Marry Me, Daddy: Rainbow Room Book 1.5

by L. Michael

  “I want to stay, but all my uniforms are at my apartment, and I have an early shift. Can I stay another night?”

  “It’s an open invitation. You can stay whenever you want. I like having you here.” He leaned in and kissed my nose. Shocked by the gesture, I reached up and touched the spot where I could still feel the heat from his kiss. He winked at me. “Ok, Let’s get you back to your apartment.”

  Chapter 6

  Darrell

  Over the next few months, Josh and I settled into a comfortable routine. We got together on the weekends when we could and had play dates during the week when we both had days off. As a new doctor, I didn’t have much vacation time, and our shifts rotated, so coordinating schedules was demanding, but we made it work.

  It was good for both of us, and I felt like we were making real progress in our relationship—both as boyfriends and as Daddy and his Boy. Over the last months, I felt like Josh started to trust me. At least I thought he was until I found out he didn’t trust me as much as I thought.

  My shift ended early, so I decided to surprise Josh and maybe take him out to dinner. Checking my phone, I saw that his shift was about to end, as well. As our relationship grew, we started to send each other our schedules, so we knew when we were working. Perfect. If I rushed through my shower, I would make it to the station in time to pick him up. And I did. Twenty minutes before his shift ended, I walked into the station and right into Angela, his colleague.

  “Hey Doc, I’m glad you’re here. I was about to call the hospital.”

  “Hey, Angela, what’s the matter?" Well, that was a weird way to greet me. Frowning, I walked over to her. “Is something wrong with Josh?”

  “Do you know how many hours Josh has been working?”

  “No.” That had my frown deepening. What the hell was going on? “I only know about the shifts he was scheduled to work. My days have been pretty busy, and I spent most of the time in the hospital. How many hours has he been working?”

  “Let’s just say over the last few weeks he’s put in enough time to work for three people.”

  “What? How did he manage that?”

  “Well, we had a paramedic get hurt, then we had another one got fired, so it left a hole in our schedules. And you know Josh, he wouldn’t let anyone get left behind when he could help out.”

  Shaking my head, I took a deep breath to try and calm my internal rage. Well, it wasn’t precisely rage. It was more disappointment that Josh did not confide in me and told me what was going on. And I was mad that he worked himself into a burnout.

  “But that’s not the reason why I was about to call you.”

  “There's more?”

  “When he came in this morning, he looked tired and like was barely holding up. He insisted on working his shift, but as the day went on, it got worse.” Angela took a deep breath. “After our last call, he lay down for a nap until our next one. That was three hours ago, and he hadn’t gotten up since. I checked on him a while ago, and he was shivering with fever.”

  “Why didn’t he call me?” This little shit. While I was working, looking forward to our date night, Josh was totally out of it and ill. And instead of calling me to come and get him, he just lay down at the station for a nap. We had to talk about that at some point. Right now, it was more important to check on him and get him home.

  “He said you were busy and that I shouldn’t bother you. But when I saw that he was still sleeping and feverish, I thought it would be best to call the hospital to get you.”

  “Thanks, Angela. I appreciate it.” Smiling at her, I looked around the station. “Where is he?”

  “Come on, and I’ll show you.”

  Angela led me into the locker room and to the dorm area, where they had beds set up. It was almost entirely dark, and there was only bed occupied in the back of the room. I could see a body, wholly covered by a blanket.

  “Thanks, Angela. I’ll take care of him and get him home.”

  “Alright. I’ll leave you alone for a moment and get his stuff.” Angela smiled, then she turned and walked back into the locker room while I knelt beside the bed.

  Quietly, I reached over and pulled the blanket back so I could see his face. Josh’s face was pale and sweaty. Even without touching him, it was apparent that he was running a fever. Gently touching his forehead, I winced. That was not only a fever. Josh was burning up. Trying to wake him up, I stroked his cheek.

  “Josh? Come on, Baby Boy. You need to get up for me.”

  Josh groaned but leaned instinctively into my touch. I changed my tone, put a little more force in my voice, and tried again.

