Page 123 of Monster Daddies

“There we go.” Grabbing Bouncy off her chair, I tucked it close to him and he wrapped his arms around the toy to hold it tight.

The way he immediately collapsed against me said his driving overnight story had been more honest than I’d hoped. It was probably part of the reason he’d sunk so easily into his Little side and why he’d run himself ragged at the playground.

His second wind… or possibly third… had long since faded and he had no reserves left. But luckily for him, he had a Daddy who was more than ready to step in and handle the situation… at least until his head cleared and he realized how deep he’d submitted.

Then we’d have to see what happened.

“Here’s the big chair.” I’d ordered it several years ago when I’d been sure I’d find my mate any day, however, life had a funny way of doing its own thing. But the chair was still perfect forholding him even if I’d waited a while for him to pop up in my life. “See? It’s perfect.”

“Big.” As his thumb came out, Alton patted my chest and made gimmie fingers for his bottle. “Milk.”

That seemed to mean I was big, which he seemed to appreciate, and he was ready for his bottle, so I snuggled him close against my chest and slipped the nipple between his lips. “That’s my good boy.”

I could see the last of his talkative Little space fade as he slipped deeper into his younger side. Something about suckling and maybe just being held had him going boneless. He made soft sounds as he sucked and gently rubbed his cheek against my chest.

By the time he’d drunk about half the bottle, his eyes were closed and he was barely rubbing the end of Bouncy’s tail between his fingers. He managed to hang on for a few more sucks, but eventually, he was out and his lips were just faintly twitching around the nipple.

I kept rocking him as I gently eased the bottle away and set it on the end table, but he didn’t move a muscle. He sank hard and deep as exhaustion took over and didn’t stir at all when I moved him to the couch a few minutes later.

Between Bouncy and the blanket I’d covered him with, he had plenty to snuggle and I had a feeling he’d be out for several hours. Which was fine with me if I was being honest. So much had changed in just a short couple of hours that having a few minutes to soak it all up would be welcome.

And it would give me time to figure out what I was going to make for dinner for my boy.

Chips for lunch.

Chips and sparkly juice.

“All the ancestors above.”

Chips and sparkly juice.

With no sleep and a truck-stop shower.

I didn’t even know what a truck-stop shower looked like.

I’d mostly moved on from how insane that was by the time I had a roast in the oven and cupcakes cooling on the counter. Alton slept through the wonderful smells of dessert baking, but by the time the scent of the roast was filling the house he started to stir.

Shifts and a stretch had me putting my book down on the end table, but I smiled when he went very still. As I wondered if he knew where he was, he patted himself down and sighed when he felt Bouncy but it still took him several long moments before he peeked his eyes open.

Utter silence.

“One of our first rules for you, little Roo, is going to be about road trip safety.” That was going to come before we addressed his love of cookies and dangerous playground equipment.

Alton blinked a few times before squirming lower down the couch and pulling the blanket over his head. It made him look halfway between big and Little, so I waited to see what he would do next. “I distracted myself with work because I was so nervous and then I realized I’d fucked myself over and then I didn’t want to tell you and every time I started to think about pulling over and taking a nap I worried about meeting you. Everyone says the matchmaker is never wrong.”

And getting what he wanted was probably scary.

“Does that mean you get to put my boy in danger?” My question had him going still again before I could see his head shake under the blanket. “Does that mean you get to exhaust him and not take good care of him?”

His head shake came with a wonderfully dramatic sigh that time. “I was going to go to bed early tonight… once I found a hotel.”

Ancestors above.

“I’m going to be very nice and not point out how ridiculous it was to come here without knowing where you were going to sleep.” Utterly ridiculous. “What if I’d kept you chatting all afternoon and by the time we were done all the rooms were booked?”

From what I’d heard, it happened on a regular basis because the town by the highway was like an oasis after seeing nothing but desert for entirely too long. Well, swamps and forests in our case. I hadn’t done the drive enough to remember it in detail, but the hotel rooms filled up fairly early.

He might not even be able to get one by the time he left after dinner.