Pretty Boy (Perfect Boys #1) - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,17

thing like that? You don’t even know me.”

“I know plenty about you. I know about your favorite foods and your family, I know about the stray cat you snuck food to when you were eight, and that you don’t like wine.”

I shake my head, looking away from Barrett. “You know trivia, that don’t mean I should drop my entire life and follow you to a whole different state.”

“I know that town doesn’t deserve you,” he continues. “And I know that I want to learn everything else there is to know about you.”

I drag my teeth back and forth over my bottom lip, trying to get my thoughts in order. “You’re cracked. You know that, right?” I ask, finally looking at him again.

He chuckles, never taking his eyes off of me. “I’ve been told I can be a bit eccentric, yes. The thing is, I know what I want, and I’m relentless until I get it.”

“What do you want?” I ask warily. What’s the catch I’m missing? Because last I checked, handsome billionaires don’t often waltz into backwoods towns and sweep ugly bartenders off their feet.

“Right this second, I want you,” he answers, and the qualifier makes me feel a touch better. He’s not saying anything crazy like he’s fallen madly in love with me in the course of two days or that he’s going to keep me forever. He’s offering me a way out of this town, and then who knows what. When he eventually gets bored with whatever all this is, at least I’ll be somewhere new with different opportunities. This could be my chance to start fresh. I just have to be brave enough to take it.

“I have a lot of loose ends to tie up,” I tell him, in case he has some idea about driving straight to Vegas once we finish our dinner. “I’d have to quit my job, pack my stuff, leave a note at the house for mama so she knows where I went when she gets back into town.”

“Okay,” he agrees easily.

I swallow and straighten my silverware, just to have something to do with all of this excited energy suddenly coursing through me. “Okay,” I echo, sitting up a little straighter.

Our food is delivered, which gives me some time to process everything that just happened while the two of us take our first few bites. I don’t have the first clue what’s on my plate, but it tastes like heaven. I chew slowly, trying like hell to organize my thoughts and sort out if this is all real or if I’m about to wake up in my own bed to realize Barrett never existed in the first place.

“There is one thing you should know before you agree to come with me though,” he warns, and all of my excitement dies down in a snap. Here comes the catch. I brace for his next words, pretty sure they ain’t gonna be something I want to hear. “Have you ever heard of Daddy kink?”

I blink at him, trying to make sense of the words and coming up short. It only takes a second for me to panic that he might be about to confess to me that he’s my own danged father who left when I was born. The math don’t make sense since he told me yesterday he’s thirty-six, which makes him only eleven years older than me. But my panicking brain ain’t too worried about that logic.

“I swear on my gran’s grave, you’d better not be about to tell me you’re my worthless daddy.”

Barrett lets out a startled laugh and then shakes his head. “No, definitely not that,” he assures me, and I let out a relieved breath. “It’s more of a…a lifestyle I guess would be the right word.”

“A lifestyle?” I repeat.

“Sterling.” The way he says my name feels oddly like a caress. I like it more than I should. “When I date, I don’t have boyfriends; I have boys. I like to take care of my partners in every way I can, in every way they need me to, and I like it when they call me Daddy.”

“How do you take care of them?” I ask, my stomach dancing with nervous excitement. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but maybe whatever he’s into doesn’t sound too bad. It certainly puts a new spin on the charitable way he’s been acting.

“It depends on the boy and what they need. I love buying them nice things, picking out their clothes…spankings when