Chapter 11 LEO
There was a strange ease to being with Henry, and it was growing easier by the day.
We’d started some lifestyle protocols, making sure I showered every evening.
With him was a bonus. I had to eat my veggies, which I would request were blended into soups, and now smoothies.
There was just something that pulled my face funny about a smoothie—a.k.a. cold soup—that I could not enjoy.
Scheduling good habits was also part of those protocols—brushing my teeth, drinking water, and making sure that we saw each other once per day, assuming I wasn’t staying at his place.
Pineberry was so small that we saw each other several times a day anyway, but that was more to do with me being a customer and needing my coffee fix.
He hadn’t charged me for a single coffee yet, even though I slipped the bills onto the counter—and eventually the tip jar.
Our new relationship was the talk of the town . . . for a solid second. The town preferred gossip and rumors, which were hidden around the tables where the older folks ate lunch and drank their teas. As soon as something stopped being a rumor and was true, it faded from conversation.
At the town hall, I sat in Oliver’s office with him as we unboxed Sublime teddies.
We had the door closed so people wouldn’t come barging through.
This could’ve been official town business, and I did have a folder with a chart and graph made up with the stall plans for the end of summer festival.
But first, the unboxing of these cute and sometimes ugly teddies.
Two each. It was a new collection in these cream boxes.
“Okay, so I want either the pink into purple one, or the black into gray,” I said, tapping pictures of the different teddies that could be inside with a Twizzler. “Oh, and of course, the mystery one.”
Oliver nodded, grabbing a Twizzler from the pot on his desk.
“That goes without saying,” we said at the same time. But it was true, we always wanted the mystery one. Even if they were the ugliest, we didn’t know what this one looked like, and I hadn’t been online to see spoilers.
“I would love the peach into pink,” Oliver said. “Or the orange into yellow. That one makes me want to sit on a beach somewhere drinking a cocktail.”
“That’s the dream,” I said, fanning myself. “Best we can do is the lake.”
“And I do love the lake, but I bet if we had a beach, there’d be more tourism.” He waved a hand and tutted. “I’m just being silly, we get plenty of the right type of tourism here. I don’t want us overrun with college kids from Maplehaven.”
I shuddered. “Remember when they came here in a bus? They had that huge party out on the lake, and we were fishing beer cans out of it for weeks.”
Oliver rolled his eyes, tapping his Twizzler against mine. “Let’s not even think about that. Let’s say the magic words.”
I stuck my candy between my teeth and grabbed both of the boxes.
“Oh teddy gods and teddy goddesses, bless my blind boxes with teddy goodness,” I offered up with my jaw slightly closed and my teeth clenching on the candy.
It was followed up with two taps and the accidental drop of saliva from the end of the Twizzler.
We unboxed them, closing our eyes and tearing into them. They came in these small plastic silver-foil bags, but we kept our eyes closed regardless. And there was no peeking.
After a countdown from three, we opened our eyes.
I got a peach into pink and the mystery one which was rainbow.
All the tufts of fur on the teddy were a different color of the rainbow, blending into each other.
I barely looked over at Oliver’s, I was too excited to hold my rainbow one up like I was raising Simba in the Lion King over Pride Rock. “Ta-da,” I said.
“I’ll swap you,” he said.
“No way.”
“Not for that one, for the other,” he said, pushing the purple into pink one my way. “An easy swap, right?”
“Deal.”
We swapped them. “No takebacksies,” he said, giggling. He’d unboxed the purple one and a green-blue one. It looked better on his desk than it did on the photo on the back of the box. “I think I’m gonna have to get more of them. You know I need the whole collection now.”
“I think I’m happy with just this one.” The mystery teddy was like winning the lottery, which meant I should probably buy myself a ticket, or maybe my luck had run dry now that I’d got my big win.
“I bet they cost a fortune to buy outright,” he said, eyes narrowing in on the teddy.
“Eyes off,” I giggled.
Once our fun was over, it was time to actually discuss the boring work side of things.
I was a little bit sidetracked by the teddy, but this work was important.
With the end of summer festival approaching and the town about to see an influx of people arriving, it was somewhat of a logistical nightmare.
On the stand plan sheet, Oliver scribbled notes. “Thinking the portable toilets are going to be in this corner here,” he said. “And we’re going to have the big screen up that we used for Pride. The one that made it look camouflaged.”
“Right, right,” I said. “Also, Wilde Ranch aren’t making it. Something about being too busy, and they’ve got horses arriving and they’re hiring help. Which I would love to go peek at because I love horses.”
“Yeah, I saw Martha in town the other morning. Jace isn’t taking the news well,” he said. “It’s probably why he hasn’t responded to the chat in a while.”
“Would you take it well if someone was coming into your place of work and practically about to steal your job from you?” I grumbled, knowing only half of what was going on. “It’s not going to be the same without him there. I don’t think he’ll be at any of the events this year now.”
Oliver nodded, then shrugged. “Probably best. If he sees the new bakery, and how you’re practically living with the owner, he might see it as a betrayal.”
I gasped. “Nope, he would never. Plus, I’m sure news has traveled to him. Anyway, even if he is annoyed, he’ll be happy to know I’ve found someone. A hot someone.”
