“Why, you little…” But, again, when I searched for the boy who might end up walking or hitchhiking home, he was nowhere to be found. I was going to have to apply my stealth skills for sure. I slid behind a tree, crouching down and hiding from Sanders, waiting until I heard rustling and the crunch of snow under winter boots.
“Gotcha,” I yelled, popping out in front of him. Swear to god, my boy screamed at the top of his lungs, jumped a foot, and tossed his four, yes four, snowballs in the air. Screeching, he ran like a bat out of hell, took a sharp right, and nearly ran into one of his favorite trees before righting himself and scampering off out of sight.
Gathering the four snowballs he’d so kindly made for me, I ran low to keep out of sight, but when I rounded the tree he’d nearly felled during his escape, I came up empty again. This kid must have been channeling Houdini, although I’m pretty sure Houdini never giggled before a magic trick.
As I turned to face the tittering hoodlum head-on, the little spider monkey jumped on me, and I had to drop the snowballs in order to catch him as he wrapped his arms and legs around me in a rather vise-like grip for such a skinny boy. I thought about tickling him until he passed out or spanking his cute little ass, but I found myself wrapping my arms tighter around my smiling boy and just taking him in.
His nose was the color of Rudolph’s and his lips were spread into the widest, sweetest grin I’d ever seen. The boy was happiness personified, and I’d never seen anything so beautiful in my life. I’d have given anything right that second to have a picture of us, capturing the perfect moment as I leaned in and took his lips with my own. Our cold lips met, our tongues dueled, and a whimper escaped him. I found myself never wanting to let him go.
When I pulled back from our kiss, I saw he was as enthralled by the moment as I had been. We stared at each other in the winter sunlight, snowflakes falling around us, and said nothing with our voices but so much with our eyes and our body language. It was a moment I’d never forget, and I could tell by the way he was looking at me he felt the same.
I had to break the moment, knowing he wasn’t going to stay warm forever. “I’ll be thinking of proper punishments on the drive home.” Shaking my head, I tsked at him as he grinned. “Hiding from Daddy, being devious, throwing not one but two snowballs at me, and running away… What do you have to say for yourself?”
With absolutely no remorse, he smiled and said, “I found the perfect tree for my mom. And a couple for the condo and store.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he grinned wider, playing the cute card. “Mmhmm, we’ll be revisiting our discussion on punishments later. Don’t think I’m going to forget, boy.”
He shook his head, all mock innocence. “I’d never, Daddy.” He pulled back and marked an X over his heart. “Cross my heart. Now come on, let’s go chop down the trees. Then we can go find one for your house.”
I set him down on the ground and clasped his hand in mine as I turned toward where I thought he’d been before he’d so rudely attacked me. “I think I found the perfect one for my place. Let’s start with yours and then we’ll grab the bigger one on our way out.”
We found the small tree for his mom and the other two as well. I had to admit, they were beautiful. He might have tried to convince me he was going to chop hers down himself, but when he struggled to take a solid swing—nearly scaring me to death—I had to grab the axe to keep him from hurting himself, visions of him chopping his leg off dancing in my head.
One of the employees at the farm found us once I had all four trees cut down and said he’d meet us at the front with them where he’d put a hole in their trunks for the tree stands, wrap them in mesh, and help us tie what amounted to a forest on top of the Rover. I thanked him and clasped Sanders’s hand, walking toward the front of the farm.
When we got there, we went over to the little shed to pay for the trees and enjoy free hot apple cider while we waited for them to rig them on top of the Rover. When we were in the car and on our way back down the mountain, four perfect trees tied above us, we held hands as we listened to the Christmas carol playlist he’d made for the trip.
I couldn’t remember a more perfect day.
22
Briggs
“Baby, they’re going to love you. I promise. Stop worrying.”
If I’d had carpet, Sanders would have worn a hole in it with his fretful pacing. It was a week before Christmas, and my parents had been scheduled to arrive earlier in the day, but my mom had a penchant for being late, and they’d tried to avoid a car accident by taking another route, so they were a couple of hours behind. Which of course had ratcheted up my boy’s nerves, giving him time to stew.
I’d successfully distracted him with mind-numbing sex a bit earlier, but the effects of that were obviously wearing off as he kept coming up with new reasons to freak out. He looked down at himself and then back up at me, doubt in his eyes. “Am I dressed nicely enough?”
He was perfect. The dark green lines of his neat, button-up, plaid shirt made the green in his hazel eyes pop. He’d paired the shirt with a sexy pair of skinny chinos and brown leather shoes that were dressy but not overly so. “Boy, we’ve been over this. You look gorgeous. So much so I had to strip you of your clothes earlier to let you know how sexy you look.”
“Oh my god! Am I too sexy?”
I tried. Oh, how I tried to keep a serious face, but my god, it was impossible. My grin made him open his mouth in exasperation, but when his expression and the ridiculous conversation we were having finally took its toll on me, I couldn’t hold back my laughter.
Sanders walked over to the couch where I happened to be sitting, picked up a throw pillow, and bopped me on the head with it. “Don’t make fun of me! I need to make a good impression.”
I swiped for him, wanting to drag him down onto my lap and kiss him senseless as a distraction and also because… kisses, but he sidestepped faster than I thought he was capable of and crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive position. “I’m so much younger, they won’t take me seriously. And, I can’t even get a college degree, Briggs. I’m not good enough for you.”
And that did it. I was up like a shot tugging him to me until his body was flush with mine, the anger clear on my face. So much so, he looked like a deer caught in headlights. “Don’t you ever say shit like that about yourself. First of all, you’re more than I could ever ask for, and you’re probably way too good for me, but I’m keeping you anyway. Got it?”
His eyes got cartoonishly big, and all he managed was a nod. “And there will be punishment for that later. The only thing true about any of it is you’re younger than me, and you are, but my parents know I prefer younger men and they will take you seriously. Hell, they know I’m a Daddy, so I’m sure their assumption is that you’re my boy. It’s a foregone conclusion.”
My boy’s mouth dropped open. “They know I’m your boy?”
I shrugged and pulled him in closer. “I mean, I didn’t say anything to them about it, but they’ve known for years those are the types of relationships I prefer. Sanders, I won’t have you disparaging yourself about shit you have no control over. I know you’re sensitive about your dyslexia. My parents don’t have to know about it if it makes you feel uncomfortable, but my mother was an elementary school teacher for the entire length of her career, and she loved her school kids like crazy. If you think she looked down on any of the kids that had a hard time reading or spelling you’d be dead wrong.”