Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70558 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“I have to tell you something first.” Interrupting was rude, but if he asked me out first, I might not be able to tell him no. “I… You might change your mind when you find out and that’s okay. You’ve been very nice and I won’t be offended.”
Not much anyway.
I’d be sad, though.
“It’s okay, Addison.” He kept saying my name and I loved the way it sounded from him. He’d never said my name when I was just his customer. “Tell me what you think I need to know.”
Oh, he needed to know alright.
“I’m…I’m a little.” My confession had him cocking his head and blinking, but that seemed more like he was confused than weirded out by it. “I…when I relax and want to let the stress from the real world go, I make cookies and play with toys and watch cartoons. I’m not…I’m not a really good grown-up all the time.”
That was an understatement but I figured it was a good starting point.
“Oh, and I like princess dresses when I play…and I have a tiara.” That was probably stuff he needed to know too. “So…”
Did he still want to go out?
I wasn’t good at reading people at the best of times and his silent blinking wasn’t giving me anything to work with.
Well, at least he hadn’t called me a pervert, so it was already better than my last date.
He was going to say something eventually, right?
Chapter 2
Tate
I really needed to watch more reality TV…or go to Pride…or something.
His expression and the way he first approached his confession said I should’ve had a reasonable baseline knowledge of what he meant when he said little but I’d spent the last twenty years in the Twilight Zone. He just had no way of knowing that.
Okay, a definition was good.
Toys and cartoons.
Oh…
Some things about him made a lot more sense as long as I was picturing the same thing he was, but I had to admit, the dresses part was easier to grasp. I might not have dated much but I hadn’t been completely closeted.
“I bet you have a very beautiful tiara.” It was a shot in the dark as far as compliments went but it had him lighting up like it was Christmas morning. “And I’m betting you have a sparkly dress that goes perfectly with it.”
Bingo.
His smile was ear to ear and he started rocking back and forth again like we were on a boat. “It’s pink. And it’s very sparkly. I shouldn’t have bought it because it was too expensive, but I did, and it was so worth it, and I only had to work a few extra hours to pay it off, so that wasn’t too bad.”
My thoughts on his shopping confession would have to wait.
I was stupid about dating sometimes but not that stupid. “I know it was worth every penny.”
Ha, the same nonsense my father used to spout to my mother didn’t just work on women. That was good to know but I wasn’t sure any of their other relationship advice would help in this situation.
Addison’s excited head bob made me smile but it slowly faded into something slightly more confused. “It really is…I don’t…I don’t know if I should offer to show you.”
Hmm, were we at fancy dress level of dating yet?
The way he was looking at me with innocent wide eyes said I was supposed to know what to do or just make the decision. That felt wrong on so many levels but hurting his feelings was the last thing I wanted to do. “How about we have dinner first, and then as long as you don’t think I’m boring, you can show me your favorite dress?”
That sounded appropriate, right?
It felt reasonable at the very least, so I was glad to see him light up again. “Yes. Dinner. Yes. When?”
Considering his whole moving confession, I decided putting it off would not be the right move. “How about I come pick you up tonight?”
Was that rushing?
The smile said no.
My favorite thing about Addison at the moment was how easy his excitement was to read.
“Yes.” He nearly bounced, he was so excited, and the swinging got so enthusiastic he nearly took out a small table with the bag of frozen food he was swinging around. “Oops, probably should set that down.”
He set the bag carefully on the floor like it contained a bomb instead of chicken nuggets. “There.”
I had a few things to look up before our date—like what exactly a little needed from someone they were dating—but more and more about his personality was starting to make sense as long as my understanding of what a little was and his actually matched.
“Are we…” He paused, nervously nibbling on his lower lip, before he seemed to shove his shoulders back like he was playing soldier. “Do you still want to go to dinner?”