Pretty Boy (Perfect Boys #1) - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,60
liked it, he’d take it from there.
“Unless you don’t want to.”
Do I want to? I imagine the satisfaction of seeing this through, maybe even helping it grow over time. We can start in a few counties and build it up until there ain’t a single kid in the country who can’t get books if they want ‘em.
“I want to,” I answer, and he turns around to kiss me.
“Do you have any idea how proud I am of you?” he asks with one hand resting on the back of my neck, holding me in place and making me feel safe. I shake my head without thinking too much about the question. I ain’t done nothing for him to be proud of. “Oh, sweetheart,” he sighs, kissing my forehead this time and then letting me go.
Once I’m finished shaving him, he rinses off the last bits of shaving cream.
“You gotta get to work soon?” I ask. I didn’t look at the time when I got up, so I don’t know how much time he has before he has to leave.
“I was planning to bring you breakfast in bed and then keep you hostage there the rest of the day.”
I light up instantly. “You mean it? All day?”
He grins. “Go climb back into bed and stay there like a good boy while I make breakfast.”
I glance down at the remnants of last night’s activities and then back up at him. “Could I shower first?”
“Hmm, good thinking,” he agrees. “Shower, then back to bed.”
“Yes, Daddy,” I say, hurrying to hop into the shower where I spend my time indulging even more in the fantasy of Barrett being in love with me while I wash up. I know he ain’t, but it’s a dang fine fantasy all the same.
Chapter 19
Sterling
Barrett wasn’t kidding when he said having a lot of money gets things done quick. It only takes a week for me to have my very own passport in my hands. He finds me in the kitchen one afternoon a few days before our flight to Nice is scheduled. I flip it open and stare at it in wonder, running my fingers along the picture inside: a picture of me from last week that we took just for this. I always hated looking at pictures of myself for obvious reasons, but for once, my birthmark isn’t the very first thing my eyes are drawn to. They don’t let you smile in passport pictures, but there’s a slight curve to my lips from the grin I was fighting the whole time. And even if my mouth don’t have a full smile on it, it’s shining clear in my eyes. I try to think back to the few pictures that’ve been taken of me over the years, heck any time I actually forced myself to look in the mirror…
I realize I didn’t even know what I looked like with a smile until right this second.
“I have one more thing for you, little rabbit,” Barrett tells me. I covertly wipe my eyes while he reaches into his back pocket and pulls out two pieces of folded paper. He hands them both to me, and I unfold the first one and see a list that it takes me a second to process, but when I come to the line that says HIV, I realize what I’m looking at.
“Our STD tests?” I ask, looking over at the second column that says NEGATIVE all the way down.
“Yup. That’s yours, and the other one is mine,” he says. I unfold the second one and see the same results from top to bottom. I wasn’t expecting any surprises, but it’s still a relief to see we’re both negative for everything. Even though Barrett said I didn’t need to get tested since I never been with anyone before, I insisted. Fair’s fair after all.
A ripple of excitement runs through me knowing what this means. Grinning, I fold the papers back up and set them, along with my new passport on the kitchen counter.
“Daddy,” I say, grinning from ear to ear.
“Yes, Pretty Boy?” he asks, his voice dipping low enough to send a tingle along my spine. By the smile on his face, he knows exactly what’s going through my head right now, but he’s gonna make me say it.
“Can we…” I lick my lips and step closer, grabbing onto the front of his shirt and looking up at him through my eyelashes, ‘cause I noticed before he really seems to like that.