Page 31 of Slippery When Wet

Calvin cuddled him back and they lay in silence for a while. Of course, now that Ellery was fully awake, he couldn’t shut off his mind.

“Daddy? Can I ask you something?”

“Now, now. I think at this point we’ve established that you can always ask me anything you want.”

“True.” He chuckled. “Force of habit, I guess.”

“Then ask away, baby.” Calvin lifted his head from the pillow and peered down at Ellery. “Is this a post-coffee question?”

Ellery drew his eyebrows together. “I don’t think so.”

Calvin gave him a squishy hug. “I’m teasing you. What’s your question?”

“Okay. I was wondering, when I come live with you, will you want me to stay out here while you’re in the city during the week? Not that I don’t think this is a beautiful place and it would be amazing to live here. And I know I’ll love the duck pond and garden and everything else you told me about, but…”

“But you don’t want to be alone.” Calvin turned to face him, giving him a fond smile. “I plan on having you with me wherever I go, the exception being if you’re at school or you don’t want to go into the city.” Calvin brushed the hair back from Ellery’s face. “We’ll adjust to what works for you as we go along.”

“And what about what works foryou?”

“Your peace and happiness are what works for me, sweetheart.”

Ellery swallowed past his emotions. “Your happiness matters to me too, you know.”

Calvin leaned in and stole a quick kiss. “I know. I wouldn’t be inviting you into my life if I didn’t believe you had sincere intentions.”

“Okay, I wanted to make sure.” Ellery stole his own kiss before continuing. “I know I can never earn enough money to contribute in a meaningful way financially, but I could at least earn enough to pay my own expenses. I don’t need much.”

“Or…” Calvin raised his eyebrows in a way that said he’d already been anticipating what Ellery might ask. “You could get an allowance along with an extra reward for getting good grades in your classes.”

“My…?”He can’t mean…?“I said I’d save up for school. I don’t expect you to pay for that.”

“I know you did. And if you’re too uncomfortable accepting my help that way, I’ll help you come up with an alternate plan.” Calvin started combing his fingers through Ellery’s hair. “But I promise I wouldn’t offer unless it was somethingIreally wanted to do for you.”

Ellery wasn’t sure how to respond. But he didn’t have to decide today. One of the things he loved so far about Calvin was how undemanding he was. Not in a can’t-be-bothered sort of way, but in a patient, supportive way.

“All right. I’ll think about it.” Ellery smiled. “But no matter what, it means a lot to me that you offered.”

After a few more moments of staring into each other’s eyes, Calvin patted Ellery’s butt then started to roll out of bed.

“Come on, baby. Let’s get our day started.” He glanced over his shoulder at Ellery, who still didn’t want to crawl out from under the covers. Calvin held out his hand. “After we shower and I get you dressed, you can play in your room until lunch. Then what do you say we pack up a basket and have our lunch on the grass by the duck pond?”

That caught Ellery’s attention. “Will they try to steal our food?”

Calvin laughed. “Maybe? I don’t know.”

“You mean you’ve never eaten out on the lawn before?”

Calvin shook his head. “Never.”

Ellery pinched his eyebrows together. “But what about your last boy, the one who hated age play. Didn’t he live here with you?”

A cloud passed over Calvin’s features and Ellery regretted bringing up the sensitive subject.

Calvin sighed. “He did. However, nothing in him sparked a natural joy or playfulness in me. It never occurred to me to lounge outside on the grass, share a picnic lunch. You see, Daddies have a love of play and fun, too. Only we express it in a different way, by caring for our fun, playful boys.

Calvin rubbed his forehead with thumb and forefinger. “I didn’t figure that out until he left, and I tried to reconstruct what went wrong. Tony never expressed any excitement over being Little. Only a begrudging willingness to give it a try. With you, your responses aren’t contrived or forced. Your enjoyment is obvious.”

Ellery crawled out from under the covers and got on his knees on the mattress so he could hug his Daddy. He hoped that by being Calvin’s loving boy, he could make up for some of the hurt Calvin had faced in his past.

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