Page 38 of Finding You

“Yeah.” Dallas rubbed a hand down his face. “Custody shit has my brain all upside down. But I promise I’ll have it together for tonight.”

“Look, if it’s better to cancel?—”

“No,” Dallas said quickly. While he knew that in spite of his attraction, he couldn’t be with Kylen, he still wanted to see him. His presence was calming, and Dallas found himself smiling every time they spoke. “No, I promise I’ll be okay.”

“Alright,” Kylen said very slowly, “but if we need to end this early, we can. I don’t want to add to the list of things fucking you up right now.”

Dallas’s chest hurt, but in a strange, almost good way. He rubbed his sternum and closed his eyes, picturing Kylen’s face almost perfectly. “Trust me, of all the things fucking me up, you’re not one of them.”

Kylen didn’t say anything for a long while, and Dallas wondered if he’d crossed a line. Then Kylen cleared his throat. “I really like you. I mean…not like that,” he said in a rush, like maybe Dallas was going to start panicking. “I just don’t have a lot of friends, and you always make me feel good about myself.”

“You should feel good about yourself. I like you too.” Dallas knew he couldn’t hide the whole truth from his tone, but he hoped maybe Kylen wouldn’t notice. “So, about those chicken nuggets…”

Kylen burst into another fit of laughter. “I’m going to make you real food, don’t worry. Flora’s in some picky food phase. I keep waiting for her to outgrow it, but it’s taking forever. It gets better, right?”

Dallas bit his tongue. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it the professional way. “Some kids are just built different. I wouldn’t worry too much about her, Ky. She’s pretty damn great.”

Kylen sighed softly. “Yeah. I think so too. So…see you soon?”

Dallas checked the clock and realized he had just enough time to shower if he hung up now. “Can’t wait.” He let Kylen hang up first, and then he rushed into the shower and turned on the water.

He stepped in while it was still too cold, but it warmed up quickly, and his muscles began to unclench. He pressed his hand to the wall to keep himself steady as he washed his feet and legs, and as the sudsy bath sponge made contact with his soft cock, he felt a jolt rush through him.

His breath trembled in his chest as his eyes closed as he dropped the sponge and gripped himself. Would it feel like that if Kylen touched him? Would his hands be rougher? Softer? Something told him Kylen was attentive—that he was the kind of man who’d pay attention to the things that Dallas liked.

He was a simple man. When he wanted it, he wanted it tender and careful. He wanted to look into his partner’s eyes and feel them with him. He wanted every whispered word to sink under his skin and tattoo him.

“I like you.” Those three words in Kylen’s voice echoed through his head, and he got harder.

“Ky,” Dallas whispered aloud. His cock jumped against his palm, and he stroked himself faster, his hips moving in time with his arm until his muscles burned. “Please,” he moaned. His orgasm sparked under his skin, but like it often did, as his balls began to tighten, it fizzled. He came, but it was unsatisfying and dull.

It left him feeling an almost hollow ache in his chest and the feeling like maybe he was wrong. Maybe there was something broken inside him. Why would he saddle Kylen with a man like himself who couldn’t provide things that most partners needed?

No matter how much he wanted—and no matter how much Kylen seemed to want him back—he knew that his answer would always have to be no.

Chapter Eleven

KYLEN

“There’s something wrong with her,” Grace said, and Kylen immediately felt anger racing up his spine. They’d been arguing for the last two weeks about Flora’s diet, and he knew that it was a problem, but he just didn’t have the strength to deal with it.

He and his sister had been raised on the philosophy of when a kid is hungry enough, they’ll eat whatever you give them. And while it had been true in his case—he’d eaten so many meals that made him feel sick to his stomach—he wasn’t going to put that on his daughter.

He wasn’t going to let his sister start using food as punishment.

“She eats what she eats, and if you don’t like it, you can leave,” he told her.

Grace sniffed. “I bet CPS?—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Kylen snapped at her, and the way her cheeks turned red, he could tell she knew she’d crossed a line. “CPS isn’t going to do jack shit about a man who feeds his child frozen food.”

Flora was in front of the TV, happily nibbling on a frozen waffle. She liked them that way, and while he couldn’t fathom eating it the way she did, at least she was eating.

With a sigh, Grace spun away from him and put the finishing touches on her salad. “She’s going to be maladjusted. She’s not going to get away with this stuff in the real world.”

“This is the real world. My house isn’t make-believe,” Kylen told her. “And she’s not going to go into the world incapable of taking care of herself or fulfilling her own responsibilities because she has food preferences.”

“The bath thing,” Grace started.

---