Page 33 of Daddy's Little Chaos Gremlin

16

ROWEN

Day two and I was already regretting the devil’s bargain I’d made with Tristan. My boy had been distracted at every meal, barely finished his food, and forgotten to eat the snacks I’d deliberately put in the mini-fridge I’d had installed in his workshop. I checked it constantly, stocking bottles of water, juice, and iced tea when he forgot to put them in there. I also removed the energy drinks he didn’t need but occasionally tried to sneak in with his online orders.

An overcaffeinated Tristan was a force to be reckoned with and not one I was equipped to handle when I was still cleaning up the mess one stupid decision had gotten my company into. Now it was looking like the teenager that Ryan had allowed into Katana’s dressing room had stolen a ring and a necklace, both of which held a great deal of monetary as well as sentimental value. Needless to say, we were on the hook for them if we weren’t able to retrieve them, a task I’d assigned Sebastian to handle personally, which meant I needed to get more manpower to him, like yesterday. Suing Ryan to recover costs had already been one of several things I’d discussed with my attorney this morning, and I would be pulling the trigger on that option ifwe were unable to retrieve the items in the time frame Katana’s management company had given us.

Two weeks.

I should have just said fuck it and started the lawsuit, but if anyone could pull off a recovery in that kind of window, it was Sebastian, though I’d had rather have had him use that time fulfilling his duties as head of the security team. All the calls, the promises, the assurances and emails I’d been forced to pen had left me no room to insist that Tristan spend a couple hours in the playroom today with Zephyr, not when I needed my new boy in the office with me. I had interviews lined up all morning, and the bench behind my desk already set up for him, once I figured out where he’d gotten to the moment he’d been excused from the table.

I probably should have mentioned to him that I was looking forward to having him with me for the afternoon before I cut him loose. That was on me, but I’d been distracted watching him and Tristan share a buttery, dripping French toast stick. Better than spaghetti and meatballs any day, at least in my opinion.

Now, I poked my head into the den in the hopes of finding him sprawled on the couch watching a movie, but the room was silent and dark. I should have known he’d be engaged in some outdoor activity, with as beautiful as the day looked.

I could have kicked myself for not checking poolside first, where I found him seated naked in the grass in what I was certain was a yoga pose, with his feet tucked beneath his behind and his hands resting on his thighs while he soaked in the sun. It was easy to see why Tristan found his grace so inspiring. My feet felt rooted to the stone path as I watched him lie back until he was flat on the grass, his legs still folded beneath him, only now, he cradledhis head beneath his hands and closed his eyes as he lounged beneath the warm rays.

He was the picture of grace and contentment. That light, laid back way of his was like being in the presence of a walking weighted blanket. A calm, soothing energy seemed to follow him everywhere he went, making me long to seek him out, even when I didn’t need anything.

Today I did.

I really did.

Azure eyes popped open the moment my shadow fell across him, and he smiled up at me and drew one of his hands from beneath his head so he could wave.

“Are you goin’ swimming, too, Daddy?” he asked. “I set the alarm on my phone so I wouldn’t go in before the half hour was up. I was going to play some music while I waited, but the fountain sounded so beautiful that I didn’t want to drown it out.”

“This is one of my favorite spots to just sit and listen to the water flow and the bees buzz around,” I replied as I sat beside him in the grass. The sun had burned off the morning dew, leaving it warm beneath my fingertips. “I wish I could stay out here for a few hours and get lost in it.”

“Do you have a busy day today?”

“Unfortunately. Conference calls and interviews. I prefer conducting them in person, but with the time crunch I’m under and Tristan’s upcoming reveal, that just wouldn’t be feasible.”

“Do you need me in the office with you?” he asked, already beginning to sit up. “I can swim after supper.”

Bless him for not making me ask. My boy’s sweet offer erased the guilt I’d begun to feel the moment I’d spotted him enjoying the soothing trickle of water and the sweet scent of the honeysuckles on either side of him.

“That’s exactly why I came out looking for you, though I hate to pull you away from all of this.”

“It’s not going anywhere,” Zephyr replied as he stretched his legs out in front of him and bent to touch his toes. His swim trunks sat several feet away, folded neatly on the end of a deck chair, though why he’d bothered wearing them out was beyond me.

We all enjoyed swimming naked here. With no neighbors for miles and plenty of hedges and a stone fence, we were truly protected and enjoyed all the privacy we could ever want. He certainly wouldn’t need to wear them in the office. He wouldn’t be on camera, unless his hair slipped into view, and I rather enjoyed having his body bare for me, where I had unlimited access to touch wherever I wanted to.

“How soon do your meetings start?”

A glance at my phone showed that I had less than twenty minutes, which didn’t make me happy now that I’d gotten comfortable.

“Fifteen minutes, but I feel like wasting five just sitting here with you.”

“Then how is it wasting?” he asked as he leaned to pillow his head on my thigh, letting out a contented sign as he got comfortable.

He was right. We might only have five minutes to enjoy the space, but it was our five minutes, and nothing more needed tobe said. As I let my fingers slide through his hair, I listened to the fountain, and started letting go of all the things that were upsetting me about the process. It wouldn’t do to go into an interview immediately putting the interviewee on the defensive. I’d always prided myself on being able to learn more about a person’s values and commitment to a job through conversation, not a bullet point question and answer session. I wouldn’t be doing myself or Sebastion any favors by going that route today. We needed to fill those slots with reliable individuals who would stick with the company for years, not use it as a steppingstone to something better. We were as good as we were because we cared about what we did and being the best at it. If everyone didn’t share the same belief and wasn’t working together toward that same goal, then I needed to know before I put them on the payroll.

We sat in silence as I used him as a touchstone, breathed in the scent of those honeysuckles and let myself think about how fortunate I was to be right where I was this morning. No matter what else the day brought, the headaches, the frustrations, the people who really should have thought twice before sending in a resume, nothing could take this moment away from me.

I thought about what Zephyr had said, about coming out after supper to swim. Some laps would be a smooth, rhythmic way of putting the day behind me so that I could enjoy the night with my boys.

Mandatory playtime.

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