My Conference Daddy

It’s amazing how sitting in lectures for 8 hours every day can take a toll on you. It doesn’t help that the past month had been a disaster. A few weeks before I was due to leave for a conference, I fell into a deep depression, the worst I had ever felt in my life. With some helpful meds and advice from my doctor, I was on the up-and-up, but it was still a bit rough going when I had to pack up and head to an unfamiliar city for nearly a week.

I slogged through the conference and by the fifth day I was toast. A couple people I had met begged me to come out and party with them after the conference portion of the day was over, and I just couldn’t manage it. Nothing sounded better to me than to go back to my room and curl up in bed. Unfortunately my growling stomach had plans other than sleep. I reluctantly popped onto a food delivery site and everything was at least an hour wait. No way. Hello, hotel bar.

The hotel bar is about the last place I ever want to be. It’s usually chock full of lonely, drunk people looking for an away-from-home fling, which is not at all my scene, though I could relate. It wasn’t a short leap from lonely and exhausted to drunk and desperate. Shaking that picture out of my head, I sat down at the bar and ordered a gin and tonic and some dinner.

Looking around there wasn’t anyone I recognized and I reveled in my anonymity. I pulled out my phone and occupied myself while waiting for my meal to arrive, trying to drown out my surroundings. My food arrived and I devoured it. Just as I was finishing my meal, someone came up and sat in the seat next to me. Before I could even turn my head to get a good look at him, I could tell this was a hulk of a man. Looking up I immediately recognized him - I didn’t know him personally, but I had seen him in a few of the conference sessions. He was a beast - 6’ 10” and built. He wasn’t built in the bodybuilder sense, but in the hardworking man who has muscles in all the right places and still a bit of a belly to go along with it. He had a nice layer of fuzz over most of his body and the fullest yet perfectly manicured black beard I had ever seen. He had that flop-over shaved side kind of haircut that just drove me bonkers.

I quickly averted my eyes, I didn’t want him to see me ogling him, and even though he was high up there in my swoon category I was still exhausted and wanted nothing to do but go back to my room and fall asleep. I paid my bill, got up from my chair, and pow - the lights went out - down I went. I had forgotten the warning label on my new meds that said alcohol might not be a great idea. The combination of alcohol, exhaustion, and standing up too fast were just too much and I had passed out.

Coming to was completely surreal. There I was on the floor, with the hunk I had just been drooling over kneeling next to me with one hand holding my head and the other laid on my chest above my heart.

“Are you okay little man?”

I’m not exactly a little man, at 6’ tall and 250lbs I’m bearish myself, so I found some amusement in him calling me “little man.” I suppose to him, everyone is little.

“I’m fine, I’m fine” I blabbered. I was coming back to my senses quickly and the embarrassment factor was quickly setting in. “I just got up too fast, on some new meds” I said. “Just help me up and I’ll head back to my room.” He helped me stand up and offered his name while steadying me.

“Name’s Rod, I think you’re attending the same conference?” he asked quizzically. Of course his name was Rod.

“My name is James. Yeah I recognized you, I’ve seen you in a few sessions. Thanks for helping me, I appreciate it.”

“No worries. I tell you what, let me walk you to your room, I wouldn’t want you to pass out again on the way and not make it in one piece.”

“I’m fine, really, I’m fine, you don’t have to do that” I protested.

“Look I’m not taking no for an answer, you knocked your head when you fell and I’m gonna worry if I don’t be sure you get back to your room.”

I was too tired and too embarrassed to protest, I just wanted the whole situation to be over. I turned and started walking towards the lobby, and as I did for a brief second I felt his big burly hand on the small of my back. It was an intimate yet brief moment that took me by surprise.

We entered the elevator, he asked me my floor and pressed the button. The doors closed and he looked at me intently. “You mentioned some new meds you were taking, you mind me asking you what they’re for?” It was an odd question coming from a stranger, but I wasn’t ashamed to admit I was dealing with some depression. 

“Just some meds to help treat my depression. I’ve only been on them for a couple weeks and forgot that I need to be careful about alcohol - especially when I’m as tired as I am, this conference has really zapped the energy out of me.”

“Yah think?” he joked, obviously poking fun at the episode I had just had at the bar.

The elevator dinged for my floor and opened, he followed me to my room. I pulled out my key and began thanking him again, hoping I could just sink into my room and put this night behind me. Before I could get even a couple words out, he grabbed my room key from me and said “allow me, little man” and opened the door. He reached out and again put his hand in the small of my back and guided me into my own room. What was this guy doing?

The door slammed shut behind us and we were alone. Thankfully I kept my hotel room pretty clean. “Look Rod, I think I can manage from here.”

“I don’t know, little man, you took quite a tumble. How’s your head feeling? I think you got a little bump when you fell.” He cupped the back of my head with his big paw of a hand. 

“You’re trying to put the moves on me, aren’t you?” I asked, with just a tiny bit of sarcasm.

“Well, yes and no. I do think you’re cute, I admit I’ve been eyeing you a bit the past couple days - but I also genuinely just want to be sure you’re ok. Your little fainting spell back there was a bit scary.”

“For the 10th time, I’m fine,” I said back, more than a little flustered. But it was a lie. I wasn’t fine. The weight of my exhaustion, the stress of the conference, the bit of depression I was still dealing with, and the embarrassment from my passing out just moments before all hit me, and my eyes started to tear up. “I’m sorry, This is so embarrassing, first I pass out and now I’m crying in front of you. I’m just a little overwhelmed right now, I’m sorry.”

“Hey hey, don’t cry, little man,” he whispered to me. “You don’t need to apologize, everything happens for a reason.” His voice was deep and soothing. I looked up at him and he had the most loving, blue eyes I had ever seen. He used the hand that was still cupping my head to pull me into his chest. “Don’t cry, you’re in luck - I’m here with you right now and I’ll take care of you.”

I allowed myself to fall into his strong arms. The tears kept coming. “Shhhh, it’s okay little man,” he said reassuringly. He held me for a minute tightly and I tried my best to get my emotions under control. I didn’t even know this man, but I felt safe in his arms. “Let’s get you into bed.”

Again with his hand on my back, he walked me over to the side of the bed, pulled back the covers, and sat me down. “Let me help you,” he urged as he knelt down and pulled off my shoes and socks. He next went for my dress shirt, carefully unbuttoning it and removing it. “Lay back, little man.” I laid back and he carefully undid my belt and pants, and pulled them off, leaving me in my undershirt and boxers. “That’s better, isn’t it?”

I rolled to my side and lay down on the bed, ready for this day to be over. He tucked me in, and as I thought that would be the end of it, I watched as he undid his shoes and began taking them off. “Just what do you think you are you doing?” I asked.

“Don’t worry little man, I promise - no funny business. I just think you need a friend right now and I’m happy to be that guy for you.” He slipped out of his dress shirt and khakis, and walked around to the other side of the bed. He carefully got under the covers and scooted up behind me. I felt his big bear arm slide under my neck and wrap around my chest as he big-spooned me from behind. He pulled me tight into him. “There, daddy’s here, you’re safe in my arms, little man.”

Exhausted, I closed my eyes. I was in no state to argue with a handsome man wrapped around me. I felt his free hand brush along my side, finding its way to my head where he began tracing the features of my face with his fingers, feeling along my beard, grazing my ear, gently caressing me. He lightly moved into my hair and began stroking my hair.

He whispered into my ear. “Life is tough, little man, but I’ve got you tonight, I’ll hold you tight and keep you safe from the world. Sleep tight in daddy’s arms.”

He then kissed the back of my neck and I drifted off into the deepest sleep I could ever remember having.