Page 84 of All Tied Up

Neil was fascinated, just watching the two of them discuss it. There were just so many more variations out there than he’d ever realized. “Hey, can I ask a question?”

“Sure,” they both answered together, to Jamie’s obvious amusement.

“If neither of you are interested in reinforcing traditional gender roles, why are you Daddy and boy? Why not use other terms?”

Sebastian answered first. “I think of Daddy as being a role, not a gender identity. It’s what I do and who I am, but for me it has nothing to do with having a penis or a hairy chest. In fact, I know a few female Daddies, including one who was at our first Cuffd event. It’s more that it’s a word in the kink community that has elements of both caretaking and dominance, with this aspect of supporting and guiding someone almost like an archetypal parent. Also,” he winked, “it just sounds sexy.”

“And I kind of like being Daddy’s boy for the same reason. It sounds naughty and fun, as long as I know I can be his baby girl sometimes or just his sub. Any more questions?”

“That was my biggest one. I’d been trying to figure out how to not think about Sebastian’s gender or assume anything about yours, but then I realized you both used words like Daddy and boy and got confused. Thinking of those as roles makes more sense.”

Sebastian ran his hands across Neil’s chest, which was surprisingly free of waxy tangles. “I think we’re done here. Ready for a shower?”

Neil glanced toward the wall where his hotel room was. Was he supposed to stay or take his own shower?

Jamie followed his gaze but interpreted it differently. “Ooh! Neil has good ideas, Daddy. Let’s all take a bath together next door.”

“Can we fit?” Neil asked.

“Not easily,” Sebastian answered. “But I imagine you won’t mind if we have to squeeze a little.”

“Not at all, Sir.” Neil couldn’t imagine anything better.

12

Sebastian

Sebastian looked up from the computer screen and took a sip of his coffee. It was the perfect morning, the crisp air just cool enough for a sweater. A breathtaking view of the gorge, studded with pines and wildflowers, sprawled out in front of him. He would never get sick of waking up to this each day.

The view beside him was pretty gorgeous, too. Sebastian ran his hand over Neil’s scalp, tracing around his ear. Neil gave him an adoring look before turning back to the spreadsheet.

They were sitting on the back veranda on a cushioned wrought-iron loveseat and going over more of the Meadowlark’s financial records. Neil was clicking back and forth between a few different screens, which meant that Sebastian got to enjoy just watching him until he came up with his next brilliant question.

This was the most energized Sebastian had felt about managing the lodge in ages. Neil really knew this stuff, asking all sorts of questions Sebastian had never thought about. He gave clear reasons for all of his feedback and didn’t hesitate with his corrections, but that also meant that when he praised something, Sebastian let himself feel a bit of pride.

Mostly, it was just amazing having someone else who was excited to dig into all of this with him, checking over line items while thinking about the big picture. For once it didn’t seem so dire.

“Let’s look over your balance sheet,” Neil suggested. “I’ve only seen your P&L’s so far.”

“Sure. I have no idea if I’ve been depreciating things correctly. I mean, probably not with the way everything’s been breaking.”

“We’ll see what we can do.” Neil flicked between tabs, opening up the balance sheets for several different years. “Hmmmm… What’s your target operating reserve?”

“Ugh. I know it’s supposed to be three to six months, and we almost hit that last year but… maybe a month right now?”

Neil didn’t comment, just flicked back and forth between screens. “What’s this loan here? It seems to vary every year.”

Sebastian could feel himself tensing. That “loan” was the equivalent of a rain cloud on his perfect sunny morning.

“That would be our ex-partner, Henri.” He found all of his muscles tightening at just the thought of him.

“Ex business partner or… sorry. None of my business.”

“No, it’s fine. It might help you understand some of it. He’s our ex romantic partner. A sub. When we founded the Meadowlark, we were a triad. Henri came from money, and his backing let us take out the other loans that Jamie and I needed to cover our thirds of the business. That’s the mortgage here and the loan here,” he pointed out.

“When he left–” Sebastian tried to push back the memories of heartbreak and defeat. The knowledge that he’d tried his hardest and couldn’t be enough for his baby boy. “–of course he wanted that investment back. Or, you know, his third of the business’s income. That’s what I give him each year, plus as much as I can toward the initial investment.”

“So what percent shareholder is Henri now?” Neil asked, mangling the French pronunciation.