Page 44 of Soft
Grizzly:It looks so peaceful. Welcome back.
Paxi:Feels like I never left. At least my heart hasn’t.
That was the thing about him that I was still getting used to. Everything he said landed in a way I knew he meant as morethan the words on their own. Not because he was being dramatic about it, but because he was passionate.
Paxi said what he felt, and it was always a little more direct than I had braced for. I was beginning to understand I’d never be fully prepared to hear his thoughts.
The first day he came into the office, he brought two huge boxes of donuts. I worried about how much he thought we could eat until I looked inside. They were all super elaborate designs with various toppings. Basically, it was a sugary paradise.
After picking out our treats, he followed me to my office. We ate in silence, neither of us jumping to talk when there was delicious food to be eaten.
He finished first even though he’d had two to my one. “I’m ready to get started. Tell me what I need to do to help you.”
“Help me with what?” I asked after my last bite. “I’ve been working on some deals for you, but we can’t do much until the draft. The sponsors want to know what team you’re playing for to prevent a conflict of interest.”
It was hard to keep my business head on with his gaze so intently on me. His deep, calming eyes made me want to regress so freaking much.
“Then let me help in other ways. Aside from keeping up with my workouts, I don’t have much else going on. I’ll just be bored around the house,” he admitted.
I laughed and shook my head. “Don’t you need to unpack? Maybe get settled with your dad?”
“Nope! The thing about moving is that Pops is used to handling it mostly alone. When I try to help him, he gets frustrated. This morning he told me to leave or he was going to lose it on me.”
“Which made you think to come here with donuts.” The series of events now made sense.
He tilted his head a bit, watching me work through my thoughts. “Sure, but I also wanted an excuse to see you. Not that I truly needed one. But I was hoping to spend some time together. The texts you sent were a bit vague at times. I wondered if you were upset with me or something.”
My jaw dropped. “Why would I be upset? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know that.” He shrugged, leaning forward in his chair. “But my mind loves to play tricks on me, especially with important stuff.”
I didn’t miss the way he said I wasimportantto him. The word felt like a warm hug in a way I couldn’t truly explain. I knew no matter what, he was going to make his presence known, and I wondered what it would look like.
With time, I learned exactly what it looked like. We fell into a working rhythm easily, which I had hoped for but hadn't been entirely certain of until it was happening.
He came into the office every day after his morning workout, freshly showered and tempting as hell. There was no hope for my cock when he came through the door. Darn thing would perk up wanting attention.
Good thing most of my work could be done behind a desk. There would be no hiding it otherwise.
Paxton—because Paxi was for non-work hours—was attentive, eager to help, and willing to push back when he thought there might be a better method. Overall, he was an asset I hadn’t expected to gain.
My other clients noticed I had a new pep in my step, though I was careful to be professional about where it stemmed from. We didn’t need word spreading before it was time. Plus I didn’t want the guys to think I favored baseball over their sports. Their egos wouldn’t take the notion well.
Heck, we hadn’t even announced I was his new agent.
Moseley wasn’t subtle about his delight at having Paxton around the office. He had taken to leaving cold drinks in the small office fridge, a habit Paxton noticed and thanked him for. Apparently they were his favorites. He’d mentioned them in an interview Moseley had watched when doing research.
Cheyenne welcomed him into the fold as well, treating him in a motherly way despite them being only a few years apart in age. She did that for all of us though. The woman was a nurturer at heart.
With the draft only four weeks away, the formal paperwork with the team was moving through its final review and everything was on track to be official before the first round of picks. I had done this enough times to know the signs of a deal that was going to hold, and this one had that feeling all the way through.
This meant that the professional side of things was, for the moment, more settled than it had been. And that gave me far toomuch time to worry about the “other stuff” Paxton and I hadn’t discussed yet.
I’d always been thinking about it, if I was being honest. Ever since the party, it’d been a constant loop in the back of my mind. Sometimes I could push it away, though those attempts had been largely unsuccessful.
Wells was a reasonable piece of evidence for how much I thought about Paxton as my Daddy. My bear slept with me every night without fail. He was a comfort, as well as a reminder of what I could have if I just let myself.
The truth of where I stood wasn’t complicated, even if it felt that way. I wanted Paxton. I wanted the professional relationship we were building, yes, but I also wanted to be his Little. I’d wanted that since before I’d allowed myself to say so even in the privacy of my own thoughts, and sitting with the wanting had become much harder now that he was here.
