Page 22 of Daddy Christmas

I was so full from an amazing dinner, but I couldn’t resist dessert. I hadn’t pulled out my nicest threads for anything less than two tons of sugar. But unbuttoning my vest wouldn’t hurt. I glanced around us and hoped to see loosened ties, untucked shirts, and…yeah, no. Wearing a suit just wasn’t for me, but I did own a pair of nice charcoal pants with a matching vest that were fancy enough. As long as I didn’t spill on my shirt or apparently unbutton my vest.

“How full are you, Parker?”

Yikes. Okay, he didn’t have to be a mind reader to understand I was a bit uncomfortable. I was tugging on my vest and wiping my forehead. The meat sweats weren’t a myth.

“Moderately,” I lied just a tad.

The mirth didn’t leave his eyes, but his eyebrow went up a fraction. “Is this a good hill to die on, boy?”

I swallowed. “If the hill is made of sugar, then yes.”

He coughed a chuckle and shook his head at me.

I smiled goofily. He couldn’t pretend to be stern with me yet!

Without the strict Daddy façade, he reached across the table and gathered my hands in his, and he brought them to his lips. “Sweet Parker, there are options. We can get the dessert to go.”

“But then the meringue will be soggy,” I protested.

“Not if it’s stored in a separate container. You stay here—I will go talk to the server.” He pressed a kiss to my knuckles before he stood up and left the table.

I grimaced. I wasn’t a fan of this. We’d had such a great time tonight—I didn’t want it to end because I was too full for dessert. I’d learned a lot about his family and childhood. He had two sisters and one brother, though none of them was involved in the corporation. Maybe that was why I’d thought he was an only child. But regardless, I still had questions, and if we left now—and took our desserts to go—chances were, we’d end up eating them alone. What if he just dropped me off at my apartment?

Developing a crush on a man I knew essentially nothing about had turned out to be a gamble that so far worked bizarrely well. After all, I’d only viewed him as a grumpy grinch before. Now I knew he had a lake house that he hosted family reunions at every summer. I knew he liked to golf and swim. I knew he preferred classical music and blues and that he loved to drive up the coast in an old car I’d already forgotten the name of. I knew that he missed the East Coast sometimes, especially during fall and winter.

I was peeling off layer by layer.

He was doing the same with me.

I checked the time on my phone. Almost ten PM; hot damn, we’d been here nearly two hours already. So this wasn’t entirely awesome. Ten PM was a reasonable hour to wrap up our first dinner date, and if there was one thing I was learning about Wyatt, it was his traditionalist way of dating. He didn’t strike me as the type who would suggest we move this date back to his place at this hour.

Dammit.

* * *

I was right. He was taking me home.

Tonight was the first time I got to experience him behind the wheel of his own car, a nice silver Aston Martin with a black interior, and it was easy to see he enjoyed driving. And nobody liked driving in LA… I liked it even less when he had Culver City and my address plugged into the GPS.

Why had I given it to him?

I wondered if there was a way to lure him up to my place instead. My sister’s name might be on the mailbox next to mine, but she was never there anymore. Our parents had helped us take out a loan for the condo when Nana couldn’t handle walking up the stairs any longer. So she’d left Culver City for a retirement community in Thousand Oaks where her sisters already lived. Now it was just me in the tiny two-bedroom. My sister’s room was all but empty.

The day she moved in with her boyfriend officially, I was going to buy her out. ’Cause there’d been plans to install elevators in the old building forever, which would make the condo worth a whole lot more. After that…who knew? Unlike her, I wasn’t sure I saw myself living in LA forever.

“You’re thinking about devouring your dessert as soon as you get home, aren’t you?”

Ha! For once, he was dead wrong. “Almost. I’m thinking about real estate.”

He lifted his brow but didn’t take his eyes off the road. “That’s…different. Is real estate another hobby?”

I shook my head and smiled a little. “Not specifically real estate, but I like a good investment.”

Real estate tended to be a good one.

Wyatt was still showing surprise. He hadn’t expected that from me. “I can’t wait to get to know you better, Parker. You’ve entered my life like a breath of fresh air.”

I smiled, and as the urge struck, I leaned over and kissed his cheek.

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