Page 105 of Wrestling with Daddy

Ken hummed. “That’s not a yes.”

“But…” Nathan bounced in place, the seat creaking under the sudden shift in weight. “Daddy, you can’t be asking me to move in with you. We’ve only known each other a couple of months, and…”

“You can keep a lease in your apartment. I can help you cover it too if you want,” Ken soothed. He’d had time to think about this, and he’d never been known to be quite so reckless. “If things don’t work out, you can move back at any time, and I’ll help you, but you can work from anywhere, and I want you with me more than you know, baby boy.”

“I… want that too, Daddy.”

“So…?”

“So I guess I’m not too happy in Sacramento.” Nathan giggled, then ran a hand through his hair. “My parents are going to kill me. I haven’t even introduced you to them.”

“They don’t live here, though.”

“I know, but Sacramento is closer to them than Lake Tahoe.”

“We can visit them.”

“You sure?”

“Sure.”

Nathan relaxed against the seat again. “I love you.”

“I love you too, boy.” Ken allowed himself to relax as well.

All was good. Everything was going according to the plan he’d started building the second he quit that soul sucking corporate job. The plan where he started living again and didn’t let burnout take over his entire existence. The plan where the past wasn’t haunting him, and he got to have a bratty pup all to himself, too.

Yeah, it was more than good.

epilogue

NATHAN

“Plum-Plum, you have to behave!”Nathan whined.

Too high pitched for the cat to take him seriously, but this was an emergency. Daddy was coming back from his first day at his new job, and Nathan wanted to give him a welcome home he wouldn’t forget.

His Daddy hadn’t said anything, but Nathan knew he was worried. For the past year, Daddy had been either home or at Blue Underground with him—where they would both be after Daddy enjoyed his last minute surprise.

Both of them had known it was temporary, though. Even though Nathan had learned that Ken had enough assets and money invested he could comfortably live without working a day in his life, that was not Daddy.

Daddy was passionate about architecture and his job when he wasn’t burned out. He’d just taken this year as a sabbatical of sorts, but Nathan had always known Daddy would be back to designing and overseeing projects sooner rather than later.

This new firm he’d be working for sounded good, too. It wasn’t as stuffy as the last one. Ken would still hold a senior position where he’d be overseeing and traveling for a couple of weeks at a time, too, but he’d be in charge of the designs and be more hands-on.

Ken had only shown him a few things he’d done some years back, and Nathan didn’t understand much of technical drawing, but he could tell they were good.

Or, he was biased.

He didn’t care.

What he cared about was making this the best day for Daddy, but first the cat had to cooperate. The cat who had decided to lie down on his laptop even though heneededit. He’d been about to send the article that would mean he was free for the day to his editor, but then he’d had the urge to go to the bathroom. Next thing he knew, the cat was there, and he couldn’t focus on preparing Daddy’s surprise if half his brain was still thinking about work.

That was something he’d learned while figuring out how to live together. There may have been a few more headaches than any of them had counted on the first few months. Nathan had just been overwhelmed, his brain wanting to switch off to let out the submissive in him, feeling Daddy’s presenceright there, while knowing he had work and other adult responsibilities to do.

So Daddy had helped set up a routine. They’d tried a schedule, but Nathan wasn’t good with those—had never been.

A routine was doable, though. He had to have food when he woke up, then work first. He was only allowed to slip into a role or do anything related to it once the work was done.