AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At least he wasn’t cheeky and distracted.
“If you fall down my stairs, you will not get a spanking anytime in the next month.” As his mind tried to process that, I kept up the stern tone. “It will only get you punished in ways you will not like. Do you remember the portion of the list where it talked about non-impact-related punishments?”
If his eyes got any wider, they were going to fall out of his head like a cartoon character. Clearly, that had made a mental impact, even if it wouldn’t leave a physical one. “I can have a cage here for you tomorrow, pet, or I can pick out a nice, long sentence for writing lines. Do you need a reminder about how important you are?”
It took him entirely too long to start shaking his head, so I had a feeling that on some level at least he wanted to feel important. But I wasn’t sure a punishment was the way to help him…not yet, anyway.
“No, Sir.” As I slowly relaxed my hold and he proved he could stay upright, he started worrying on his lower lip again. “I…I’m sorry. I’ll pay attention to what I’m doing…and…and thank you for saving me.”
Nodding and trying to keep a serious expression so he’d remember not to die on my stairs, I kept my gaze on his. “I will always do my best to save you, pet. But you have to remember that staying safe is important.”
He’d been nearly as distracted walking over but I’d thought that was just because of the date. I was starting to rethink that assumption.
“I’ll be more careful but you did such a good job, Sir.” His sincerity was clear in his voice, so I knew he wasn’t playing me, but that didn’t make me worry any less. “I’ll be careful. I promise.”
“I’m going to hold you to that promise, pet.” Nudging him up the last few stairs, I stopped us on the landing outside my door. “Now you can look all you want.”
Wrapping my arms around him, I pressed his back against my chest and gave him a safe place to lean back on so he could stare up at the ceiling to his heart’s content. As he studied the room and made happy sounds, I smiled and stroked his chest. “You should’ve seen the scaffolding we had to erect to safely reach the ceilings.”
It’d been a pain in the ass but all that had been worth it to see the look on Payton’s face. “You like architecture, huh?”
He nodded vaguely, still lost in thought. “I almost went to college for it but that just didn’t work out.”
I had a feeling the story about that wasn’t a happy one, so I let it drop for the time being. “How about we look for some tours about that kind of stuff? I’m sure there’s some touristy thing to show off the city to visitors.”
Payton straightened so fast he nearly fell down the stairs again, almost taking me with him that time. “Really?”
As I moved us farther from the stairs, I nodded and kissed him softly. “Really. I’ll start researching this weekend, and once I figure it out, we’ll go play tourist looking at all the old buildings.”
There were ways to nerd out on nearly anything. It just might take me some time to find the right option but it would be worth it to see him light up again.
“It’ll be fun.” Seeing his delight and nearly obsessive passion for my ceiling, I could just imagine what he would be like with something more detailed and impressive. “But now, food.”
He seemed to have forgotten that he was hungry because he looked confused for a moment before he lit up again. “Dinner. Yes. Pizza.”
As his thoughts went back to the date, his cheeks pinked again and I could see them shift to something that made him worry at the very least. I wasn’t sure if he was worried about the date in general or if he thought he looked silly, but I took his hand and tugged him back against me. “Pizza and talking and cuddling, if you think you’d be comfortable with that?”
Playing it by ear had sounded like a good idea when we’d been texting about going out again but I was starting to think we should’ve nailed down a specific plan so he knew what he was worrying about.
He nodded as his flush got deeper. “I would.”
He seemed to be going back and forth between nervous and excited, and I thought he was thinking about our night at the bar, but he could’ve been overthinking any number of things. Giving him another peck, I rested my forehead against his making him grin. “Just because we did something once doesn’t mean I’m going to make any assumptions.”
That got a nervous laugh from him and he sighed as he wiggled and hid his face against me. “What if I want you to make assumptions? I…I don’t want to go backward. I like you. I just…I don’t know what to do or to ask for.”
