Chapter 16 #2
“Thanks, Daddy.” He went to take off Nolan’s hoodie, intent on leaving it behind, but Nolan stopped him. “It’s gonna get dirty.”
“I don’t care. Take it with you.”
Just then, Kai remembered what was missing.
“Oh man! My Lego was in my pocket.” His shoulders slumped in disappointment.
He’d gotten used to fidgeting with the pieces when he had nothing to do with his hands.
Unexpectedly, Nolan reached into his joggers and fished out the small handful of Lego, an amused smile playing on his face.
Kai lit up, cackling as Nolan dumped the pieces into his waiting hands.
“You’re the best Daddy ever.”
“I bet. Get out of my car.”
Kai laughed and kissed him again. This time when he pulled away, there was a mischievous glint in his eye. “Tonight when I come over, are you going to let me watch our video?”
“Maybe. If you’re good.”
“You know how good I can be.” Kai stuck out his tongue and waggled it provocatively.
He gave him one last kiss for good measure, grabbed his backpack, his lunch bag and his travel mug, pleasantly amused by his full arms, and left the car.
Sometime during their goodbyes, Matteo had come out of the house.
“Who’s that?” he asked, a teasing note in his voice.
“Boyfriend,” Kai answered a little bashfully yet with a burst of pride.
Yeah, maybe it was too soon to be formalizing titles, but Nolan would never know, and he was feeling too good about it this morning to want to hide it.
He’d never had anything approximating a real relationship before, and he didn’t really have anyone he could tell.
Kai was cool with all of the guys so when they wolf-whistled and jostled him teasingly, he just ducked away, grinning to himself.
Matteo scrubbed a hand over his head like a big brother would.
“I’m happy for you kid.” He shoved Kai towards his pick-up truck. “Everybody in. We got a shit ton of work to do.”
The drive out to Aurora took just about thirty minutes, but early on a Saturday morning, they coasted through without traffic.
The drive was quiet and peaceful, early morning sun promising a beautiful day ahead.
As sore and tired as he was, Kai had an underlying feeling of general contentment.
His mouth quirked into a half smile, amused at finding himself just really… happy.
Kai didn’t take the two boxes out until lunch time.
He’d been half-freaked out they’d get lost or stolen the entire morning but was eager to know if Nolan had texted him.
He sat on the half-finished deck they’d been working on, afraid the phone would fall out of the box and break on impact, but it just lay flat in the box, shiny and pretty and looking hella expensive.
“Damn, Kai, did you get a boyfriend or a sugar daddy?” one of the guys, Peter, asked.
“That the new iPhone?” Gage, beside him, asked.
He leaned over Kai’s shoulder, trying to see while also reaching to scoop some almonds out of one of the little containers that Kai had spread out in front of him.
Nolan had packed way more food than Kai needed, but it was nice having something to share for once rather than constantly being the one shared with.
“I dunno.” He tipped it out into his palm.
A small piece of paper tumbled out with it: the I.D.
and password. Kai smirked. Of course, Nolan would have set it up for him.
He pulled out the case that Nolan had given him, pleased to see it was one of those hardcore deals that you could probably run over without doing too much damage to the phone inside.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you with a phone once since I met you,” Matteo said as Kai manipulated the phone into the case.
Of course he hadn’t. He’d met Matteo two years ago, and his own phone had long since been dead.
He didn’t answer, but he could feel Matteo’s curiosity growing.
His eyebrows had shot up when Kai had unpacked his lunch, but he could tell that Matteo approved, like Kai had done something right even though he hadn’t done anything at all.
“You make sure I get that number. It’ll be nice not having to hunt you down every time I need you. ”
Kai didn’t particularly care about work calls right now. He only cared about one thing, and when he powered on the phone and saw that little red icon with a one in it, his grin spread. Touching the app sent a thrill up his arm.
Hey sweetheart, I’m missing you already. Can’t wait to see you tonight.
It was time stamped at 1:30 a.m. He didn’t bother texting back, just hit the video call button at the top of the screen. Nolan’s face appeared on the screen after a couple of seconds, looking pleased. Kai could see his own big dopey grin mirrored back to him in the little corner of the screen.
“Hey.”
