Chapter 5
Kairo
When Truce approached our little table right after Kimmie and I had danced, I couldn’t find my voice. It was like being in a nightmare where you open your mouth to scream and no sound comes out.
But this wasn’t a nightmare. It was much stranger than that.
Truce was talking to me. Sitting next to me.
Acting like he was interested. In me? I had to be mistaken.
Maybe he wanted this table for himself and his friends and I was in the way.
Maybe he’d dropped something by my feet and wanted me to pick it up for him. Somehow I had to be in the way. Right?
I heard Kimmie speaking, saying my name, introducing himself. As usual, Kimmie was bouncing in his chair all cute and sparkly. He beamed at Truce and my heart rate quickened. He was flirting. This might be a nightmare, but it was my nightmare, not Kimmie’s.
Truce turned away from Kimmie before I could feel even a pinch of resentment.
“Kairo with a K?” he asked.
He spelled my name correctly. No one ever did that. “How’d you know?” It was as if the words were choking as they came out.
He introduced himself as if everybody didn’t already know his name. He asked about my pink cat. He petted my cat.
My little instantly asserted himself in his demanding way but I held back. I was still afraid. Clearly, I was interpreting this all wrong. Truce was joking around. Just biding his time until his next lover caught his eye.
Everything was a blur as I was led upstairs by the man whose face and name I couldn’t stop seeing all last night and all today. He was the reason I’d come back here. But my fascination wasn’t unique. Everyone loved him. It was obvious. I was just part of that vast crowd, a nobody. Why me?
In the upper loft, Truce bought me something chocolate, like a real daddy might do for a little. It even had whipped cream on top.
When he said he wanted me and I could call him Daddy my blood rushed straight to my balls. His hand held mine and I squeezed tight to keep my balance.
The most popular man here wanted me. As I was still trying to make sense of that, a sudden panic stabbed through my stomach.
I reminded myself I couldn’t offer to take him to my home.
It would be too terrifying. What if he wanted me for money?
What if he was so beautiful and wonderful but then I could never trust him?
What if I couldn’t trust myself not to fall in love and then give him anything he asked for to try to make him stay?
Because I could. And just maybe I would.
The inner shakes returned.
Truce seemed attuned to me. He picked up my drink and held it, straw forward, and asked me to drink. When he took it away, I said, “It’s like a chocolate shake.”
“You like it?”
“Mm.” I rubbed my stomach. “Thank you for the drink, sir.”
“Do you think you might want to call me Daddy?”
For a few seconds I froze. But his eyes looked earnest. True.
As if from a far distance, I heard myself say, “Yes, Daddy.” Everything inside me fizzed at my very first time using that word.
He reached for my hand again and held it as he began to talk softly, asking me easy questions.
“I haven’t seen you around. Are you new in town?”
“I’ve lived here all my life.”
“What do you do? School or work?”
“Sometimes I take classes online.” That was the truth. But I’d never actually gone to school much. Homeschooling by private tutors hadn’t helped my social life at all.
As for the job question, I hadn’t thought ahead about how to answer that. I didn’t hang out with trust fund babies. I didn’t live that lifestyle. Not socially.
Finally, I came up with a vague reply. “I’m between jobs.”
“Sounds like you don’t have anyone to take care of you.”
Just a rich grandfather who passed away four years ago. And an incredible staff who never said a word about me still playing with toys and wanting Shrek sheets on my bed at the age of twenty-four.
“I do, though.”
Truce raised an eyebrow. “But not a daddy?”
I shook my head. “Not that.”
He reached out and stroked my cheek.
Before he could strike with another question, I quickly asked, “What do you do?”
“I’m with a finance company. I work from home. Sometimes I go into the office, usually on Wednesdays or Fridays. It’s a good setup for me.”
He was fast to answer. Finance, though? It worried me.
Financial guys had their eyeballs on money all day.
I had plenty finance guys working for me and they loved numbers.
My numbers to be exact. Truce didn’t seem like the type.
Especially not when I first saw him last night.
But now that he was talking to me, I could see an intelligence gleaming behind his eyes that was part of his over-the-top personality.
I liked it but I needed to be so careful here.
Everything was about money for this world. Everything.
“Do you like your job?”
He gave me a half smile. “I do.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“You’ll find something you like, too, someday. I’m sure of it.”
“I already do. I like to color and draw and paint.” I paused. “But it’s not a real job.”
“Maybe it could be.”
I suppressed a sigh. “Maybe.”
My cheeks burned. He didn’t know I had no money worries. It was cool that he worried. I had an urge to put my arms around his neck and sit in his lap. Darn it all, as Grandfather used to say. Truce was too perfect to be real. Go slow, I told myself.
But I could already predict it was too late.
If Truce told me to do something, I knew I would jump and say yes. Truce was my bait. I couldn’t deny he was what I wanted.
Go slow.
Truce’s friends started taking off one by one. The one I learned was called Luke left with Kimmie to go dance. Kimmie was over the moon.
“Do you want to dance?” Truce asked.
“No. I like sitting here with you.” I realized how selfish that sounded. “I mean, if you want to, then yes.”
“It’s so loud downstairs we wouldn’t get to keep talking so much.”
“That’s true.” I reached out nervously to pet Pinkster.
We talked more but I couldn’t remember all of it. My mind was awhirl with so many feelings crowded at once.
Truce kept scooting his chair closer and closer to me until our knees touched, then our thighs.
“So, you think you want to give it a try?”
I couldn’t quite put his words in context while thinking about how warm his thigh was and what it might feel like to have him touch me in other places. “Uh, try what?”
Truce cupped my cheek, his fingertips gently rubbing the hair at my temple. “You and me. Me being your daddy. We could try it out. For a while. I’d like to try that with you. What do you think?”
I started to choke. My body wanted to jump and dance and explode all at once.
Truce gently patted my back. “Are you okay? Do you need some water?”
I put my hand over my mouth. “No.”
“Am I moving too fast?”
My eyes got hot and stinging. “No. But for reals? You want to be my daddy?”
“You don’t believe me?”
“I—I don’t know.”
“Give me a chance to make you believe.”
I blinked rapidly. “Yes… yes, sir. I want that.”
“Great. I’d love to take you out tomorrow night. For a really nice dinner. How does that sound.”
“It sounds amazing.” Before I realized it, I blurted, “I can pay.”
“Oh no. Daddy pays.”
I should have been even more worried. What would he do after he paid and found out my secret?
Maybe I wouldn’t have to tell him. Maybe we could have our experimental daddy/little time without me bringing him home.
And if it didn’t work out, I’d be in the clear.
But if it did work out…. Well, he might be mad but I didn’t have to think about that right now.
I grabbed my drink and started to gulp it. It was something for my hands and mouth to do.
Truce took it from me and set it aside. “That’s enough for now. That was about half of it in two seconds. Good, right?”
“It’s like a chocolate shake.”
“You liked it?”
“Mm.” I rubbed my stomach. “Thank you for the drink, sir.”
“Sir?” He leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Do you think you might want to call me Daddy now?”
I turned. Our faces were only inches apart. The lights shone too bright. The air tremored.
“Yes.”