Chapter 5
Chapter Five
“You live here?” Carri asked an hour later as Rooker turned into a driveway and stopped at a gate that crossed the driveway about ten feet back from the road. A moment later, the gate slowly swung open.
After eating dinner at the park, she’d played on the swings until the streetlights came on and Rooker declared it was time to leave. Now they were at his house, a fifteen-minute drive from where the convention was being held.
Carri looked around in awe. The property appeared to be several acres, with a fence around the whole thing. The house looked nearly identical to the farmhouse she and her sisters had grown up in.
It was two stories tall with a wide porch that went around both sides.
It was the same era, if not the same design as her home.
While their house was white with black shutters and a bright-red front door, the security lights that came on as Rooker had driven in showed his house to be pale gray with a deep plummy-purple front door and shutters.
What she could see of the front yard was lushly green and neatly cut, though the flowerbeds were overgrown and in need of attention.
Carri’s fingers began to itch, wanting to do some weeding.
But it was growing darker by the minute, and exhaustion of the busy day being with people was catching up with her.
She had perked up while swinging, but on the drive there it had become a fight to keep from curling up on her seat and going to sleep.
“Yes, this is my home,” Rooker said once he parked and released his seatbelt. “Is that a problem?”
“No. Oh, no.” Carri giggled. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she found a picture of the Smith family’s farm. Turning it toward him, she said, “This is my house.”
Rooker looked surprised, then chuckled. “Okay, I see we have the same taste in architecture.”
Carri shrugged. “We inherited the house from our parents who got it from their parents. My great-grandfather built it for his bride because her father refused to give them permission to marry until he had a solid, well-built house for her to live in.”
Rooker looked impressed. “That’s a wonderful story.”
“Yeah, too bad the government doesn’t care about the farm’s history. They’re going to bulldoze the house and barns to put a road across the property,” Carri said as tears filled her eyes.
“Oh, little one. I’m sorry.” Rooker leaned across the center console and gave her a quick hug.
Carri sniffed and wiped her hands over her cheeks.
“It’s okay. The farm has become too much for us to handle these days.
We all work full-time jobs and have now started these side businesses that are taking up more and more of our time.
At least Lottie’s real estate attorney friend made the government pay a lot more money for the farm than they first offered.
We’re renting an apartment on the edge of town until … whatever happens.”
“Whatever? Is that a time to come? Or an event? Or something else?”
Carri shrugged, trying not to pin any hopes on Rooker being her Daddy and taking her into his home at some point in the future. Her luck had never been that good.
“It’s whatever. One of us meets someone and decides to move out. We decide to buy a house together. Or the world explodes, and we’re blown to bits in our three-bedroom, two-bath apartment with a tiny porch where we’ll try to raise our pot garden.”
“Pot garden? Don’t tell me you grow drugs? Do you use them as well?”
Carri giggled again, her pussy flooding at the concerned tone in Rooker’s voice. How could he think such a thing of her?
“Oh, no. Not a drug garden. Herbs and vegetables that we grow in pots.” She flipped through a few more pictures on her phone before turning it to show him the screen. “Plants in pots. Like this.”
“Oh, a container garden. Okay, that’s better. I’d hate to think my Little girl was doing drugs.”
“Oh, no. I’ve never tried drugs. The one time I drank alcohol in high school, I was sick for two days afterward, so I stay away from that, too,” Carri admitted. “My vices are Pepsi and peanut butter M&Ms. And buying yarn, I think.”
Before Rooker could comment, she yawned. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I’m not being very Daddy-like keeping you out here talking. Let’s go inside. We can grab showers and have a hot chocolate before bed.”
“Yes, Sir,” Carri agreed before yawning again.
Rooker wanted to kick his own ass. Sitting in the car, just talking with Carri made him want to immediately move the creative Little girl into his home and life on a full-time basis.
He knew it was way too soon, and there was still much they had to learn about one another, but he already knew he would be keeping Carri.
Climbing out of the SUV, he walked around the front and helped Carri out. Taking her hand in his, he led her to the porch and one of the rocking chairs waiting there. “Why don’t you sit here while I bring in our bags.”
Carri nodded as she sank into the chair, looking like she might not be awake long enough to shower. “Okay.”
Rooker hurried back to the SUV, gathered their belongings, and carried them to the front door. Carri’s eyes were closed, so he unlocked the front door and moved everything inside before returning to the porch.
