A Daddy for Damian by Joe Satoria
16. KRISTOPHER
Damian arrived after eight in the evening. He was already dressed in a green dinosaur onesie, carrying with him a plastic bag filled with plush teddies. I was in my silk robe, after bathing earlier, I’d only managed to put on a pair of boxers and the robe.
“You look good,” I said.
“It has a tail too,” he said, turning around as the fabric tail whacked at the legs of the nearby stool. “Oops.”
“Adorable,” I mumbled. I always liked to man guys feel special. My past was littered with boyfriends of years, and a recent stint going through assistants like new flavoured water. But each time, I liked to make them feel special. “So, I’ve got something in the oven.”
“You don’t have to make food,” he said, his hand at his stomach.
“Relax,” I said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pulling him into a hug. “You’ll look this. I had a couple things delivered, and I’m probably doing too much, so tell me if this is all too much.”
“What is it?”
“Let me check on them,” I said, leading Damian to the lounge. He took a seat on the large leather sofa. He hadn’t explored this far into my penthouse the last time he was here. It was time he took the advantage, and he looked like he was. Struck by everything, the skyline and the sinking of the sofa.
In the kitchen, I was heating up dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets in the oven. I assumed that was what he liked, over the sushi and tempura from earlier. I’d also noticed it the first time we ate together. The way he seemed somewhat uncomfortable with the choices I’d given him from the menu. He didn’t seem too impressed that he didn’t know what things tasted like.
I was happy he’d tried the sushi earlier, but I couldn’t force him to try something new every meal we had together, and this wasn’t the first time I’d eaten these.
They were going to be a surprise for him, alongside the dinosaur-shaped pasta in the tomato sauce. Those, I hadn’t tried before.
In the living room, he was making himself comfortable with three dinosaur teddies beside him on the sofa.
“Your friends have names?” I asked.
“I named them when I was little,” he chuckled. “And they’re named after the three chipmunks. Alvin, Theodore, and Simon.”
“Theodore,” I repeated back as he pointed to the pink one. “Well, I won’t tell Theo.”
He blushed; I doubt he’d connected the two together. “Oh.”
“Maybe I will,” I said. “Can I take a picture?”
He handed me the dinosaur teddy.
“No, no. You and the teddies.”
Maybe I was coming on too strong, but I had no other gear in me. It was either come on too strong, or don’t come on and act like you weren’t interested, or even hating them. I knew from experience, the other two were popular thoughts when I was trying to play it cool.
Snuggled between all the teddies, I took a picture on my phone of Damian. He had a wide smile. I took a second picture, this time with the hood of his onesie up. It daunted on me, even through all the fun memories, I always deleted everything to do with an ex after we ended.
“I’ll send these to you,” I said, that way, even if this didn’t work out. He’d still be able to see what I saw for a moment.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
It happened, at the start of anything new, I always remembered the failures, the ones that just stopped happening and started hurting. I didn’t want this to end the same way, and for a moment, I debated on ending it before anything more could happen. I’d been hurt so many times already, I didn’t want to hurt someone else as if it was a natural reflex.
“I’m fine,” I said. “It’s a really nice picture.”
“What’s the surprise?” he asked.
“It’s not a surprise if I tell you.” I took a seat on the sofa beside him, careful not to squish any of the dinosaur teddies. I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. “You can put something on TV, I was thinking, maybe a Jurassic Park film. Or is that too scary?”
Damian’s head moved from beneath my chin, pushing back the hood of the onesie. “Might be too scary,” he said, pouting. “But not for me, for these.” His hand covering at the eyes of one of the dinosaur teddies.
Kissing him on the forehead, I moved from the sofa, slipping away in the silk gown. “I have to finish making food. The remote is on the table.”
A tin of dinosaur-shaped pasta in the tomato sauce, warmed up in a bowl from the microwave, and one portion of the meal was done. I didn’t even know if he liked what I was making, but at least I knew there was one aspect of the meal we could both agree on. The wine, usually with something heavy like tomato-based sauces I’d go for a red wine, but I’d learned my lesson not to drink red near my silk or the sofa. So, white wine it was.
Damian didn’t notice me setting up the table, his face busy buried in the menu screen on the TV.
I plated the dinosaur-shaped nuggets and the shaped pasta in tomato sauce. I wasn’t sure how well wine went with it, but I poured us both glasses.
“Surprise,” I said, calling him into the kitchen.
On the small dining table with an unlit candle between the plates, I presented him with the meal.
He gasped. “Is this real?”
“Very,” I chuckled. “So, what do you think?”
Hugging me in at the side, we walked to the table together. “Love these.”
“I figured, you’ve eaten foods I liked, it was time to eat the food you like.”
He pressed on his toes and kissed me. “I used to have these all the time when I was little.”
I kissed him back.
At the table, I lit the candle between us.
“Let me know what you think,” I said, grabbing my knife and fork from the side of my plate. “Did you find something to watch?”
He nodded across at me, already scooping a forkful of pasta up into his mouth. “Jurassic World, the latest one, obviously,” he said. “With Chris Pratt.”
“Not the original?”
He shook his head. “I like this one.”
I didn’t mind, I’d seen them all. At this point, it was impossible to have missed any of them. “Hope it isn’t too scary though,” I chuckled, cutting at the nugget.
Nodding and clearing his throat, he smiled. “I’ll have you there.”
“You’ll let me know if this is all too much,” I said.
“Too much?” he asked, looking at the food. “Is there more?”
“I mean, this.” I gestured to the two of us. “I’m known for starting things too quickly.”
Damian’s eyes grew wide, that same expression he’d had before. I felt it meant I was wrong about something, or at least he thought it was wrong.
“What?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I didn’t think we would,” he said. “I thought I was flirting with you, but you didn’t want me to.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I hadn’t wanted him to, it would’ve made everything easier. But the truth was, I enjoyed this, being with someone else. It meant my bed wasn’t empty, and I wasn’t let alone for too long. Plus, regular sex was good for the health—at least I’d convinced myself it was.
“In the café,” I told him. “If you’d have said, I would’ve brought you back here and fucked you.”
His eyes, even wider, bulging out of his face. He finally blinked, looking away from me. “Well,” he began. “Would I still have got the job?”
He had the job before I even did the interview, that was just a formality. When I knew I wanted something, I did it before any meeting ever took place. “Maybe more so,” I chuckled.
“You know, my mum didn’t believe me when I told her about the job,” he said. “And about the trip to Germany. She thinks I’m going to end up on the six o’clock news.”
I had to admit and give his mother some credit. It was something people thought wasn’t real, and a lot of people turned me down, at least when I was out looking to get people to work for me. They figured, at the wage, they would be asked to be on their knees.
I suppose being on their knees was a choice. I didn’t force myself on any of them.
“And I’m sure you told her about what a respectable businessman I was,” I said, somewhat of a joke, considering my reputation for being shady. Immediately turning to make my eyes roll.
“She already thinks you’re nice,” he said softly.
“What did you tell her?”
Shifting in his seat, he didn’t look at me. “You’re nice to me.” His legs and feet inside the fabric of the onesie wrapped around the ankles of my leg, pulling me. “And that I liked you.”