  “Come on, Josh. You need to wake up for Daddy. Now.”

  “D-Daddy?”

  My heart stopped, and I sucked in a breath. To hear Josh call me Daddy was the sweetest moment. Yeah, my brain's analytical part said it was just a fever talking, but my heart didn’t care. After all those months, he just called me Daddy for the first time, even if his voice sounded weak and hoarse.

  “Yes, Baby Boy. It’s Daddy. Come on. You need to get up for me so we can go home.”

  He groaned again but was moving a bit more. “Here, let me help you.” I swept the blanket off and helped him sit on the side of the bed. Josh raised his head and blinked at me.

  “Daddy? You’re here?”

  “Yes, sweetpea. I’m here. How are you feeling?”

  “Hurts. E…Everything. So hot. N…No cold.” The way his voice sounded, I was pretty sure that he’d caught the flu.

  “Can you stand, or do you want Daddy to help you?”

  “Help.”

  “Ok, come on, Buddy.” My heart hurt with how weak he sounded. I put my arm around his shoulders and pulled him up. He was a bit shaky, so I held him for a moment before making a move to the door. Slowly and carefully, we made our way out to my car. Angela walked with us, opened doors, and made sure that I had Josh tucked in the car. Then she handed me his backpack.

  “I’ll put him down for sick leave for a few days. Let me know if he needs more time. Josh has my number.”

  “Thanks, Angela.”

  She waved goodbye, and I walked around the car to get inside. Looking over at Josh, I saw that his eyes were open now, and he was watching me.

  “Are you mad?”

  “You don’t need to worry about that right now. Ok sport? Let’s get you home and comfortable, so you feel a bit better.”

  “Yes, Daddy.” He closed his eyes and leaned back against the seat, and fell asleep again. Well, that was new. Usually, Josh would argue or bother me to talk about things. Guess a feverish Josh was easier to handle than a healthy Josh.

  On the way to my place, I stopped at a pharmacy and picked up medicine that I thought would be useful. Then I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things to make him a light meal to make sure he didn’t get dehydrated and had some nutrients in his body.

  Josh

  My body hurt everywhere. Shit, even my hair hurt. I knew it was a bad idea to pick up all those hours, but we were short-staffed, and it was nice to have a bit of back up in my bank account. Over the last few weeks, I had crammed enough hours to make me hate my life. I was tired and had made myself sick. After our last call, I knew that I needed to close my eyes for a minute, so I lay down in one of the beds. The last thing I remember before I passed out was how I pulled the blanket over my head to block out the irritating lights.

  The next thing was that someone was trying to wake me. A faint voice tickled my brain and was trying to get my attention. Daddy? No, it couldn’t be. Daddy was working, and I wasn’t going to his place for a couple more hours. But his voice broke through the fog in my brain. I felt like dying, but Daddy was here, and he was ushering me to go home with him. The walk from the break room to the parking lot never felt so long in my life, and by the time Darrell helped me into the seat, I was ready to pass out again.

  But I was still awake enough to see the frown on Darrell's face when he got into the car.

&
nbsp; “Are you mad?”

  “You don’t need to worry about that right now. Ok sport? Let’s get you home and comfortable, so you feel a bit better.”

  Yeah, whatever. Right now, I didn’t care if he was mad or not. I just wanted to close my eyes again. I must have fallen asleep because Darrell gently nudged my shoulder to wake me.

  “Ok, Buddy. We’re home.” Home. Wow, it sounded so lovely when he said it like that. “You wait right there, and I will help you out of the car, okay?”

  “Yes, Daddy,” I nodded, then suddenly realized what I had just said. Swallowing hard, I waited for a reaction, but Darrell didn’t say anything. He just winked at me and came around to help me out of the car.

  It was a good thing he was there because I still felt week, and when I got out of the car, I was shivering again. My knees almost gave out, but Daddy was right there to hold me until I could stand again. With his arm wrapped around my shoulder, we walked to the elevator. It took a bit to get me up to his apartment, but we did it.

