While it was corny as hell, it made him chuckle, so that was all I cared about. And, of course, he promptly listened. His lush pink lips opened for me, wrapping around my fingers as I fed him the worm.
I leaned down and gave him a kiss, biting off a piece of the worm. “You’re trouble, little bird.”
“I know.” He smirked and snuggled back into my side as we sat through the rest of the movie, even though we had no idea what was going on. But it didn’t matter. All I cared about was spending time with him and that he enjoyed our time together.
When we walked out of the theater, I didn’t want to let him go, or leave quite yet. Plus, downtown painted a pretty picture with the snow on the ground from a few days back and the sun bright in the sky.
“I was wondering if you’d care to go for a walk?” My shoulder bumped his as we meandered around the front of the building.
He looked around and nodded. “Sure. That seems like it could be a good idea.”
“Cool.”
As we walked around the downtown area, looking at all thestorefronts that had started to put out their Christmas displays, Aiden lit up. Each thing that brought him joy, I filed away for later. Everything he looked at with longing in the window became a potential Christmas present.
“So, how are your parents, and Alyssa?” Our hands swung between us, partially just out of joy and partially for momentum to keep our hands warm since neither of us had thought to grab gloves. I kept my eyes open for a drug store or something that we could pop into and grab a couple pairs.
That had definitely been a miscalculation on my part. Bad Daddy.
Aiden rolled his eyes. “They’re fine. And they love you, which is annoying.”
“Sorry,” I said with a smirk. I’d never met a significant other’s parents before, mainly because I’d never had one, so I’d been nervous about them liking me, but I was happy that things seemed to be going well on that front.
Up ahead, there was a small shop where I knew we could get some hats and gloves, so I tugged him behind me and we made our way inside. They were right by the door, so we quickly rooted through the options. Aiden was always cold, so I should have anticipated that he would have needed to bundle up and I felt terrible for suggesting the walk when he didn’t have proper outer wear.
“I’m sorry I didn’t think of these earlier, little bird.” Guild ate away at me when I saw his trembling, red fingers struggling to grab the set he wanted.
“Here, let me.”
I had just worked the second glove onto his hand when a man came barreling up to me, red-faced.
Shit.
My arm went around Aiden to turn him away and guide him toward the register so I could pay and hopefully get out ofthe store before he would notice the man, or before he would get to us.
But I wasn’t so lucky. I’d only gotten us a few steps when I heard my name.
“Nathan Turner.”
I froze, caught between the past and my future. Twisting to look behind me, I gave the man behind me a cold stare. But Aiden gave him a curious look.
“Hmm. Still dating pretty boys, I see.”
Aiden bristled.
My hand on his shoulder tightened just the slightest bit. A warning to let me handle this. I could see him fighting between wanting to step in and intercede and also letting me handle my own shit.
As he should. Especially considering I was the Daddy here. It was my job to protect him. Not the other way around.
“What do you want?” My voice was cold and flat, not something I had hoped for Aiden to ever have to hear. But especially not this early in our relationship. Not when there was still so much he still had to learn about me.
And so much he never would.
“Oh, me? Nothing. Just doing a bit of shopping. And when I saw you, I thought I must absolutely say hello and introduce myself to your newfriend.”
My eyes narrowed. There was no way he just happened to be in the same store as me, when I was with Aiden. Was there?
Aiden shifted uncomfortably from the tension. This was not how our date was supposed to go.