“You opened the box.” There was a note of approval in Nolan’s voice that did funny things to Kai’s insides in a way that didn’t happen when Matteo spoke to him like that.
“I just wanted to say hi and stuff,” he said awkwardly, elbowing Gage and Peter as they tried to lean into the frame.
“Have you had lunch?”
“Yeah, just having it now.” Kai turned the camera to show Nolan all of the containers laid out and mostly finished.
“Yeah, thanks for the food!” Gage yelled. Kai turned the phone back so they were looking at each other again and grinned.
“I shared.”
“That’s okay. So long as you ate.”
“Wanna see what we worked on today?” He didn’t wait for Nolan to answer, just jumped to his feet and took him around, showing him everything he’d done and what they still had left to do, pleased when Nolan seemed impressed by the work they’d done.
“Damn, baby! I might have to put you to work.”
“I could do some stuff. I’m not, like, super good. Matteo comes up with all of the designs. He’s crazy talented.”
“Is that something you want to do?” Nolan asked.
“I don’t know. I like it. But not really when I have to wake up at the asscrack of dawn to do it.”
Nolan chuckled just as Matteo let out a piercing whistle. Kai looked up, and Matteo waved him over.
“I gotta go. Matteo’s calling me.”
“Okay, text me later.”
“’Kay! Bye!” Nolan’s response was interrupted by Peter calling him back. Kai gave Nolan a quick wave and hung up, hurrying to pack up the remnants of his lunch so that they could get started again.
They worked well past five until they were all sweaty and exhausted from the long day they’d put in.
Kai was pretty sure that Matteo would have stayed even longer if he didn’t have to drive them home.
Kai dutifully texted Nolan when they were on their way so that when they pulled into the driveway, Nolan was already waiting for him.
He’d been chatting with Matteo about the feature they needed to install the next day, and he was hit with a bolt of alarm when he realized that Matteo intended to walk him to Nolan’s car.
His eyes flicked to Nolan’s, and whatever expression was on his face had Nolan’s mouth quirked in amusement.
There was no way of getting out of the introduction without being rude, and Matteo didn’t deserve that.
Nolan climbed out of his car, waiting for them at the top of the driveway. Matteo didn’t wait for Kai, reaching out with both hands to grasp Nolan’s waiting one.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Matteo. Kai showed me the work you guys were doing out there today. It was impressive.”
“Thank you. Kai’s been working his ass off for me these last few days. I’m always grateful when I have him on the crew.” Matteo squeezed Kai’s shoulder affectionately, and Kai blushed. “Hey, get your paperwork for me. I could use a little extra help this summer.”
“I will. I’ll figure it out. I promise.”
“Alright. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.
You guys have a good night. Nolan, it’s a pleasure to meet you.
” Matteo walked back to the other guys, who were getting into their own cars and heading out for the night.
Kai stepped into Nolan’s space and was immediately folded into his arms. Nolan dropped a kiss, and then a second one, on Kai’s upturned mouth. Kai moaned, and Nolan chuckled.
“Long day?”
Kai huffed in response. “Take me home, please?”
“Absolutely.” Nolan dropped one more kiss on his mouth before they broke apart, and he led him to the passenger side.
“What did Matteo mean about your paperwork?” Nolan asked when he’d climbed into the car beside him and tugged his seatbelt into place.
“My tax stuff. I have to get a social number or whatever.” Kai huffed a laugh. “I’m pretty sure I had one once, but that shit either got stolen or thrown out a million years ago.”
Nolan reached for Kai’s hand, pressing a kiss on the back of it.
“Why don’t we put that on a short list of things we work on together, hmm?”
Sounded kind of boring, but it was probably something he needed to take care of. Honestly, Nolan probably would figure it out a lot faster than the meager attempts he’d made.
“Not tonight.” That was definitely not how he wanted to spend their evening.
“No. Tonight, I just want to take care of you. You going to let me do that?”
Kai met his eyes and couldn’t help the warm rush of affection that flooded his system. He had no idea how to communicate those feelings to Nolan. Instead, he grinned.
“I know some ways you can take care of me.”
“I’m sure. Don’t worry. We’ll get to all that. How about we start with a nice, long bath?”
Kai almost moaned with longing. “You have to get into it with me.”
“Whatever you want, sweetheart.”