  Darrell opened the door and ushered me inside. “Do you want to lay down on the sofa, my bed, or in the playroom?”

  “P…Playroom, please. I want my stuffies.”

  “Okay, Baby Boy.”

  We got to the playroom, and Darrell set me on the bed, then he went to the dresser. For a second, I watched him getting some jammies, but then my eyes dropped close. Why was everything so damn, exhausting? I just walked from the car to my daybed, and it felt like I had run a marathon. Without really opening my eyes, I let Darrell help me out of my uniform and into warm and comfy jammies. Then he helped me lay down and tucked me in before brushing a kiss to my forehead.

  “You rest a minute while I get you some medicine.”

  “I don’t want any medicine,” I whined, but the look he gave me made me shiver. But I was sure that it wasn’t from the fever but from Darrells stern look.

  “Listen very carefully. You are sick, and you are going to do what Daddy says. If I say you need medicine, then you will take it. Do you understand?”

  Words failed me, so I just nodded.

  “Good Boy. I’ll be right back.”

  Grabbing my clownfish, I closed my eyes and snuggled into the bed. Luckily, the comforter was thick and warm because I was freezing again. Snuggling as deep into it as I could, I hugged my fish to my chest and sighed. I hated being sick, but I had to admit that I liked how Darrell was looking after me. Moments later, Darrell was back.

  “Ok, Baby Boy. Open your mouth.”

  “I can't take pills, Daddy,” I whined, and tears gathered in my eyes. “They’ll make me throw up. Please don’t make me take them.”

  Smiling at me, Darrell reached out and brushed my tears away. “That’s why you don’t want medicine? Okay, will you trust your Daddy? I have an idea how you can take them, without throwing up, okay?”

  When I nodded, Darrell set the glass of water down on the dresser and left the room. I was still wondering what idea he had about the pills when he already came back with...Pudding? My confusion must have shown on my face because Darrell laughed.

  “Don’t worry, sport. I’m going to show you a trick I learned many years ago.”

  He opened the pudding and spooned out a bit. Then he shocked the hell out of me when he put the pills in the pudding.

  Darrell saw me watching and explained, “I grew up next to a boy who was sick. He hated to take his pills, so his mom showed me this trick. Trust me, it works.”

  Tentatively I opened my mouth but closed my eyes. I felt the spoon enter my mouth, and instinctively closed my lips around it. The chocolate flavor burst across my tongue. I felt the pudding, but I couldn’t feel the pills, so I prayed and swallowed. I waited for the vomit to come, but it never did. My eyes popped open, and I looked at Darrell. He winked at me, scooped out more pudding, and repeated the process. This time I gladly opened my mouth and took the spoon. The pills went down so well. It was a miracle.

  “I am so proud of you, Baby. You did so well. Here let’s finish the rest of this pudding and then get you something to drink. Then I want you to sleep.”

  “Ok, Daddy.” A colossal yawn struck. He didn’t need to tell me twice to get some sleep. I was ready to pass out again. Darrell fed me the rest of the yummy pudding then helped me drink some sports drink. After that, he tucked the covers around me and kissed my forehead.

  “Ok, Baby. You rest. I’ll be back in a bit to check on you. But don’t worry if you need me, you just call, and I’ll be here.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to make some calls to take some time off in the hospital, and then I’m going to make some fresh chicken soup for you.”

  “But...you need to go to work.”

  “I need to look after my precious Baby Boy.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Let me worry about those things. Now close your eyes, Sweet Boy, and sleep.”

  Dutifully I closed my eyes, and while Darrell ran his fingers through my hair, I drifted off.

  When I woke, the room was lit only by a small lamp on my dresser.

  My dresser? Huh? I wonder when I decided this was my room. I looked around the room and saw Darrell asleep in the rocking chair in the corner. He looked so handsome, sleeping there. Wait, if he was here…Did that mean he spent all day watching over me? The walls around my heart shattered. This man had shown me such kindness and love over the last few months, and I held back. The old hurts and fears of my past held me prisoner and didn’t let me move forward. But there, laying in my race car bed, I felt such love for Darrell it brought tears to my eyes. I closed my eyes and let the tears go. Then I felt a hand brush against my cheek.

