Page 84 of Awakening His Daddy

“Oh, there it is. Come on, Winter.” He starts off, leaving me to follow him. I grab the ax and catch up to him where he’s whispering into his jacket.

He reaches out and takes my gloved hand in his.

“Thank you, Daddy.” His jacket meows. “Winter says thank you too.”

“You’re a sweet boy.” I kiss his red cheek. He really is the sweetest boy. Not wanting to cut down trees, taking care of stray cats, and hell, he’s even taking care of me. Giving me the role of Daddy, something I didn’t know I was missing, but now that I do, I’m not giving it or him up.

Leo will just have to deal.

“Can I put her down or will she run and get into trouble?”

“If she’s going to stay here, she will need to explore the space.”

Izzy looks hesitant to set her down, but he does, and she walks cautiously around the entryway before she darts into the living room with Izzy hot on her heels. She sniffs the rug, the recliner, the coffee table, and then crawls under the couch.

“Oh no, Winter, don’t go under there.”

“It’s okay, baby. She’s probably just tired and looking for a warm place to sleep.”

“Come to the kitchen and we’ll get her all set up. She’ll need food, water, someplace warm to sleep, which she already found, but we’ll get her a cat bed of her very own. Then she’ll need alitter box.” That last one is the one I’m most worried about, but now that the snow has stopped, I should be able to get a delivery up here, and besides, I need to order some presents for my boy. We can’t have an empty tree on Christmas morning.

So I take out my phone and pay through the nose to have things delivered same day. I also make an appointment after Christmas with the local vet to make sure Winter is healthy, has all her shots, and doesn’t belong to someone else. No one has reported her missing to the vet or the local police.

That would be terrible. I could just imagine the sad look on Izzy’s face if he needed to give the kitty he’s softly whispering to back to her original owners.

“I got her some water. What should we feed her?” Izzy opens the fridge.

Winter comes out from under the couch and meows loudly at the two of us.

“I think she might be hungry.” I laugh. “I bet we have some tuna somewhere.” Leo loves tuna. I think it’s gross, but I bet Winter would like it.

Izzy runs to the pantry and pulls out a can. He sighs when he sees that it isn’t a pull-off top. “Here, you do it.”

As soon as the can opens, Winter jumps up onto the kitchen island and starts rubbing her white fur all over my black t-shirt. I try to move the can out of the way so I can finish removing the lid, but she barely gets her head out of the way as I pour it into a dish before she starts chowing down.

“I guess she was hungry,” I tease.

“Poor thing.” Izzy pets her, and she grumbles a warning, so he steps back.

“Cats don’t like to be pet while eating.”

“Good to know.”

“How about I make us some lunch and you can get back to work on the Christmas puzzle?”

“Oh, good idea.”

“What would you like to eat?”

“Can I have a tuna melt?” I’m about to wrinkle my nose when he continues. “No, wait. We need to save the tuna for Winter. Can I have a grilled cheese?”

“That sounds great.”

“Can we put up the tree after lunch and call Leo? Maybe he can watch us. It might feel like he’s here with us, and he might not be too sad then.”

I don’t think he’ll be too sad, but I’m worried that he might catch on to me and Izzy being together before we’re ready.

I haven’t been able to keep my hands off of him, and not all of my touches are the sweet kind. There’s been kissing and groping. So much groping. I’ve grabbed his ass so many times he’s scolded me.

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