He lifted Carri from the chair to rest on his hip where she fit perfectly.
Carrying her inside, he stopped just long enough to close and lock the front door.
He wished she were awake, but maybe it would be better this way.
Carrying her up the stairs, he turned left to the guest room instead of to the right where the master suite was located.
Once in the guest room, Rooker pulled back the covers before laying her down. After turning on the light in the attached bathroom, Rooker returned to the sleeping woman.
“Ah, babygirl, I hope you don’t kill me for what I’m about to do,” Rooker murmured.
When she did not answer, he went downstairs, double-checked to make sure everything was locked up securely then grabbed her bags and carried them upstairs.
In the guestroom, he opened the first bag, finding several balls of yarn and a crochet hook, a small purse, a notebook, and another zip-top clutch bag and a stuffed purple hedgehog. It appeared to be twice the size of the one he’d bought that morning.
The second bag held a zip-top bag of sample-size toiletries, a pair of jeans and two t-shirts, and an oversized light purple t-shirt with a sleepy-looking hedgehog wearing pajamas and a nightcap. Placing her clothes and toiletries on the dresser, he returned everything else to the bag.
Carrying the nightshirt and stuffie to the bed, he found Carri had rolled to one side and curled into a ball. The first two fingers of her left hand were in her mouth. She looked to be sleeping peacefully, but Rooker knew she would not be comfortable sleeping in her clothes all night.
“Okay, little artist, I need you to wake up for a few minutes,” Rooker said softly as he laid a hand on her shoulder. and pulled her over to lie on her back.
“Noooo,” Carri whined as he pulled her over to lie on her back.
Rooker held her shoulders down when she tried to wiggle away from him again.
“Yes, little girl. I need to get you out of these clothes and into your nightshirt so you can sleep more comfortably,” he said, putting a bit of Daddy Dom power into his tone.
“Don’t wanna,” Carri grumped, though she did stop wiggling.
Rooker chuckled when she huffed a sigh and her bottom lip came out in a major pout. She looked adorable and though he was tempted to let her sleep, he knew he would not be able to rest if she was not comfortable.
Tapping the protruding lip, he said, “That won’t work on me, little one. It will only get your bottom warmed, so put it away.”
She gave another sigh but retracted her pouting lip, all without opening her eyes.
Without further ado, Rooker helped her sit up. She held her arms up as he pulled her shirt over her head then stripped off her bra before dropping her nightshirt over her head. With a sigh, she lowered her arms after Rooker smoothed the shirt down her body.
“Okay, babygirl, you can lay back now,” he said gently.
Without a word, Carri flopped back and went still. Rooker undid her jeans before pulling them off her legs. Once they were off, she rolled to her side and pulled her knees to her chest once more.
“Here’s your friend, babygirl,” he said, placing the hedgehog into her free hand.
“Hector,” she breathed as she pulled the stuffie into her chest and wrapped both arms around it.
Pulling the covers over her, he tucked her in. He took a moment to fold her clothes and place them on the dresser beside the pile of clean clothes. Returning to the side of the bed, he brushed a kiss on her forehead. “Good night, Carri. Have sweet dreams and Daddy will see you in the morning.”
“Night, Daddy,” she murmured softly in return.
Rooker felt his heart melt as his cock stiffened at her sweet words. He only wished she would call him Daddy when she was awake. But that would come. In time. He just had to be patient.
Leaving the guest room door open halfway, Rooker strolled down the hall to his own bedroom. He left his own door wide open so he could hear her if she needed him. Stripping as he crossed the bedroom, he tossed his clothes into the hamper as they left his body.
After a quick shower, he dressed in a pair of navy-blue flannel sleep pants covered with llamas wearing Santa hats. They had been a Christmas gift the previous year from the store’s secret Santa exchange.
After one last trip down the hall to check on Carri, Rooker forced himself to return to his own room. Though tempted to join Carri in her bed, or bring her back to his, he forced himself into bed alone.
They still needed to talk about Daddy/Little girl relationships and whether she would be interested in spending time with him as his Little.
Maybe he would invite her to come home with him again the next night and the night after that.
They could start exploring the possibilities and see where things went from there.
He only hoped Carri was looking for a long-term relationship with a Daddy who was firm when it came to the rules, but marshmallow-squishy the rest of the time.