Page 20 of Little Treat

“If you two want to go somewhere private to do that, you should,” my mom said as she staged the bottle of champagne amongst her table setting, snapping photos on her phone.

“My room,” I said. “Let’s go to my room.” Thankfully, I’d known he was coming, and it was very clean—well, clean enough.

11. LOGAN

I didn’t know if I was being showy by buying his folks expensive gifts, but I also knew it was the great conqueror. When people knew you had money, and you bought them something expensive, they seemed to ease into liking you—I wanted them to like me. I liked Jamie far too much for them to hate me, or give me feedback on my job.

Jamie’s bedroom was very different to what I thought it was going to be. There was a double bed against the back wall and two nightstands with playful glowing blue teddy-bear lights. There were posters on the walls with hockey players from the Maple Kings, and a nearly nude calendar of men. And on the ceiling there were stars. He looked at me as I tipped my head.

“Those glow in the dark,” he said. “So, what did you get me?”

“Did you get me anything?”

He smirked really big. “Obviously,” he giggled. “And no, it’s not just chocolate.”

“Okay, I really hope you like what I got you,” I said.I’d spent more on the bottle of scotch than I did on presents for Jamie, but in my defense, I assumed I was the present for him—and I really wanted to be unwrapped.

Jamie led me to his bed, where I sat and placed the bag beside me. “What do you think of my room?”

“Surprisingly, not as many teddies as I was assuming,” I said, and considering I’d bought him one, I didn’t know if this was a good idea.

He giggle-snorted. “That’s because I tidied up.” He opened his closet door and out flooded so many small teddies. “I’m a collector of these Sublime teddies. Everyone collects them, it’s a bit of an obsession. I kinda just need them.”

I tssked on my teeth, sucking in air. “If I’d known that beforehand, it might’ve made buying for you a whole lot easier.”

“Okay, now I really wanna know what you got me,” he said, dropping to his knees in front of me. I liked this side of him. I liked the way he could switch from brat to complete begging sub in seconds. “Pweese, Daddy,” he whispered.

My eyes immediately went to the open bedroom door. “You’re gonna have to close the door if you’re going to talk to me like that,” I said, wiggling my brows. “But I don’t think we have time to do anything like that with your folks out there, and they’re probably waiting on us for dinner.”

He shrugged. “I’ve spent all morning with them. I’m actually excited to spend some time with you, alone.”

“We can tonight,” I told him. “Because there’s a gift in here that I want to make sure gets some proper use before I—”

Jamie pouted, nodding. “Right, because you leave soon and then I’ll be here, all alone, just thinking about you.”

I stared at him, placing a finger under his chin and focusing his gaze on me. “Are you sure you’re going to be alone?” I asked. “Because I know this is—”

“You want to talk about that now, or after dinner, or even after I see what you got me?” he said.

“I like you a lot,” I told him, and I didn’t like the idea of him being all alone as he put it, or even seeking out comfort from someone else. He was cute—hot, attractive, like a bitter chocolate, sharp at first, then sweet once you’d sucked on it. Which made sense because I liked a little bitter on my tongue.

Jamie stared. “I like you a lot as well,” he said softly. “And I—”

“This might be preemptive, but I actually got you and your folks tickets to one of our home games,” I told him. “I wanted to make sure you would see me again, and your parentscould get some closure shouting at the players—they probably need it.” I let out a little snort.

He let out a giggle. “They said they wanted tickets to a game,” he said. “You can tell them that after dinner.” He pawed at the bag of gifts as I pulled it away.

“I wanna date you, Jamie,” I blurted. “I’m—I’m coming out to everyone, to date you.”

Leaning upright, he stared at me like I’d just confessed to something horrific. “For me?”

“No, sorry, I’m not putting that on you,” I said, rephrasing it. “I’m coming out for me, and I want to date you.”

“I thought we were already dating,” he giggled. “Or what were those restaurant meals you footed the bill for?”

“Okay, those were dates,” I said with the biggest grin on my face.

And his attention quickly went back to the presents, but before that, I wanted to know what it was he’d gotten me. I was curious more than anything, since I was notoriously hard to buy for.