them have a clue?”
Craig gave him a wicked grin. “I hope not. I can’t wait to see how this pans out.”
“You did this deliberately,” Louis accused.
“Who? Me?”
“You know that innocent look doesn’t work on me.”
Craig grinned again. “But it did on them.”
Louis held out his hand. “Kiss me, Daddy. Your boy needs a reminder of who he belongs to.”
“My pleasure, my boy. My pleasure.”
Chapter 14
Louis
The party took more out of Louis than he cared to admit. He woke aching all over and feeling worse than he had for days. He bit back a moan as he got up, not wanting to wake Craig, and fumbled his way downstairs and into the den. No bad dreams though. That was a bonus.
The doctors had told him it would take weeks to get over the assault, and he needed to rest. He’d been trying his hardest to forget that. But he was sure his doctors wouldn’t consider a long motorcycle ride and an all-night party restful activity.
Now he needed to check in with Jamie, who greeted him with, “You sound like crap.”
“I feel like crap,” Louis admitted. “Do you need me this morning?”
“No. It’s a quiet night tonight. I’m interviewing new waitstaff later, but apart from that it’s business as usual.”
“Great. I’ll be in later.”
“Don’t come in at all,” Jamie ordered.
“I’m coming in,” Louis insisted. “There are some ideas I want to discuss with you and Vera.”
“They could wait until tomorrow.”
“I’m coming in,” Louis growled, but the effect was spoiled by the huge smile on his face.
He said goodbye and curled up on the couch. He needed coffee but that could wait. That was where Craig found him dozing twenty minutes later. He jolted awake as Craig laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
Louis opened one eye to see Craig hunkered down next to him. Man, his Daddy looked sexy with bed hair and sleepy eyes.
Craig grinned. “You know you said that out loud. You look like crap by the way. Back to bed.”
“Thanks,” Louis grumbled. “But I don’t think I can move.”
Craig grabbed a throw and tucked it around him. “Coffee?” He laughed at Louis’s moan. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’ll make it and come sit with you.”
“I need to go into the office this afternoon,” Louis said.
He expected Craig to argue, but he merely nodded.
“Maybe you can carve out some time for our vacation then.”
“It’s on my list,” Louis said. “As soon as possible.” Craig’s expression eased and Louis realized Craig had been expecting him to say he was too busy. Louis reached out and took Craig’s hand. “I’m not going back on what I said. We need to make time for both of us.”
Craig bent to kiss his cheek. “Thank you. And I’ll talk to QuickFire and CDR about scaling down your security operation. Coffee. I really need coffee.”
He left the den, and Louis let out a huge sigh of relief. Losing the teams would be a huge bonus to his life and his wallet. It bothered him that they seemed no closer to finding out who’d arranged the beating and why, but it had been long enough with nothing happening. He needed to get back to his life again.
He dozed until Craig came back in with coffee and a stack of toast. He sat up and propped himself in one corner. Craig handed him a cup in one hand and a piece of toast in the other. Louis eyed the toast without enthusiasm.
“Eat,” Craig ordered. He was using the blue and white cup again.
Louis growled. Craig ignored him and sat down in the opposite corner.
“I need to talk to Graham this afternoon. I’ll take you into the club and work while you’re having your meetings,” Craig said.
Louis held back a grin. “You think talking to Graham is work?”
“Sometimes,” Craig admitted. “Don’t you dare tell him that.”
“Scout’s honor,” Louis mumbled around the toast.
“Were you ever a scout?”
“For a month. I didn’t fit.”
Craig glanced at him, obviously noticing Louis’s flat tone. “Too gay?”
“Too brown.”
Craig leaned forward and squeezed his thigh. “I’m sorry.”
Louis shrugged, then spilled coffee over his groin. “Ow! Fuck! Sorry! Ow!”
“Just stay there and let me help.”
Five embarrassing minutes later, Louis was in fresh pants. His groin had been inspected, groped, and declared perfect, if stinging a little. He had more coffee too. He pouted into his coffee cup.
“Stop sulking,” Craig said, not bothering to hide his smirk.
“Not sulking,” Louis sulked.
Craig chuckled. “That livened up the morning.”
“For you. You got to grope me.