“It’s been too long,” Graham said. “I think you should come talk to me.”
Craig held back a groan. Was every Daddy going to make that order? “I can’t leave Louis, sir.”
“I know. Bring him with you. He’s friends with my boy, you know?”
“No, I didn’t. You have a new boy?”
Graham had been alone the whole time Craig had known him. His previous boy had died, and Graham hadn’t felt like taking another. His new boy had to be special.
“I do. Ian is a member of young Cade’s band.”
“That’s wonderful news,” Craig said sincerely.
“I’ll expect you this afternoon at three.”
Graham disconnected the call before Craig could say he needed to check with Louis. Typical Graham.
Craig walked back across the entry and knocked on the door of the den. They’d had few rules about privacy, but Louis was a successful businessman. There were times he couldn’t be interrupted just because Craig wanted to go all Daddy on his ass.
“Come in.” Louis sounded exhausted.
“Hey.” He studied Louis’s face, noting the tear stains and puffy cheeks. His boy needed to be in bed, not working. “Daddy Graham has invited us over to his place this afternoon.”
Louis managed a tired laugh. “You know they’re all going to want to talk to you, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“I’ll stay here. Quinn could take care of me.”
“No.” Craig cut that off. “He wants to see both of us.”
“I don’t know that I’m up for it,” Louis confessed.
“You need sleep,” Craig said.
“I slept all night,” Louis protested.
Craig came over and knelt in front of Louis. “You can barely stay awake, boy. Sleep for a couple of hours and I’ll get you up so you can work for an hour before we go.” He could see the reluctance on Louis’s face. “How about you nap here while I read?”
“You won’t leave me alone?” Louis asked shakily.
Now Craig understood some of Louis’s reluctance. He didn’t want to be on his own. “I promise I’ll stay with you.”
“What are you going to read?”
Craig wandered over to the bookcase and picked out a thriller he knew would annoy him.
“You’re only going to complain that they get everything wrong,” Louis said with a yawn.
“I don’t care. Come sit down with me.” He sat in one corner of the leather couch and encouraged Louis to lay down with his head on Craig’s lap.
It took a while for Louis to relax but the feel of Craig stroking his hair seemed to do the trick. Louis’s breathing deepened and he fell asleep, snoring lightly.
Craig didn’t open the book for a long while. He watched the sleeping Louis for any sigh of distress, but Louis stayed relaxed. Finally Craig picked up the book and turned to page one. “Well, that’s wrong,” he muttered.
Chapter 5
Louis
Louis felt groggy when he woke. He raised his head to find Craig asleep, the book open on his chest. He picked it up and look at it. Page one. He grinned. It must have been bad. He sat up and Craig opened one eye.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Louis assured him. “What time are we due at Graham’s?”
“Three. What’s the time now?”
Louis glanced at his watch on his left wrist. “One thirty. I slept for another four hours.”
“Me too. I hate jet lag. Do you want to work for a while?”
“I need to check in with Jamie again and see if Holden has backed off.”
Craig yawned and sat up. “You do that. I’ll make us lunch.”
“I’m not—”
“You’re going to eat,” Craig said firmly, and despite Louis glowering at him, that was the end of that discussion.
Craig vanished while Louis made his calls. Louis was relieved that Jamie was calmer this time and it didn’t take him long to discover everything was working well, despite his week-long absence. He was pleased to find he didn’t need to call Joseph Holden because Jamie had handled it.
“I should make you my manager,” he quipped. “You run the place better than I do.”
“I’ve been telling you that for years,” Jamie retorted. When Louis didn’t respond Jamie said, “Boss? Is everything all right?”
Louis heard the concern in his voice. “Yes, yes, everything’s fine,” he lied. “When I get back to the office, we’ll have a proper conversation.”
“You’re not selling the business, are you?” Now Jamie sounded really worried.
“No, but maybe it’s time you got that promotion.”
“Boss.”
Louis chuckled. It was worth it just to hear the shakiness in his usually confident assistant’s voice. Then he remembered something else he needed to discuss. “We need to talk about the party next week.”
“It’s all in hand, and the next event too. Stop worrying. And thanks for letting me deal with Holden. It gave me great pleasure to tell him to fuck off.”
“He won’t stop trying. He’s convinced he could be my Daddy.”
“Like he could. You’d eat him alive,” Jamie scoffed.
Louis grinned. There were few secrets between him and Jamie, and one of the reasons Jamie had been his assistant for so long was that he didn’t think any less of Louis because he was a boy. Louis had a feeling Jamie was a boy himself, but he’d never spoken to Louis about it, and Louis respected his privacy.
Craig put his head around the door. “Lunch.”
Louis nodded and held up one finger. Craig frowned, but he disappeared.
“I’ve got to go, Jamie.”
“Okay. I’ll deal with Mr. Holden in the future.”
“With pleasure.” Louis would be happy never to talk to the scheming asshole again.
He said goodbye, disconnected the call, and made his way into the kitchen.
“Good timing,” Craig said as he poured soup into two bowls.
“You’ll be sick of soup,” Louis said. He was sick of soup, but it was one of the few things which didn’t hurt his mouth.
“This is homemade chicken noodle soup.”
Louis frowned. “You had time to make homemade soup?”
“No. Jace’s fiancée made it for you when she heard what happened.”
“That’s really kind of her, but why?”
Louis had met Jace when he was first with Craig, but not his fiancée. Why would she be making him soup?
“She goes to your club. She says, and I quote, “It’s one of the few places I can go and not get groped, thanks to Louis. Hence the soup.”
Louis nodded as he sat down. He had a zero-tolerance policy on any kind of harassment. “I’ll call her before we go, if that’s okay with Jace, to thank her.”
Craig grinned and waggled his phone. “I thought you’d say that, and I have her number.”
The soup was delicious. Louis managed about half of it before he had to concede defeat. At Craig’s frown, he said, “You keep feeding me. It’s more than I’ve eaten all week.”