Page 42 of Imperfect Skin

I stared at my kitchen cabinets, trying to decide what to feed Mouse. Give me a needy little maso and I could dream up a dozen different scenes without even thinking about it, but being Daddy to a Little or Middle? The obvious go-to for asking what the fuck I should do was Simon, but in this situation that wouldn’t work.

Fuck.

I was in a relationship with Mouse.

We’d gone from zero to one hundred in the space of two days, but I didn’t regret it. Was I surprised? Yes. But honestly, if I looked at my feelings for him over the last six months or more, I couldn’t say I was shocked. I’d been hiding it from myself—poorly—but now that it was out in the open, it felt right. I’d spent the last nine years trying, and I hoped succeeding, at being the best damn dad for Alice, but now I had the chance at having something special with someone who fit so perfectly with Alice and me. Mouse fitted without even trying. He was smart and talented, sexy as fuck, and pushed all my kinky buttons—and a few new ones I didn’t even know I had.

Mouse had bounced and sung his way down the stairs before throwing himself onto the sofa, sprawling out like a spider monkey. His hair was a tangled mess after his adventures in his bedroom, and he kept blowing the annoying strands out of his face.

“Daddy, my hair’s annoying me.” Mouse huffed loudly, sitting up and giving me puppy-dog eyes.

Luckily, I always had a hair tie shoved in my pocket and I didn’t think Mouse was going to mind one of Alice’s neon pink ones if it got the offending hair out of his face.

“Come here, little Mouse.” I sat down on the sofa and patted the spot between my legs. “Want it up in a bun or a plait?”

“Bun, please. It’s itching my neck.” Mouse wiggled between my legs, pushing his cute, little bum against my crotch.

“Boy, unless you want to be flipped and fucked over the arm of the sofa, behave.”

Mouse gave a little gasp, then a giggle. “Not now, Daddy. I want to colour.”

“Well then, my little Mouse, sit still,” I warned. The idea of taking Mouse hard over the arm of the sofa was an appealing one, but not for our first time together.

I managed to scoop most of his dark waves up into the scrunchy and then formed a messy bun. It would probably come tumbling down again, but it would keep it out of his way for now.

“There you go, lamb. All done. Pretty as a picture.”

Mouse twisted in my lap to lean up and press a soft kiss to my cheek. “Thank you, Daddy.”

“Very welcome, lovely boy. Now, how about you hop up and get started on colouring and I’ll go make you a snack.”

“Hobnobs?” Mouse asked eagerly. My boy had a one-track mind when it came to snacks.

“I swear, you and Doc are keeping that company in business with the amount the pair of you eat. But I’ll make you a deal. Eat something healthy that I put out for you, and you can have some biscuits.”

“Daddy, you got a deal.” Mouse tipped his face up towards me, pursing his lips. “Kisses, please.”

Mouse gave a sweet giggle when I brushed my nose against his, and an even sweeter whimper when I kissed him. I had to force myself to step away. Mouse was more addictive than I had given him credit for. And this adorable, sweet side was both intoxicating and sexy.

I needed to pace myself, even though everything in me wanted to charge forwards like the proverbial bull in a china shop. I set the TV going with Mouse’s movie and moved through to the kitchen. I could keep an ear on him while I tried to whip up some snacks.

I pulled out a snack pack of crisps and then a small yoghurt from the fridge. I kept my promise and placed two Hobnobs on the plate as well. Mouse’s insulated tumbler sat on the draining board, its brightly coloured cartoon characters making it stand out. I filled it halfway with juice and cut an apple into slices, then placed them on the plate along with the yoghurt and biscuits. That would do for a snack.

I’d have to have a look at the shops during the week and find something healthy, and maybe a few sweet treats as well. My boy had a huge sweet tooth. I sometimes worried that he and Rhys were competing to see who could consume the most amount of sugar in a day. The bonus of being Mouse’s Daddy now was that I could maybe encourage my boy to eat a little better. It was going to take some fiddling to work around when Alice was home and making sure Mouse got the time he needed, but I knew we’d be able to do it. I knew of more than a few kinky couples who’d managed a balance between their everyday life and kink life.

When I walked back into the sitting room, Mouse had moved from the sofa to sitting on the floor in front of the large coffee table, his colouring books, markers and pencils covering a good portion of it. He’d somehow gotten marker on his nose and his cheek. But the best thing of all was the smile he gave me as I walked into the room.

“Snacks,” I announced. I tried to clear a spot for the tray on the coffee table, but as I reached to move one of the colouring books, I got a growl from Mouse.

“Don’t look, it’s a surprise.” He smacked my hand, snatched the book and hid it behind him.

“Okay, sweet lamb, but remember, smacking isn’t nice.”

Mouse made a rude sound and reached for a biscuit, but I was quicker, moving the plate aside.

“No, first you need to apologise for smacking me. I understand you want to keep your surprise, but there are more polite ways to have done that.”

“No.”

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