His Little Sunshine by Della Cain

Chapter Twelve

Quinn

I’d not pushed when Brad hadn’t called. He was the kind of man who needed time to process, and I was patient. He’d call when he was ready or possibly wait until he came back to the ranch before talking to me. What I hadn’t worried about was him not being interested in pursuing things further. Something deep inside told me that we were going to work. It would just be in his time frame, exactly as it should be.

I stopped at home for lunch, my morning extra busy with Holden going to the city. He used the excuse that he was meeting with Marion, but he wanted to be with his boy, and that was reason enough. I’d have been the same way.

Washing up, I tried to figure out if I was going to heat up the grill or make a sandwich. All clean, I checked my phone. It had buzzed a few times while I was dealing with hay, and then I was covered in… I needed to clean up first.

The first two were Holden. He could wait. It was the third one I cared about. Brad.

I didn’t text because I didn’t know what to say, not because I didn’t want to. Sorry.

Oh, dear sweet boy. He didn’t need to apologize. He just needed time.

I went to type a few times and couldn’t figure out how to say all I needed to say without writing a novel, so instead I called, my call instantly going to voicemail.

It was a generic leave a message robo-voice recording. Too bad. I’d have loved to hear his voice.

“Hey, it’s Quinn. I’m sorry I missed your message. I was knee-deep in hay. No need to apologize for taking the time you need for anything…ever. I hope you’re having a good week. Holden said you guys might be working close to here for your next show. I’d love to hear all about it. Have a great rest of your day.” I hemmed and hawed about whether or not I should ask him to call me. I didn’t want him to feel pressured.

I hung up and checked Holden’s messages. The first one was telling me they were going to be home later than planned and he wanted me to check on Fluffy. The second one…was all Holden.

Toured the nursery at Collared with D and B. It was very nice. You should come next time.

There was so much packed into his text. He wanted me to know Brad had been to Collared, that he’d seen the nursery, and that I could bring Brad there. All of that served with a side of plausible deniability.

I’ll make sure Fluffy’s taken care of. I wasn’t dealing with the other message. Not with my cousin. If I was having that conversation, it would be with Brad. He deserved better than me talking about things with my cousin, his best friend’s daddy, first.

A sandwich later, I went up to the main house to grab Fluffy, who was sound asleep. He shadowed me as I finished the day’s work, and he came home with me when I was finished.

I was exhausted and didn’t feel much like cooking, not even on the grill, so I called up Diner Time and placed an order for pickup—the special. I wasn’t even sure what it was. I liked to live on the edge. I also asked Tanya to surprise me with a slice of pie.

I gave the dog a quick pat on the head. “Stay here, sweet boy. I need a shower.” I jogged up the stairs. The hot water felt heavenly against my skin. Brad would feel heavenly against my skin, too.

We had gone so slowly to get to this point, and I wanted to jump in with both feet. But that wasn’t what he needed. What kind of daddy would I be if I didn’t put the needs of my boy first.

Not that he’d agreed to be my boy or even fully admitted to himself he wanted to be anyone’s boy. But I already saw him that way, already wanted to take care of him. And I think he wanted it, too. We just needed to figure out how that would look.

After rinsing the shampoo from my hair, I grabbed my soap and cleaned up, refusing to deal with my stirring cock. I liked that he kept me on edge like this. Why would I take that edge off when I could have my semi reminding me of him?

I brought Fluffy with me to Diner Time to grab my food and, of course, he was the star of the place, Tanya having to come out and see him, even packing a plain burger for him. I couldn’t even tell her not to because if she hadn’t, I’d probably have bought him one. Naw, his royal highness would’ve gotten a steak.

“What a tough life you lead,” I teased him as I clipped him in the truck using his doggie seat belt, the one Holden gave me after I took him for a ride up to the main house. For a rancher, he sure babied his dog. It was adorable, and so very Daddy of him.

Dinner, which we ate on the porch, ended up being chicken fingers, which, of course, had me thinking back to my date with Brad and how he had his little dinosaurs dancing around. Only, in my little daydream, he was wearing a tight shirt emblazoned with a T-rex with his name across it, and he was giggling away.

I needed not to allow myself to get too deep into those fantasies. It would only set me up for disappointment. Brad still hadn’t quite figured out what he wanted or needed when it came to having a daddy or, for that matter, if he even wanted me in that position. More than one little had a significant other who was different from their caregiver, opting to keep those sides of themselves separate. Not ideal for me. But it was for many.

