Page 41 of Daddy Christmas

“Promise?” I smiled goofily.

He hummed approvingly and kissed me hard. “Good to know. Now—let’s go before I make us late. I already want to bend you over for everything you’ve done here today.” He cupped my cheek and kissed my smile. “My wonderful boy. You don’t know how much you please me.”

Oh God, that was the stuff right there.

* * *

I grinned, spotting my folks outside the restaurant as soon as I stepped up on the curb. The valet accepted the key from Wyatt, and I aimed for Mom and Dad. It was the same place we’d gone to last year, an Italian restaurant in Venice, near the beach.

Mom threw out her arms and beamed at me. “There’s my baby! Twenty-six years old—you’re getting awfully close to thirty, Parker!”

I laughed and jogged over to hug her. “Hey, Mom.”

“Hi, sweetie.” She made that hug sound that only moms and grandmothers made when they embraced someone. The “ohhhoh!” as if they were trying to squeeze you half to death. “Oh, he’s handsome,” she whispered in my ear.

I chuckled and eased back, then hugged my dad quickly.

“It’s good to see you, son.”

“You too, old man. How’s the leg?” I noticed he’d gotten a walking cast now, but he still had one crutch.

“Eh, apparently it’s become your mother’s excuse to ban me from the garage,” he replied.

I scratched my nose. “Harsh. I would’ve just banned you from working on your car when it was stuck in reverse.”

He snorted in amusement and shook his head. “You’re supposed to be on my side, you know.”

“I totally am!” I laughed. “Anyway—” I took a step back and brought my sexy man into the fold. “Mom, Dad, this is Wyatt. Wyatt, meet my parents, Lynette and Keith. Dad’s usually not in a cast, but he was crawling underneath his ancient Chevy one day, and it sort of rolled over him.”

Dad instantly gave me a cutting look of betrayal. “You’re not on my side. The accident sounds ridiculous when you spin it that way, you little terror.”

I cracked up.

“I mean—he ain’t far off,” Mom drawled. Then she turned her charm on Wyatt and extended her hand. “It’s lovely to meet you, Wyatt. Parker’s been telling his sister so much about you. She, in turn, tells me.”

“Yeah, where’s that terror anyway?” I looked around us.

“They’re on their way,” Dad said.

“It’s great to meet you too,” Wyatt replied, shaking Mom’s hand.

Dad was incredibly supportive of me when it was his turn to shake Wyatt’s hand. “Parker’s your problem now.”

“We love one another very much in our family, contrary to what you might believe,” I told Wyatt.

The look in his eyes was too funny. He was relieved, presumably at the banter going on, but he was also a bit overwhelmed. At least that’s what it looked like.

“Hey, birthday boy!”

I peered out on the traffic—there. My sister was crossing the street, jogging in between cars that were stuck at the light.

Now that we were both with others, we didn’t see each other at home…well, barely at all since I was shacking up with my hot Daddy at the moment, but we texted a lot. Even if it was just to check in briefly or call each other idiot or loser, she had my back, and I had hers. And yeah, it was possible I’d rambled about Wyatt to her.

Emmy reached the curb, while her boyfriend was just about to begin crossing the street.

“Happy birthday, you crusty sock!” She threw her arms around me.

I patted her back awkwardly and looked up at Daddy. “I don’t know who this is. Ma’am? Please release me. Can I take you to the nearest hospital?”

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