His Accidental Daddy

by Luna, David

  A soft, sad smile appeared on the man’s lips. “Fuck normal, Asher. Just give me a chance. Give us a chance. You’ve trusted me with so much today, and I’m still here wanting to get to know you, to help you, to see where this can go between us. Don’t shut the door on what could be before you know for sure if it will or won’t work.”

  Asher looked away, unable to hold Thornton’s hopeful gaze. Could he do it? Could he give Thornton a chance? Could he risk putting his heart on the line and then having it destroyed when it didn’t work? Because he was positive it wouldn’t work. The man before him was larger than life, and he knew sitting around at home day in and day out wouldn’t keep Thornton by his side.

  But what if he gave himself this chance? He knew it wouldn’t work, but he’d have so much to look back on. Surely, he’d have fond memories of his time with Thornton. He already did, and it had only been a handful of days. If he gave it a real chance, even if he didn’t believe anything would come of it, maybe he’d be able to take another chance with someone else in the future. Maybe it would help him move past some of his fears.

  There was only one way to find out. He’d open himself up to it, to giving whatever Thornton had in mind a try. He met Thornton’s gaze and nodded. “Okay. I’ll give everything a chance.”

  Chapter Ten

  Thornton

  Everything?

  God, could the boy really mean that? He didn’t think so, not with the shocked reaction from Asher when Jimmy had stopped by. But he didn’t want speculation on either of their parts. “I’m so happy to hear that. But you said you’ll give everything a chance. I’d like to understand what you mean by that so there are no misunderstandings between us.”

  He watched Asher’s face turn a pretty shade of pink, and he couldn’t help but think the boy’s other cheeks would look beautiful in that color, warm and rosy from a spanking. God, did he want this boy over his lap. He couldn’t ever remember wanting someone on such a visceral level that he could feel it under his skin, a bone-deep ache of longing for the sweet boy in front of him.

  Jesus. Get your head in the game, Thorn!

  “I mean, I don’t know. Are you still interested in, well, um, other things besides friendship? Did I misunderstand?” Asher’s hands were up, covering his face, cheeks not just pink but red in humiliation. “Oh my god, I’m so stupid. I thought—”

  He pulled Asher’s hands away from his face, captured those warm, red cheeks in his own palms, and drew the boy in for a kiss. And as first kisses went, he couldn’t have asked for more. The boy went pliant against him, melting into him so much Thornton had to wrap his arms around him. He kept their kiss chaste. He didn’t lick or delve into Asher’s mouth like he wanted to. He didn’t want the boy to feel overwhelmed. He knew actions spoke louder than words, so hopefully this kiss would make things clear. Clear that he did want more than friendship, so much more.

  As his lips moved over Asher’s, taking the boy’s upper, then lower lips between his own in a gentle, teasing caress, he hoped he was letting the boy feel how much he was wanted, how much he was desired, without fear clouding his mind. The sweet whimpers coming from Asher reassured him and made his dick so hard he thought he might burst.

  What was it about this boy? This boy that broke his heart and made him ache, made him feel so protective and made him yearn for so much more than even he could understand. He should have been scared. He wasn’t in love with the boy. He didn’t know if that was in the cards for them, but god, he could see it happening.

  He could see Asher, all his sweetness, all his innocence, and all his fears laid out before him. He could see the boy was already becoming someone he wanted to praise, someone he longed to cherish, and someone he needed to spend time reassuring until he felt the same confidence in himself as Thornton did.

  Thornton had a sinking feeling the things Asher had shared with him about his childhood were only the tip of the iceberg. He couldn’t help but fear how much more Asher had to tell him, how much more the boy had had to endure. But a man with that much fear, that much anguish eating him up inside, needed someone strong and steady and sure in their life. Thornton wanted to see if he could be that person for Asher. Wanted it so desperately he wasn’t sure how to deal with the feelings coursing through him.