“Let’s go inside, Fluffy.” I closed the Styrofoam container that had held my dinner.

My phone rang as soon as I stepped inside, and I raced to the counter to set my container down. The last thing I needed was to call Holden from the vet because Fluffy ate Styrofoam on my watch.

I couldn’t help the huge smile that spread across my face as Brad’s name lit up on my phone.

“Hello, Sunshine.”

“I got your message.” I could practically hear him blushing. “I forgot I had my phone shut down for our meeting with Marion.”

“Marion from Collared?”

“You know her?”

“She’s the heart of that place. How did your meeting go?” I asked, and he told me all about the meal and the event she was running. He even told me about the donation items the three of them were contributing. What he hadn’t mentioned was anything at all about the club.

“Did you get the grand tour?” I wouldn’t push him to discuss the nursery, or anything else for that matter, but I was going to open that door wide for him as an invitation.

“We did. It’s a lot…it’s bigger than I thought it would be, and very classy. No, classy isn’t the right word. I didn’t expect it to be seedy, but upscale? Yeah, upscale. No one was there but us. She even let us look at the nursery, which was really good.” And he ran through the door I’d purposely left ajar, babbling a mile a minute.

“You mean you enjoyed the space, or it was good for work?” I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

“Both,” he said after a long pause. “I might come and look at it during the event and see what it’s like with people, unless that would be weird. People go there to play, not to be watched.”

I didn’t correct him that some people were exclusively there to get watched. This was his first foray into that kind of space, and he didn’t need to be overloaded with all that the room could entail.

“It wouldn’t be watching them to watch them though,” I said, gently nudging him to open up to me. “It would be as someone interested in exploring age play.”

My phone beeped, and, when I glanced at it to dismiss the person calling, it was Brad trying to start video chatting. I accepted immediately.

His face filled the screen, and I was so glad to see him. “Is that what I’m doing,” he continued as if we hadn’t paused at all, “because it feels like what I’m doing, but maybe I just…I don’t even know.”

“That’s the great thing. You don’t need to know.” I took his half nod as permission to continue. “And you can stop at any time. It’s not a commitment. It’s just seeing if something intrigues you because it’s your thing or just because it’s fascinating and different.”

He was walking, the picture bouncing up and down. I wasn’t sure where he was going or why, but if he wanted to speak he would. He ended up in his bedroom. “I did this today.” He picked up a plastic shopping bag. “I thought it would be cute but not too big a leap.”

Color me intrigued.

He winced, cheeks pinkening. “I hope it doesn’t upset you.”

“Why would I be upset that you bought something?”

He pulled out a shirt. “Let me twist the camera around, and you can see.”

When he switched the view, a light-blue fitted tee lay on the mattress. That wasn’t the interesting part. No. Printed on the chest was the cow I drew him. He kept it. Not only did he keep it, but he thought it was important enough, special enough, to be on his first step into littledom.

“I…that’s…”

He snatched it up as I spoke. “I don’t need it.” His voice cracked.

“Sunshine.” I used my daddy voice. He needed it. “I had no words because it means so much to me that my doodle is what you picked. Put it on.”

He didn’t speak but set his phone down. The rustling fabric told me he was doing as I asked.

“I can’t wait to see how adorable you look,” I encouraged.

“I don’t know.” He picked up the phone, and now I could see his face but nothing else. “I think maybe I do.”

“Do you have a mirror?”

“Yeah.” Up and down the phone went as he walked. “Here.” He flipped the camera around to reveal he was standing in front of a vintage dresser with a round mirror. I wasn’t able to see all of him. Nothing from the beltline down, but I was able to take in the vision that he was.

“You look amazing.” And he did. Many other words came to mind, but this was a big enough deal without me adding layers of desire. I felt that would be too much.

“I think so. I like the cow.” He traced the doodle on his chest. “I wanted to do the elephant, too, but they said it was too small.”

“I can draw you another one,” I promised. “Now, tell me about your day. I want to hear everything.”

“Thank you.”

“I haven’t sketched it yet.”

“Not for that.” He didn’t clarify, and I didn’t push. He’d taken a huge step in discovering who he was, and that was more than enough for the sweet boy…the sweet boy who I hoped one day would be my sweet boy.