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But by the time I returned to his room, Max had passed out in the center of his bed, clutching a zebra-striped stuffie that looked like one of those marshmallow things.
I knew I was probably crossing a line, but I couldn't resist pulling out my phone and snapping a quick picture of him. He was just so damn sweet and adorable.
If I could fall asleep to that vision every night, I'd be the luckiest man alive.
9
MAX
When I couldn’t avoid the roiling in my belly any longer, I forced myself up and ran to the bathroom. I made it just in time to empty my belly, and I felt a million times better afterward.
What was I thinking with all that wine? I’d never been much of a wine drinker, but that bottle tasted extra good, and I felt extra safe to let loose a bit with James there.
James… Holy shit. The conversation from the night before began to come back to me, and I was completely mortified. “Did he hold me up while I took a piss?”
Suddenly feeling nauseous again, I grabbed my toothbrush to quickly rinse out my mouth and remembered that part of the evening as well. James had turned me so I was facing him and used his thumb to gently hold my mouth open while he carefully brushed my teeth.
I grinned as I remembered him asking me to stick out my tongue so he could carefully brush the lower half of it before making me spit and rinse.
As nice as the memory itself made me feel on the inside, I was utterly humiliated. No wonder he was so quick to leave me last night.
In the restaurant, I was sure he said he was open to anything I wanted to explore… Maybe. That sounded right, but also, maybe not. Maybe I was just remembering what I wanted to remember. Dammit.
I went back to bed to hide for a few more hours and noticed a note on my nightstand.
Max,
You’ll probably have a headache when you wake up, so drink the full bottle of water and take two aspirin. If you need anything else or feel really bad, please call me. I’ll wait until ten to call you if I don’t hear from you before then.
James
Oh. Maybe he didn’t hate me. Or maybe he just wanted to make sure I didn’t die overnight. How much wine did I drink, anyway?
I popped the candy-coated tablets into my mouth and swallowed them before guzzling the entire bottle of water. After a burp that almost went bad, I burrowed back underneath my covers. There was plenty of time to be humiliated later.
Part of me was super embarrassed by how I’d behaved with James, but I also wondered if maybe it was for the best. I’d put a lot of things out on the table the night before, and as it was happening, he was quick to react in exactly the right way.
But with some distance and time between us, maybe he would reconsider. And it was better to know that now, before I got too hung up on the sexy Daddy I wanted so badly to be mine.
The next time I woke up, it was to the annoying ringing of my phone. I tried to hit the alarm button several times before I realized it was actually an incoming call.
With barely a cracked eyelid, I hit the green button and closed my eyes again, trying to get back to the happy dream I was in the middle of.
“Max, are you okay?” It was James, so I forced my eyes to open more completely.
That’s when it hit me that we were on a FaceTime call, and he was looking right at me. “Yeah, sorry. Trying to wake up.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’ll call you later.”
“No.” I shook my head and ran my palm across my face, rubbing some of the sleep out of my eyes. “I need to get up again. I gotta pee.”
When I noticed a slight grin on James’s face, I remembered my behavior the night before. “And speaking of, I’m so sorry about last night. I never drink like that. I don’t know what I was thinking, but…god, I’m so embarrassed.”
James wore a soft smile. “Don’t be. You were perfect. I had so much fun with you, and I hope you don’t have any regrets.”
Oh. I sat up with the phone in my hand and carried it with me to the bathroom. “I had a really good time too, but I think I did and said a few things that could’ve waited for the second date.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Not at all. You’re exactly the way I had hoped, and I don’t ever want you to feel like you need to hold back anything with me.” He bounced his head a bit and gave me a sheepish grin. “With that said, if you’d like some privacy while you use the bathroom, feel free to pause the call or call me back in a little while.”