  When he finally pulled away and watched as Asher’s eyes slowly opened, their fathomless beauty causing an ache in Thornton’s heart, he couldn’t have stopped himself from leaning in again for another gentle kiss—and again, and again. They were soft, barely there kisses that filled the empty places inside of him, and Thornton feared he’d never ever get enough. “Does that make things clear, sweetheart?”

  When he only blinked up at Thornton, a dazed look in his eyes, he smiled and leaned in yet again, the boy’s eyes fluttering closed. One kiss on each eyelid, one on the tip of that sweet, upturned nose, and one last kiss on those sweet cherry lips. “I don’t want to hear you say you’re stupid ever again. And if those kisses didn’t clear everything up, let me tell you in words so you have no doubts. Yes, I absolutely want more than friendship with you.”

  Asher’s small, shy smile melted him to his core. “Okay.”

  He let out a chuckle, feeling happiness in every cell of his body. “Okay. Are you feeling overwhelmed?”

  The nod Thornton received didn’t surprise him. “Yeah, a little. I just… I think you’re going to have to be really patient with me. I don’t have much to give. My life consists of nothing more than me being at home and being at work. It’s not much to offer, really.”

  “I’m a very patient man, Asher. And I think your life consists of much more than that, even if those things are your reality when broken down to the basics. I’m going to make sure that you understand how very much you have to offer not just me, but yourself as well. Because I get the feeling you’re hard on yourself, and I want you to understand how wonderful you are.”

  Asher shook his head, but before he could speak, Thornton covered Asher’s lips with a finger. “Let me be the judge of how I feel about you and what I think of you. And maybe, just maybe, after you come to believe what I feel is true, you’ll see some of those wonderful things for yourself.”

  Asher nodded and then looked away, shifting uncomfortably. “You’re tired and in pain. What do you think about a bath and then a nap?”

  The light was back in Asher’s eyes, and he couldn’t have been happier. “A bath sounds really good. My failed shower last night was disappointing to say the least.”

  Thornton chuckled. “I don’t doubt it. I bet you’re feeling like you just want to get clean.”

  “I really do. I feel so gross. I think I still have dried blood in my hair.”

  “I’m sorry. Will you allow me to help you bathe?” He hurried on to make sure Asher knew he could say no. “If that makes you uncomfortable, I’ll leave you alone once I’ve helped you into the tub. It’s deep, and I don’t want you to hurt yourself climbing in. But if you allow it, I’d like to help you.”

  When Asher bit his lip and nodded, Thornton’s stomach did a flip. This boy was going to destroy his ability to keep any type of objectivity where he was concerned. “I’d like your help. I didn’t want to admit how much I might need it yesterday when you dropped me off. I didn’t want to be a burden.”

  “You could never be a burden. I think you’re going to come to understand that I’m a caretaker at heart. I want to take care of the people in my life. Drives my friends and family crazy at times, but I can’t help it. I’d love to be able to take care of you, Asher. It would be my pleasure.”

  “I think I’d like that.”

  “Good. But before we go upstairs for your bath, I want you to know you can always say no to me. If I’m overstepping, or you feel overwhelmed, if you need me to back off or just need time to think about things, I will always listen to you. Your feelings are valid, and I never want to diminish them.”

  “Even with that thing you mentioned before?”

  “What thing w
as that?”

  “The control thing? Power change?”

  “Power exchange. Yes, even with that. Especially with that. In an exchange of power, the submissive partner offers up control to the dominant partner. The submissive makes the choice of what power to give to his dominant and how much he’s willing to give.”

  “Okay.”

  “Asher, we aren’t going to rush headlong into a Daddy/boy relationship. I don’t expect that from you, and I won’t push you for more than you’re willing to give. We’re going to get to know each other and maybe see how you feel about trying some things out. I think you’re well-suited to the lifestyle, but in the end, it doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what you feel.”

  “Okay.”

  Thornton smiled. “Okay?”

  When Asher only nodded, Thornton had to ask, “Do you feel like you can tell me no? If I asked you to do something and you didn’t want to, would you feel comfortable enough to say no to me? Without any equivocations, just straight up no?”