“A Daddy,” Oliver said, wiggling his brows. “So, are you moving in, then?”
I grabbed another Twizzler just to hit on the desk.
“It’s only been a couple of weeks; I’m not going to be moving in with him just like that.
Give it a couple of months, and I’m sure most of my stuff will be there.
” As I stuck the Twizzler in my mouth, I realized I’d eaten too many of them.
“Henry’s going to say I’m spoiling my dinner if I finish this. ”
As we finished some plans for the event, I finished the candy.
It wasn’t going to spoil my dinner, but that probably came with the open pit that stress caused in my stomach during event planning.
I had to take into account so many things, like health and safety, and making sure everything was placed with enough room for it to be accessible for potential fire hazards, but most importantly, anyone with mobility issues.
I got back to the bakery just before it closed.
Daddy was wiping down the metal shelves inside the glass counter, a proud smile on his face from selling out of all his bakes again.
He was still swamped with customers, and in desperate need of hiring help.
I’d tried helping where I could, but it was a murky area, working alongside your boyfriend, and I was not going to make any mistake that made this good thing turn into an awful situation.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t picking up a broom or Swiffer when I could, to go around the kitchen and bakery. It was sometimes fun to clean, giving me space to think while helping out.
Once the door was locked shut and the sign flipped to closed, I rushed to Daddy, showing him the two small teddy bears I’d unboxed. “They don’t have names yet, but I’ll will be giving them something fun, if you have any suggestions.”
“I think you’re the best at coming up with names,” he said, booping the rainbow bear on its snout and then one on mine. “How was your day?” He leaned in for a kiss and I pressed the rainbow bear’s mouth to his. “No kiss? You know kisses are payment.”
“Payment?”
“Yeah, payment for my heart.” I clutched a fist at his chest, across his heart. “You need to keep it topped up, or Daddy will get sad.”
I jumped into his arms, almost yanking his apron from around his neck.
He carried me through to the kitchen and sat me down on the metal island counter as I was busy covering his face in kisses.
I couldn’t have his heart not topped up with my kisses.
They were necessary for basic human life.
“You’re not getting sick of me, are you? ” I asked.
“Sick of you?” he asked, head rolling on his shoulder. He sighed. “I think I’d be sick if you left. Heartbroken even.”
“So, you really do like having me around?” I asked.
I didn’t know what it was, but the question Oliver had posed about me moving in, and mine about how much stuff I already had here .
. . I didn’t want to feel like I was forcing myself into his place.
“Because you know I could totally stay home a couple of nights a week.”
Once more, hand to his heart, he gasped. “And if you went home, how would I know you were safe and not crushed under the weight of your bed and all the teddies you pile on it?”
“I guess that’s the risk we’d have to take.”
Daddy placed a thumb under my chin, tilting my head upright to look at him. “You know, if you’re sick of me, you can spend time at your place. I enjoy having you here, but I understand if this is all a lot.”
“It’s not a lot, it’s perfect,” I told him. “I’m just trying to make sure you’re not going to be sick of me.” I pouted, and he cooed, pulling his thumb down my chin to force my bottom lip out further.
“I wouldn’t change this for anything. Not you, not this moment, heck, I wouldn’t even change those red lips,” he said with a smirk. “What was it? Red Hots? Red Vines? Twizzlers?”
I giggled. “Is it really that obvious?”
“In here it is; those lights reveal everything.” He gestured toward the harsh white light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. “You’ve just got a mouth that loves to change color, I think. And I’ve got a mouth that has a taste for your mouth.”
I tried seeing my bottom lip, but it was practically impossible. Daddy chuckled, watching me nearly fall back trying to push my lip out and look at it. His hand was right there on my lower back, holding me in place.
“I like you a lot,” he whispered.
“I like you a lot as well,” I said, holding in a nervous giggle. I’d never confessed my feelings to anyone before. Usually I never got passed the whole “I like to roleplay, and I also love collecting teddies” part of things.
“How much do you like me?”
I gestured with my hands, demonstrating a width between them. “Like, this big, maybe,” I said, my arms at the maximum span. “I hope that’s enough.”
With my arms open wide, he scooped me up.
I never wanted to leave his arms again, or stop smelling the sweetness on his collar, mixed with his natural musk.
I wanted to bottle it up and spray it on my favorite teddies, just so I didn’t have to go without—not like I was sleeping at my place much anyway.
Being around him had my belly like jelly, like a strawberry jelly, filled with his sweetness. I gave him a kiss on the neck and then a big yawn came out. He yawned right back at me.
“Sleepy one,” he said as we yawned simultaneously.
“I’m not—” And there I went again, a third yawn.
“Let’s have some supper and straight to bed,” he said. “Well, after a shower, of course. You can’t forget the number one rule of hygiene.”
I nodded. “I remember. Obviously.”
“Good boy,” he said, kissing me and pulling me off the counter. “Now, if you haven’t already spoiled your appetite with candy, what do you want to eat?”
Asking me to decide wasn’t a good idea, I’d been making decisions all day.
Now was the time for Daddy to take the reins and tell me what we were having.
I signaled with a pout, and he picked up what I was putting down.
I couldn’t believe I’d finally found someone who connected with me like this—a pinch me moment if I’d ever felt one.