Page 124 of Monster Daddies

“What will you do if I tell you I have a pillow in the car?”

My groan had him going very still again but he peeked his head out and I could see Little Alton showing his adorable side to me again.

“I have snacks and a blanket too. You can sleep at the truck stops. They’re nice and leave me alone when I tell them no.”

For fuck’s sake.

He was getting propositioned by truckers.

Daddies didn’t overreact.

They didn’t scare their boys when they were confessing utter nonsense.

Air in.

Stress out.

“Well, we’ve discussed the need for road trip rules so that will handle most of the issues you ran into.” At the very least we should be able to make sure he got more sleep and less dirty offers of attention. “Several rules.”

His pout didn’t give me any clue about his headspace, or the fact that he still had a tight grip on Bouncy. “Lots?”

Littlish.

“At least two or three.” I shrugged when his bottom lip poked out. “About sleep and food to start. “My boy cannot run on chips, sparkly juice, and no sleep.”

That got a silly grin as he tucked himself under the blanket again. “I can. I did it lots.”

Goodness gracious.

“That’s the last time.” Sending him back with sandwiches and some water would be a good start. “But if you’re good, when you need to drive back I’ll pack you a lunch and some treats.”

And I’d pack them in the back of the car to make sure he had to stop to get them out.

“Then we’ll make a schedule together and pick out a hotel if you need it.” From what he’d said, I thought he only lived about twelve hours away but I could’ve been wrong about that. Looking back, he’d been kind of vague about where he lived in our emails. “We’re also going to make sure we’ve arranged check-in times and have consequences laid out if you misbehave.”

He was very skilled at making very dramatic sound effects.

“You make good sandwiches.” He was grasping at straws to figure out how to distract me, but it sounded like he was sliding toward being a grown-up again. “And… and you catch really good.”

It was my turn to groan which got a giggle from him. “I have no idea when that slide got that tall.”

It was dangerous and I wasn’t sure how everyone else hadn’t realized that.

“It’s fun.” Alton’s head popped out of his blanket cave and he smiled as he sat up. “Playgrounds usually seem too small to actually play on but yours is huge.”

Hmm.

My silence had him chuckling and looking big again. “I know I’m short. Well, slightly shorter than average. I’m taller than mymother, though, so I’m counting it as a win. I’m still too tall for most human-sized playgrounds, though.”

With the miniature elephant in the room addressed, I shrugged. “We’re much taller than the average human and our children are sturdier. The playground is meant for a variety of ages to be able to have fun there together too.”

Relaxing back into the couch, he smiled. “So that means it’s perfect for a human-sized person with a Little side.”

It was… and it seemed like it’d been a good start to a very good date.

I just hoped it would continue in that direction now that he was awake and big.

Chapter Five