Page 12 of Space Daddy and a Boy Called Twink

TWINK

“Isaid three,”the customer reminded me as I was about to walk away from the caramel pump.

“Thatwasthree pumps, sir.”

His brows knitted together. “I think you only did two.”

Okay, sure. And then you’ll complain about it having too much caramel, as if it were my fault. Ugh.

I hated taking shifts at the café. Sure, I liked coffee, but I wasn’t a barista. When I first started here, you had to learn to cover in the café for breaks, and my first day, I asked a cute guy if he needed his bagel heated up…

His frozen bagel!

But if the store needed a guy to burn their cookies and oversteam milk, I was their twink!

This job was so different from the bookstore, where I knew exactly what I was doing. Where I could recommend my latest favorite reads to customers and introduce them to an author or series I was sure they’d love.

I added the extra pump to the guy’s latte and gave him his warmed-up bran muffin before approaching my coworker, Eric, who sat at the bar like he normally did, keeping me company on his break.

Peeking up from theX-Mencomic book he was reading, he said, “So Roger told me you were getting under to get over last night.”

“That mouth. Yeah, he walked right in while the guy was still in his fetishwear from the night before.”

I was glad Eric brought him up, though. It was nice thinking about how sexy he looked, how it felt to have him keep me from slamming against the wall (though I still didn’t get how that happened), and the way he gripped my wrist…firm but gentle… There was a flutter in my belly as I thought about him, which I tried to chase away because it was silly to think about a guy like this, whom I couldn’t even consider a one-night stand.

“Roger also told me,” Eric added, “that the guy is averyattractive Daddy.”

He didn’t try to disguise his jealousy.

I thought about Daddy’s beefy physique, his striking features, and those eyes…fuck.

“Definitely attractive, but I’m not sure he was into me.” Something I was more disappointed about than was warranted, given I’d only met him last night.

“Is that something you worked out while he was coming up in you?” Eric joked.

“I wish. We didn’t do anything.” As I said it, I couldn’t help thinking that sounded disturbingly like what Carter said when I first accused him of hooking up with Leo, so I amended, “He was a real gentleman and helped me get home. And then we cuddled.”

“I don’t know that gentlemen cuddle on the first night,” Eric teased. “But that sounds like the Charliest thing you could have told me. Makes me want to barf.” He made a retching sound, which earned glares from our customers.

“Eric…” I chastised, and he noticed the looks.

He wasn’t wrong about it being the Charliest thing. I do like all the cheesy things—cuddling, long walks, date nights. Not that I would mind a nice dick filling me out.

“Whatever,” Eric said. “I’m only disappointed because I was hoping you’d have a sex adventure.”

“Why?”

“Because one of us should.”

“You should have come out with us.”

“I would have, but I was watching my shows, and I want to socialize about as much as you want to be in the café.”

“That’s not true,” I insisted. “You like to socialize. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be bothering me while I’m supposed to be working.”

I was only teasing, which he knew, since this was pretty typical banter for us.

He glared. “You know what I mean. It would be nice to meet guys outside of the apps.”