  “Baby, are you feeling ok. Why are you crying?”

  I threw my arms around his neck, pulled him close, and sobbed into his shoulder.

  “I…I…lo…love…y…y…you.”

  His arms wrapped around me.

  “Oh, Josh. I love you, too. So much. I know we’ve only known each other for a few months, but I fall more in love with you every day. My sweet Boy.” Darrell stroked my hair. “Move over, sweetpea. I need to cuddle my precious Boy.”

  As I moved over, Darrell crawled into the bed and pulled me close. Crying, being ill, and my emotional confession took what energy I had built, and I drifted back to sleep held by my Daddy.

  Chapter 7

  Josh

  Going back to work after being sick for a week was a pain in the ass. Angela and I were sitting in a parking lot, finishing up paperwork about our last call. But my thoughts wandered. I missed the special time with my Daddy. Daddy. Never in a million years did I think I would have the opportunity to experience the joy of having a real live Daddy Dom. And Darrell was my perfect Daddy Dom. He was stern but kind, caring, and doting on me. The way he took care of me while I was sick just cemented him into my heart.

  “Hey, you’re quit over there. Are you feeling, ok? Do you need to go back to the station?”

  “I’m fine. Just thinking.”

  “Oh, I get it. Thinking about your hot Doc?” She winked at me.

  “Be quiet, Lady. Just remember I know who you are crushing on. One word from me, and she will know all about it.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare,” she spat.

  “Try me.”

  “You do that, and I’ll tell your Daddy.”

  “No, you-” My mouth dropped open, and I stared at my partner. “Wha—”

  “Josh. I may not be a Mommy, but I know a Little when I see one. I’ve been around in the community for a long time now. I know all the different kinds of kinks.”

  I could not make the connection. My brain refused to acknowledge that my partner knew all about me.

  “How long have you known?”

  “Since the day we responded to the call with the kid that came out of the burning building. Both his parents were killed in the fire. You crawled into the gurney with him and held him as he cried. Then you started to distract him by talking about your car coll
ection. By the time we got to the hospital, you were both laughing and play fighting. When we left him at the hospital, he shot you with his finger gun, and you pretended to die. I knew there was something special about you.” Angela smiled at me, and for a moment, I thought back to that horrible night, where a boy had lost everything. Then I looked at her again.

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “It’s not my place to pry into your personal life. You’re a great partner, and I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable or have that interfere with our work. But lately, I have noticed a change in you. Since you met Darrell, I can feel you coming out of your shell and embracing who you are. I know how much it hurts to deny a part of yourself. The more you stuff the feelings away, the more miserable you will feel.”

  “Sounds like the voice of experience.”

  “Yep, and a story for another day. I’m glad you are feeling more confident and finding out who you are.” Angela smiled and bumped my shoulder with hers, and then she sighed when our radio beeped. Another call came in and interrupted our conversation. Angela and I pushed aside everything not related to work and responded to the call. That was the reason why we were such a great team. We could joke around together, have serious talks, but when we were needed, we worked pretty well together.

  When my shift ended on this day, I was spent. All I wanted was to go home and fall into my bed. Well, that wasn’t true. I wanted to go over to Darrell's place and fall in his bed. Or my racecar bed. I couldn’t decide which one was better, but I knew that both of them were better than my own in my apartment. As I walked out of the locker room, I bumped into an unmoving body. Hands gripped my upper arms and kept me from falling on my ass.

  “Oh. Sor—” I looked up and found myself looking into my Daddy’s eyes. “Daddy?”

  He winked and bent down to kiss my cheek. “Hey, Sport. How was your day.”

  I just about collapsed in his arms, and if he weren’t holding me up, I would have ended up on the floor.

  “Sooo long,” I whined, and Darrell chuckled. “I’m tired. Can we go home now?”