  Asher rubbed his hands on his thighs. “I think so.”

  “Until you can say a definitive yes to that question, we won’t be entering into any type of power exchange. You don’t have to worry about any of that. We have to establish trust between us first. And while I feel like you do trust me in a lot of ways—you wouldn’t be here with me otherwise—I think there’s a long way for us to go.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

  “So, in that vein, would you be willing to stay here while you recuperate fully? That way we’ll have more time with each other so we can figure out if this thing between us will work.”

  Asher took a deep breath and let it out, his gaze serious. “Yeah, okay.”

  Careful not to show too much of a reaction to that, he only smiled and said, “Good. That makes me happy. So, going forward, if you want something, I’m going to make sure I ask specific questions and that you give specific answers. Yes and no isn’t enough right now. I’ll need you to verbalize what you want. Do you think you’ll feel comfortable enough to do that? That way, if you don’t feel like you can say no, you’re at least able to tell me what you do want. Do you think that will help?”

  Asher nodded. “Yes. I can do that.”

  “Good.” Thornton ran his fingers lightly over the boy’s knee. “Today kind of went sideways on us, didn’t it?”

  Asher shrugged, and Thornton clasped one of the boy’s hands in his, prompting Asher to meet his gaze. “All I was going to tell you today was that I was cancelling my final date with the man I was dating. And that I hoped you’d give me a chance to get to know you while you’re here to recuperate. But Jimmy showed up and tossed my plans out the window.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Oh, this sweet boy was going to kill him. “Asher, you have absolutely no reason to be sorry. Honestly, I’m not even sorry he came by. I wasn’t going to bring up a discussion about being a Daddy yet. I thought it was too early, and I didn’t want to scare you off. But now you know the type of relationship I’m looking for, and that’s a good thing, I think. It gives us both time to learn each other and figure out if that’s something we’d like to explore together.”

  “Yeah. I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

  “I don’t ever want you to be worried about trying to change who you are to try to be what I want you to be. I will only ever want you to be you. And I will only ever be me. And we’ll just have to see—with you being you and me being me—if we can become an us. And if not, we’ve each made a new friend. How does that sound to you?”

  He watched as the boy’s whole body relaxed, and he let out what Thornton thought was probably a relieved breath. “That sounds good. But, will you help me understand what it means to be in that type of relationship? I’ve never even heard of it. It sounds strange to me, but that’s probably only because it’s new, and I don’t know anything about it. Hell, I don’t even know what normal relationships are like, so I’m starting from scratch either way. And I won’t know if it’s something I want unless I understand what it entails.”

  He thought he knew what Asher was getting at but wanted to be sure. “Asher, are you a virgin?”

  The boy’s blush was becoming something he didn’t want to live without. “Yes. I don’t know anything about anything, especially the Daddy stuff.”

  So sweet and innocent. A thrill raced through Thornton at the thought. Should he have been as pleased as he was that the boy was untouched? Probably not, but that didn’t change the fact he fucking loved that Asher had never belonged to anyone else.

  “We’ll only ever do what you’re comfortable with. There’s no rush. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, and you can ask me as many questions as you want. I can even give you some blogs to read if you’re curious to learn more on your own. You might find answers to questions there that you’re uncomfortable asking me at first. And that’s okay.”

  “Yeah. I think I’d like to read about it too. Thanks.”

  “We’ll get you set up on my iPad later. Why don’t we get you upstairs for a bath now, and then you can rest for a bit?”

  Asher agreed, and they slowly made their way upstairs. He showed Asher into his bedroom and had him sit down on the chaise lounge he had in his little reading nook in one corner of his room. He went about running a hot bath for the boy with eucalyptus Epsom salts and some bubble bath. There was a mesh bath toy organizer suction cupped to the tiled wall beside the tub. He didn’t think Asher would use them, but he also didn’t want to hide them.

