongue in my mouth, it’s important.”
“Anything,” I said, resting the spoon inside the pie tray. “What is it?”
He pulled his hands together against his chest, holding them there for a moment. A slow gentle head nod, like he was telling himself what to say before he was going to say it. “I like to play,” he said, still avoiding my eyes. “It’s part of who I am, and I need someone to know both sides of me.”
“I think I know,” I said, tipping a finger under his chin and focusing his gaze on me. “You’re a little.”
“A little what?” he asked, his tongue precariously placed between his teeth.
“You know . . . well, I hope I know,” I said, recoiling my finger with a gentle slide from under his chin. “The teddy, the cute T-shirts, the way you seem to have that . . . pout. It’s submissive, right?”
He nodded, then shrugged.
“And I saw the briefs you had on yesterday, when you bent over. The sweatpants kinda came down and showed off these teddy bear briefs. They looked—” Was it me, or did the kitchen become a whole lot hotter all of a sudden. “Tight.”
Leo almost choked on a breath, letting it out with a big gasp. “Oh my god, you saw them?” he asked. “I—I—”
“I’ve been involved in the dynamic before,” I admitted. It was brief. More of an introduction than a full-blown relationship. “But if I’m reading it all wrong, then we don’t have to address it at all. But I think that’s what you wanted to say, right?”
Slowly, he nodded again. “Yeah,” he let out, barely a whisper. “I didn’t think you’d know anything about it.”
“I was begging you to ask me questions,” I told him. “I don’t really know if you noticed that, but I wanted you to get to know me so I could ask you questions in return, and I kinda managed to do that yesterday.”
His face was glowing pink and red, and I wondered if the same was true for mine. Maybe there was something on in here, like an oven.
“I just wasn’t prepared for this to go as well as it did,” he said, trying to shy his face away again. I placed my hand under his chin, keeping him from tucking it any further. “So, what type of Daddy are you then?”
“We’re jumping into that, then?” I said, taking the spoon from the tray. “I’m the type of Daddy who loves caretaking in all aspects. Let me feed you, let me clean you, let me play with you.”
Leo clenched his hands on the metal counter, leaning his weight against it. “Now I feel like you’re just saying all the things I want to hear.”
Slicing into the lemon cream-cheese pie, just the tip curved onto the end of the spoon.
“You always second-guess everything.” A question and a statement.
“I thought you were cute the first time I saw you. I noticed the teddy . . . popular in little circles, right? I think they are. It’s been a while since I’ve really engaged with it.
” I raised the spoon to his mouth. “This one in particular is delicious.”
He opened his mouth, sticking his tongue out, and he practically made out with the spoon as I applied it to his lips as he wrestled to lick every part of the it from the metal. Staring into my eyes, he moaned and groaned.
“Easy now,” I said. “This is a clean workspace.”
He giggled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, for one, I don’t want you to start something we can’t finish in here, and secondly, I think those noises should be saved for somewhere private . . . special.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
I bit my lip a little. “It’s been a while since I’ve been called that, and I’ll take it.
If that’s what you want.” I continued to stare at him, trying to assess how to approach this as a relationship.
It was quite literally brand new, so I couldn’t rush or get ahead of myself.
Although . . . counting the times we’d already met up and been together, those could all have been dates.
“Obviously, taking it slow. But tell me what you want, and I’ll try to be the best Daddy you could ever need. ”
He opened up in a way that felt like he was exhaling properly for the first time around me.
He told me that he had too many teddies to count, and he read bedtime stories to them each night because he didn’t have anyone to read to him.
He also explained that all of his past relationships never got to the little play part, they were more interested in the bedroom fun.
“Then let me be the first to tell you, I love a good a bedtime story,” I said.
“And I’m more than happy to read to an audience of your closest teddies.
Perhaps not all of them, but I want to see where this goes.
I didn’t come all this way to start my life over again and not put one hundred percent effort in. ”
“So, you knew before moving here you’d want to find someone to be with?” he asked.
I could only laugh. “Not exactly, but it was something my life lacked, and something I wanted to find. I think—or at least, I hope—I’ve found someone I could try this whole thing out with.”
He screwed his lips together as if trying not to smile, and I knew if he did, it would be the biggest smile ever seen on a face.
“So, little one, I’ve got a lot of free time, and I’d love to turn this into a date.”
“A play date?” he whispered.
I nodded. “Let me know what you need, and I’ll do it.”
He held my hand. “Do you want to come to my place for the play date?” he asked. “You can meet all the teddies, see the books I’ve got from the library, and we can play.”
“How about we take the rest of these pies out for delivery, and then we can do all that.” It also helped that Leo knew this town and the people in it well.
“Good idea. And we can take mine as well, since a tea party is a must,” he said, nodding and swiping a hand at some of the cream spiraled on top of the apple pie. He licked his finger clean. “You wanna have a tea party?”
“I’d love a tea party, little one.” I took the hand he’d just licked the finger clean of and gave it a kiss.
It was the first real connection we’d had, open and honest. I wanted to be there for this tea party, to see where he lived, what he liked, and most of all, the little hiding inside him.
I was more than happy to take on this caretaking role, catering to his little wants and needs.
One of the benefits of being a baker would be that I wouldn’t have to do much more work to make sure he’d always have a sweet treat available.
“Do you have something to transport all these pies in?” he asked. “I’m not really one for manual labor, except the painting I helped you with, but that’s because I was crushing hard on you and wanted to impress.”
“I’ve got a big box. I can lug it around, you’ll just have to lead me,” I told him.
“You’re lucky I’ve got a good sense of direction,” he said.
I winked at him. “It brought you right to me, so I’d say yes, you do have a good sense of direction.”
Leo giggled. “I was bound to find you. A new bakery and my sweet tooth . . . that’s a dangerous combo,” he said. “And you being here, well, that was the cherry on top. Speaking of cherries, maybe a cherry pie next?”
“Noted. And that sweet tooth is noted as well,” I said. “What else do you like?”
As I packed the trays into an empty box, Leo listed all the different desserts he liked, and he liked a lot of them.
I knew already he was going to test my skills, and my skills were all learned through books, the internet, and a whole lot of trial and error.
I was both nervous and excited—perhaps they were one and the same—getting ready to tour the town with Leo at my side.
It felt like we were about to announce we were dating, and it had only just happened, but something stirred in me that wanted people to know.
It would be like telling people I was officially part of the town, since Leo had accepted me, but it was deeper than that.
This town was already accepting. I even welcomed the friendly competition from the other bakery, which mostly offered savory options.
Pineberry Falls had a magic to it, and I was just getting ready to explore it.