Page 21

“Daddy B, Daddy B, Daddy B, look!” Ellie shouted as he lifted his new stuffie out of the now destroyed bag.

“Do you like him?” Rather than answering, Ellie hugged the stuffed Bigfoot dressed in a Lumberjack jersey close to his chest. He grabbed Peasebottom and introduced them to each other. I bent down to pick up some paper when I heard Ellie’s excited shout that he had found my surprise.

“Daddy B, he gots your name.”

I dropped the trash, ruffled Ellie’s hair instead, and said, “I wanted to give you something to keep you company while I was gone next weekend, and I saw him a few days ago when I stopped at the student union store. Now I’ll be able to sleep with you even when I’m not here.”

Ellie’s eyes took on a mischievous glint. “Daddy B, you bought yourself at the store?”

“Yes, I did, and I felt kinda silly doing it. I hope the clerk doesn’t know me.”

Ellie snorted at the need to get my ego in check, but then he returned to playing with his new stuffie.

He introduced the newly named “Tater” to all his stuffies and carefully explained that he’d need to sleep on the bed since he was new and might be scared.

I hoped that reasoning morphed into Ellie wanting me close by. A guy could dream.

“It’s close to bedtime, baby boy.” Ellie looked up expectantly from his coloring book. “I think we need to add a sticker to your chart for going to bed on time.”

We’d created an interchangeable chart that went under his newly made glitter frame. I suspected this was so he could have extra stickers regularly, but I didn’t mind. If earning stickers made Ellie happy, then I’d happily provide as many as he wanted.

“Yep, c’mere and you can pick one out for your chart.”

Ellie oohed and aahed over all of them all over again.

We’d picked up some rainbow-themed ones, but most of them were dinosaurs, teddy bears, and punny ones.

I was almost certain he put his hands on each one to give it the admiration he thought it deserved.

He also made sure to say thank you at least a dozen times while he told me his favorites.

It took him a minute, or five, but Ellie chose a few cat stickers for his first day.

He tried to hide his yawns, but Ellie was beyond terrible at hiding anything.

“Baby boy, it’s definitely time for bed. We’ve both got a long day tomorrow.” Standing in the light of the stove, it felt otherworldly. “I’d really like it if you’d sleep with me tonight.”

“Only tonight?”

“Well, no, I’d prefer every night, but I didn’t want to push you into something you aren’t ready to do.” I pulled Ellie into my arms, and he snuggled in. I loved how much smaller he was than me because I got to feel like a goddamn caveman who was protecting my man from whatever lived near caves.

“I wanna sleep in your room, Daddy B.”

I smiled at him. He smiled at me. We stared at each other for a while before I dropped my head and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.

“That makes me happy, baby boy. You gonna let me tuck you in and read you a bedtime story?”

“You wanna?”

“Yeah, I want to.” I’d put a nappy on Ellie when I changed him into his little clothes, but he hadn’t used it.

He’d said he sometimes forgot, but I knew today he’d tried to remember.

“Do you sleep in a nappy?” Rather than answer, Ellie buried his beet-red face in my shoulder and shook his head.

Clearly, I’d asked the wrong question. “Do you want to sleep in your nappy?”

“Is okay?”

“Bring it on, baby boy. I want all of you.”

Rather than put his stuffies back in his bedroom, Ellie arranged them in one of the living room chairs.

He found a lap blanket in his closet that he used to tuck them in.

Each of them was told goodnight, and it was the sweetest thing.

Ellie’s concern for everyone, or everything, made me want to clear his road of everyday obstacles. It felt like the least I could do.

Everything Ellie and I had done today had been a clear reminder that my gut instinct about being a Daddy was correct.

Even without the experience to support my belief, I’d felt it.

Being with Ellie, helping him create his chore chart, setting up a schedule, ensuring he ate his dinner, and making sure he got to bed at a decent hour proved it beyond any doubt.

It settled something inside me I hadn’t known was restless.

It made me feel like I had a purpose and that I mattered in the relationship.

Once I had Ellie in my bed, I knew I wouldn’t let him leave without a fight.

I’d be graduating in a couple of months, and he still had a year left, but I didn’t want to end things in a few months.

He’d been hesitant to unpack all his stuff, saying it was pointless since he’d just move back to the dorms. But I needed to find a way to make it clear that even if I wasn’t around, I didn’t want our relationship to change.

I just hadn’t figured out how to make that work yet, so I couldn’t mention it to Ellie.

But I could tuck him in, read him a story, and make sure he got all the sleep he needed.

He needed all of that so he’d get up in time and do his studying, while I took care of all the things a Daddy should do for his boy.

“Do you want to take a shower or do you wanna take a bath?”

“I wanna shower, peas.”

“Good choice because that bathtub is minuscule.”

“You wanna bath, Daddy B?”

“Nope, I definitely don’t. My knees hit my chin, and that is not very relaxing at all.” I kissed his nose and then said we should get his pajamas and a new nappy. I let him out of his room and back into my own.

“You want some help with the shower?”

“Daddy B, you fix the water, peas.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. The pipes are temperamental, and I don’t want you to get burned.

” Of course he’d been here for a while and had figured out the pipes just fine, but I was going with it.

Ellie sat on the counter and watched me mess with the water until I had the perfect temperature.

I offered to help him get in the shower, but he declined with his blush-stained cheeks.

I was ready to move forward to any base Ellie was interested in getting to, but I didn’t want to push him.

Everything was new to him, and since he was staying here, it felt pushy to ask for my own pleasure.

When he was ready, he’d say something just like he had today.

I didn’t want him to feel like he owed me anything.

I figured that when he was ready, he would mention it.

While Ellie took a shower, I puttered around my bedroom, looking for something to occupy myself, knowing that a sexy-as-hell naked boy was on the other side of the bathroom wall.

After my little pep talk about self-control, I needed to put my money where my mouth was.

When the water shut off, I heard the rustling sounds of clothing.

In short order, Ellie opened the door with his toothbrush and paste in hand.

“Daddy B, help me, peas.”

“Sure thing, baby boy.”