Page 17 of Approved (The Dapper Duck #1)

Chapter seventeen

TYLER

Waking up wrapped around West was the calm and comfort I needed to reevaluate the situation.

I knew what I had overheard, but what we had done the night before was not the actions of someone who didn’t have feelings, so obviously it was something about me driving him off.

It was easy for me to decide to change myself to have West.

After I kissed him gently, I got out of bed and motioned to Earl to join me.

Now I needed to prove my worth.

I started breakfast since both of us had Sunday off, there was no reason not to have a huge breakfast.

Then maybe I could take him back to bed.

If I did everything perfectly, there would be no reason for him to let me go.

In the fridge, I pulled out the syrup, which I would warm for the waffles I would make.

When I turned back around, Earl looked up at me, his face covered in waffle batter.

The little dragon attempted to look innocent, which made me laugh.

“Earl. I don’t think raw waffles are good for you. When your stomach hurts, don’t complain to me.”

Using a dish towel, I cleaned off his face and attempted to shoo him away from where I cooked, but often, controlling a dragon was a battle you couldn’t win.

Earl got the first waffle with butter and maple syrup.

I started to pace around my kitchen when everything was staged for breakfast.

“Should I wake him up?” I asked Earl.

Larry started to meow even though he knew he wouldn’t get canned food until dinner time—I would swear he was trying to wake up West.

What if he didn’t like that?

I resumed my pacing, unsure of what to do.

On one of my laps, I saw West coming down the hall wearing pajamas that showed his V-line, and I gasped.

“Fuck West you are hot.” I couldn’t help myself if I hadn’t said the words; I would have imploded on the spot.

Nobody should look that good, and I knew I stared at him like he was something to eat.

Using my best flirty look, I smiled and pulled out a chair.

“I made you breakfast. Why don’t you sit down?”

He did as I asked, and Earl stood on the table next to him while I poured him orange juice and coffee.

Immediately, Earl stuck his nose in the orange juice glass, helping himself to the citrus treat.

It made West laugh, so I didn’t say anything, then I briefly considered putting a cloth napkin on his lap, but decided that might have been too much.

I watched as West wiped off Earl’s face, so he didn’t drip the juice all over the table.

“Well, good morning.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me to him.

In my haste to give him the perfect breakfast, I had forgotten to kiss him good morning.

I mentally chastised myself for the oversight.

Everything had to be precise and perfect for him—if I were flawless, he would keep me.

It was impossible not to fall into the kiss, and it would have been easy to skip breakfast altogether, but I needed to do this for him.

“Let me feed you.” I pulled away and went into the kitchen.

“Can I help?” He pushed back his chair and started to stand.

“No. No. I got this. Let me do this. I’ll do this.”

He narrowed his eyes at me but didn’t say anything.

Turning my back on him, I got started on his waffles.

Everything was perfectly cooked when I brought his plate over, with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

I had also made bacon and sausage, and there was a side of fruit in case he wanted more than the strawberries.

I felt accomplished when I placed the food in front of him with a flourish.

“Wow, Tyler, this looks amazing, thank you.” I sat down and put my chin on my hand to watch him eat.

“You’re not joining me?”

It didn’t occur to me that I should eat too.

“Oh sure.” I went into the kitchen and got some bacon and sausage since it was already cooked.

As I sat back down, Earl and West looked up at me.

Both of them had whipped cream on their faces.

“Earl, let the man eat his breakfast.”

He looked at my plate curiously.

“That’s all you are going to eat?”

I shrugged.

I stood up.

“Yeah. It’s plenty. Can I make you more waffles?”

“Is everything okay? You seem jumpy?” He wasn’t wrong.

I felt jumpy, like I was crawling out of my skin, and I was desperate to make this right.

He seemed to like breakfast, and that was good.

“I’m fine.” He gave me a look like he wasn’t sure if he believed me, but let it drop.

I sat back down.

“I’ve had plenty. Thank you so much for cooking me all this, it was very sweet.” That made my heart flutter.

“How about we watch TV and hang out with Earl and Larry this afternoon. Do we need to go to your house for Charlie?”

“East has Charlie at his house, and spending the day with you sounds perfect.”

I offered him my hand, and he took it.

I led him into the living room, fluffing the pillows and grabbing the throw blanket.

Lifting his legs, I tucked the blanket around him.

“I’ll be back in a few. Let me just tidy up the kitchen a little.”

“Let me help.”

“No. No. I got it.” He looked at me like I had slapped him.

“Sorry. I want you to relax today, I’ll take care of it.”

“Oookaaaay.” His voice had a different pitch.

“Thanks?” There was a question in his tone and I worried I would screw this up.

My confidence in my plan started to slip because our entire dynamic was thrown off.

The other problem was that I already felt exhausted.

As I washed the dishes, I had time to think about what to do.

Logic told me I should ask him about what I had overheard and not assume.

My heart was already attached to the man, and we had only dated for a few months.

Was it possible I was in my head about this situation?

As I dried the last dish and put it in the cabinet, I hadn’t decided what to do, but I knew that making West feel amazing, no matter what, would always be a win.

