Pretty Boy (Perfect Boys #1) - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,57

words, and I tighten my arm around him, kissing his neck a few more times for good measure.

“Let me take you to France,” I insist, this time putting an edge of authority into my voice. I can’t stand the idea of leaving him here by himself for a week while I’m away.

He sighs and then laughs. “Fine, Daddy, if it’ll make you happy, you can take me on a vacation.”

I scoff playfully. “It’s not a vacation, it’s work.”

“Oh yeah? What kinda work will I be doing?” He turns his head and arches eyebrow.

“I’m sure I can think of a job or two for you.”

He laughs again, and I swear there can’t be a sweeter sound in the world.

After dinner, we clean up together and then I scoop Sterling up and take him to the living room, putting him onto my lap again so we can cuddle and watch a movie. He tucks his head under my chin, curling close and making happy noises that keep me smiling while he gets comfortable.

We end up talking and kissing more than actually watching the movie, but neither of us seem to mind all that much. By the time we crawl into bed a few hours later, Sterling settling his head on my lap so I can read a few chapters to him before we go to sleep, there’s little doubt in my mind that I am in fact falling for him, hard and fast, and I can’t seem to find a single thing wrong with that.

Chapter 17

Sterling

“Any fun plans tonight?” Em asks while we’re finishing up for the day. It’s a Sunday so the store closes at five, which is nice, except that tonight Barrett has some kinda business meeting, which means I’ll have to go home to an empty house.

“Gonna go sit on my lonesome and wait for Barrett to get home from some business dinner.”

He lights up. “W-w-we should hang out.”

“Hang out?” I repeat. I’m not stupid, I know what it means, but ain’t nobody ever used it to refer to spending time with me before. Well, once but it turned out to be just a joke at my expense. I shake off that unpleasant memory.

“Yeah, I’ll c-come over to that g-giant mansion and we’ll order p-p-pizza to eat on the expensive sofa,” he says, grinning and waggling his eyebrows.

I laugh, a fuzzy feeling filling me. I don’t wanna get my hopes up too high, but I did always want a friend. “Yeah, you should come over.”

“Yay.” He claps his hands together, and I chuckle again.

We head out together, and I wait while he locks up, then I lead him over to where Kane is parked and waiting.

“You have y-y-your own chauffeur?” he gasps.

I wrinkle my nose. “It’s weird; I don’t know if I like it,” I confess, shooting an apologetic look at Kane. “Sorry.”

He grins at me. “I understand,” he assures me. “Mr. Russell pays me whether you feel awkward about it or not, so it’s all good.”

When we get out of the car at the house, Em gets excited all over again. “Holy sss-shit. Your Daddy is a lll-legit sugar Daddy.”

“Uh, I don’t think he’s a sugar Daddy if I don’t care about the money?” I say uncertainly. Honestly, I wouldn’t exactly know, but sugar daddy sounds like I’m a gold digger.

Em shrugs. Inside, I give him the full tour, and, no surprise, he’s as excited about the library as I was the first day.

“Look at all these b-b-books,” he says, lovingly dragging his finger along a row of spines, his eyes sparkling as he pulls one off the shelf and takes it over to Barrett’s favorite chair. I follow him, plopping down in the other one and pulling my legs up. “I a-a-always loved to read. My childhood was...well, i-it doesn’t matter, but b-b-books were my escape.”

I nod in agreement. “Me too. I couldn’t get my hands on too many though, and then I sorta fell behind with learning to read and felt stupid when I was a teenager reading kid’s books,” I confess.

“W-why couldn’t you get books?” he asks, setting down the one he’s holding and bringing his legs up too, making himself comfortable in his chair.

A warm feeling fills my chest again. We’re just two friends talking about our childhoods like people do. I try not to smile too big, just in case he thinks I’m weird and changes his mind about the whole friend thing.

“We didn’t have no money,” I answer, deciding not to give