  He was going to be as open and honest as he could be about his preferences so Asher could see he was comfortable with what he desired in a relationship and unashamed of it. If that led to Asher being comfortable and unashamed by it, all the better. But if it turned out the trappings of his lifestyle weren’t for Asher, and if they were going to be friends, he’d need to understand it was a part of Thornton’s life.

  When the tub was ready, he went to get Asher and found him asleep on his chaise. He didn’t want to wake the boy and would have let him sleep, but when he crouched down and lightly caressed a finger down the boy’s cheek, he woke slowly, blinking up at him, vulnerability showing in his gaze. “Hey. Would you rather just sleep for a bit? This is a comfortable chair to rest on. I can put the blanket over you and let you sleep if that’s what you need.”

  Asher hummed. “I do want a nap, but that bath sounded really good. I don’t want to waste the hot water.”

  “There’s plenty more where that came from. If you need a nap right now, you can still have a bath later.”

  Asher shook his head and tried to push himself up, wincing with the movement. Thornton helped him up and led him to the bathroom where the boy looked around in wonder. Thornton had to admit it was one of his favorite rooms. He’d spared no expense making it just right for himself, keeping the possibility of a future partner in his mind as well.

  “This is beautiful.”

  “Thanks. I was happy with how it turned out. Are you comfortable with me helping you undress?”

  Asher turned a sweet smile his way. “Well, considering you found me completely naked, in a heap on the floor of my shower, covered only in a plastic shower curtain, and then proceeded to help me out and get me dressed and just generally take care of me while I was basically at my worst, I think I’m good with it.”

  Thornton grinned, chuckling at Asher’s slightly nervous rambling. “All right, but Asher,” his gaze turned serious, and Asher’s did the same, “remember what I said about saying no. I want you to say no if you’re feeling uncomfortable. I’d feel awful if you said yes but you really meant no.”

  Asher met his gaze head on. “I understand. But I really am comfortable with you helping me take a bath. I’m in a lot of pain, and I don’t know how much I’ll be able to manage on my own. And,” the boy blushed and averted his gaze, “I like it when you take care of me. I haven’t had a lot of that, so it’s new and it feels… I don’t know. Special?”
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  Thornton couldn’t have stopped himself from stepping closer to Asher if he’d tried. That sweet admission had his heart racing and feeling like a million bucks. He cupped Asher’s cheeks and tilted his head up so their gazes clashed again. If he wasn’t mistaken, there was heat in the boy’s eyes, though it was tempered by nerves and what he guessed was pain. He leaned down and kissed Asher’s nose and grinned when that nose wrinkled as the boy’s face scrunched up in confusion.

  “Come on then. Let’s get you undressed and washed, and then you can just lay in the bath and relax for a bit.”

  He slowly undressed the boy and realized that normally, just the act of doing so would have made him hard, but Asher’s body was covered with bruises. Bruises he’d put there with his carelessness. There was nothing sexual in his touch, only care and gentleness. He couldn’t help but hope for a day when he’d be able to undress Asher just like this when his skin was flawless and without the vestiges of pain.

  Thornton wanted nothing more than to be able to show Asher pleasure in every way he could possibly imagine. He wanted to send the boy flying and ensure he was there to catch him when he landed. When it finally came to removing his own sweatshirt from the boy’s body, he hated the pain it brought and the instant loss he felt when Asher no longer wore his clothing.

  The scar in the middle of his chest caught his eye again. He traced it with his finger. “When did you get this scar?”

  Asher’s eyes got distant, and his voice was stilted when he said, “When I was a baby. I had to have open heart surgery.”

  Asher ran his finger down the scar, and Thornton couldn’t help but ask, “And the arrhythmia is from the same issue?”

  “Yeah. I’ll always have it. I have to take blood thinners for the rest of my life. But other than that, it doesn’t really affect my day-to-day life.”

  Thornton nodded. He wanted to ask more but dropped the subject, not wanting to bring the boy any more pain, physically or mentally.