When I entered the living room, West was on the couch, Larry was curled up next to his hip, and Earl was lying on his back on his thighs.

He watched the TV, absently rubbing Earl’s scales.

My pet family was obviously as attached to him as I was.

He looked up and smiled, “Hey, Baby.” I loved the pet name, but didn’t understand how he could be so endearing to me when he knew he would be leaving soon.

He agreed to spend the day hanging out, though, which didn’t seem like he wanted to dump me.

Gently, I picked up Larry and moved him to the other end of the couch, then curled my legs under me and got comfortable against West’s side, his arm around my back.

“Did you want something else? Maybe something sweet?”

“I’ll go get us something in a little bit.”

“You want it now? I can go get it now. I can order you anything you want.”

He turned his head and looked at me.

“We can get something in a little while, maybe we can get some cheesecake.”

“I can go get it now from that place you like.” I started to stand.

All I needed were my shoes.

“Tyler no. We can just order it. Will you please relax with me?”

We watched something that I didn’t pay attention to.

My body was on high alert, trying to anticipate what he might need.

“Do you want a blowjob?”

“Tyler.”

“What? I mean it would make you happy, I want to make you happy.” He kissed the side of my head.

“I promise I will take you apart piece by piece in a little bit, but you need to relax, it’s been a long few days. Even Earl is exhausted.”

When I looked at my friend on his back, with this man I loved ?

I smiled.

Earl was asleep, his belly on display.

Since his squishy parts were exposed entirely, he trusted West completely.

I knew how he felt.

As I cuddled against West, his fingers ran through my hair, and I closed my eyes.

It felt nice when he touched me.

It was so soothing that my eyes grew heavy.

When I woke up, there was a blanket over my legs, my pants were off, at least ten types of cheesecake were on the coffee table, and my head was on West’s thighs.

Blinking a few times, it took me a minute to figure out what was happening.

“What?”

“Hey there, gorgeous. Did you have a nice nap? You crashed hard.” He leaned over and kissed me gently.

“What did I do? Shit. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“Tyler!?” I stood up, and West followed me.

“I need a minute. Can you give me a minute? A few minutes to think.” The panic descended as I headed toward the sliding door.

Earl slipped out with me before I closed it.

West stood there and watched me, clearly dumbfounded.

When I looked back up, he hadn’t moved.

He stood there perfectly still, like he wasn’t sure what the next move should be, and all I knew was I had probably lost him for good.

He needed someone to care for him, not sleep, and make him do things like undress me and buy cheesecake.

Those are things I should be doing for him.

It was my job, and he deserved it.

“Earl I fucked it all up. I am sorry, buddy, I know you like him.” He eyed some daisies that were growing in the planter next to me.

Typical.

I wanted to have a serious conversation, and he wanted a snack.

For some reason, I thought about Earl and West.

I knew Earl had some cheesecake.

West wouldn’t deny him anything because he was amazing and cared about my little dragon.

I smiled, then snorted, and then started to sob.

West had my heart, and losing him was going to destroy me.

After I cried for a while, Earl crawled off my lap and went to the flowers again.

“Don’t eat daisies. They will give you a tummy ache.” He flapped, startled, and spit out the daisy, and I looked up.

West was standing there.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” I decided to accept the consequences and start the healing process because there was no way I could keep up with everything a man like him might need.

It was ridiculous that I tried, so this was it.

I was going to tell him everything and say goodbye.

“Do you mind if I join you out here? Thought maybe we should talk.”

Another sob ripped from my chest.

He was really going to do it.

“Sure.”

He wrapped the blanket he brought with him around me, then sat beside me.

“Do you want to tell me what’s been going on today?”

“Nothing.”

West narrowed his eyes at me, not letting me use that as an answer.

“I think we will need to do better than that. You’ve been a little on edge, and I don’t understand why you apologized when you woke up.”

I turned my head away from him, unable to answer him, and I couldn’t stop the tears.

I was an adult, and here I was, crumbling like a teenager.

I was embarrassed by my behavior.

He sat quietly beside me and waited for me to answer him.

“Tyler.” He spoke quietly, he let me have my space, but I wasn’t getting off the hook.

Wiping the tears off my cheeks, I took a deep breath.

“I thought if I did everything for you perfectly, it would please you enough that you’d not dump me.”

“You, what?” His voice raised, then reached for me and gently grabbed my chin, which forced me to look at him.

“Tyler, what are you talking about? I would never expect you to do everything for me.”

I knew I looked terrible as tears streamed down my face, but the time had come, and even though it crushed me, the words needed to come out.

Earl was sitting on the grass and looked at me, with daisies in his mouth.

I sniffled.

“I heard you on the phone.”

“What did you hear?” His voice was level and calm, but there was a bit of an uptick in the tone that made me know he wasn’t happy about the direction this was going.

“You were telling East that you needed to tell me something and that you had to wait for the right time.”

He raised his eyebrow.

“Well, you certainly overheard those words. I think I need to know how you interpreted them since we seem to have a situation here. Why don’t you tell me?”

I turned myself to look him in the eye because I needed to tell him everything.