Chapter 5
I told them everything. I spilled every single little detail.
He kissed me—well, he asked for a kiss the moment we were alone.
They were hysterical, and we screamed in unison for a while, hoping it wouldn’t cause people to come in from the streets in worry—but talk about a good way to get people into the bakery, besides the absolutely delicious bakes.
They couldn’t wait to grill me once we closed the bakery for the day. Scrubbing down the counters, I tried to look busy, so they didn’t interrogate me.
“You’re gonna have to clean your room,” Keaton said.
“Oh my god, yes, that place is a mess,” Toby laughed. “I hope you have fun playing. Do you think he’s versed in Daddy?”
I shrugged. “He seemed to know a lot, and he kinda just fits the bill, don’t you think?”
“A hot man dressed in uniform always fits the bill,” Keaton said. “And I think there’s only the other new fireman there now.”
Toby laughed in Keaton’s face. “No way, you need a Daddy who’ll be around you all day. You couldn’t deal with a Daddy on call.”
Keaton groaned. “You’re so right. But it doesn’t hurt to ask if he has friends who—you know, work from home.” Keaton blinked his eyes at me. He never asked for anything, especially favors, but this seemed somewhat jokey. “I’ll find someone, eventually, once I can take a break from this place.”
“Is that an opening to hiring someone for the cash register?” I asked, looking him up and down.
“It’s boring,” he grumbled. “I’ve been doing it for months.”
Toby swatted his arm. “Shut up, we’ve also been doing it.”
“Yeah, but you two also do your thing,” he said. “I just—”
I glared at Toby. “Whatever the two of you do tonight, make sure it’s cocktails, because you need to loosen up,” I said, grabbing Keaton’s arm. “Also, I heard there’s going to be a new drop of those Fudgeable teddies.”
“With those ribbed silicone inserts?” Keaton asked.
I giggled. The Fudgeable teddies were adult teddies, and they could be—fucked, but some of them came with the toys for them to fuck you.
It always made me giggle when I heard about them.
They were like three hundred bucks, and none of us were brave enough to order, but we always looked at their website with the dream of owning one—each, we weren’t going to share.
* * *
I’d prepared myself as much as I could. I didn’t eat much, and I cleaned my room, and cleaned myself out. It was important to be ready for any scenario that happened—and I didn’t know just how much Rick—a.k.a. new Daddy—was going to be interested in doing with me.
He was arriving at 8:00 p.m. That meant Keaton and Toby were heading out at 7:59 p.m. on the dot, like they were waiting for him to arrive, and—he did.
There was a side door that you could enter without going through the bakery.
He was at the front door, a smile on his face and a light wetness to his salt and pepper hair.
He carried a large brown bag in his arms.
“Am I early?” he asked, seeing those two giggle as they escaped out onto the sidewalk.
“No, they were just—they wanted to see you,” I said. I was in the same crop top as earlier, because I desperately wanted to invite his beary good hugs.
Rick—Daddy raised the paper bag; there was some heft to it. “I brought supplies,” he said. “I didn’t know what you’d like, or even need, but I read a whole bunch of online stuff, and realized I already knew a lot of it.”
“You did?” I asked with a giggle. “Because it’s totally fine if you wanna just sit down and talk about it, because it’s really a lifestyle, and I—”
“I’d love to talk,” he said. “I just wanna—” He sucked gently at his lower lip. “Should we go in?”
“Yes,” I squeaked, leading him upstairs—there wasn’t anywhere else to go but up from here.
With the glowing string lights everywhere, he looked like a dream. I tried to lead him into the lounge with the beanbags, where I’d prepared the table with a little tea party setting, but he had a heavy bag he needed to unload.
“I hope that’s not the only heavy load,” I said, immediately pressing my hand to my lips. I’d said it aloud. Oh my god, what an absolute lemon I was. I blushed—but he probably couldn’t tell because I was already pink up to the temples.
He noticed. “Do you always put makeup on?”
“Is it bad?”
“Oh no, not at all, it sets you apart, and I—I really like it,” he said, cupping a hand to my chin and rubbing his finger on my cheek.
“So, do you wanna see what’s inside here?
” He gestured with his head to the paper bag on the counter.
The kitchen was still somewhat a mess, but that’s the life of a little—the three of us, especially.
“Yes, please,” I said.
“Call me Daddy,” he said, leaning in and kissing me.
It was a dream, it had to be a dream. I must’ve gotten apple juice wasted, and this was all a dream, and I was still in bed—so whatever I did, I couldn’t pee in my dream—but the kiss felt so real. I gave my arm a gentle pinch.
“What’s that for?” he asked.
“Oh, it’s real.”
“Of course this is all real,” he said. “Now, lemme show you what I bought, and I kinda went a little wild with it.”
From the bag, he pulled out alphabet spaghetti, frozen chicken dinos, animal crackers, a whole jug of chocolate milk, a bag of cheese, and some swirly straws in different colors.
I gasped at everything, my eyes wider than ever before, almost popping out. “Wow, you—brought a lot.”
“I should’ve asked what you liked, and since I didn’t, I wanted to surprise you.”
I bear-hugged him as big as big could be, and he squeezed me back in return with his actual muscles that seemed to grow bigger as he tensed them around me. “Are you sure you’re—you know, gay?” I asked with my head in his chest.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He squeezed me harder and laughed.
“Nothing.” I could barely get the word out with a giggle. “You’re just very masc.”
“Not masc for masc.”
I giggled harder hearing that term come from his lips. I had to watch his mouth even closer just to make sure it was really him. Earlier could’ve been a slip in the timeline, but no, he was here, and he wanted to play with me.
“Well, my sweet boy,” he said. “Is that okay?”
I nodded. I enjoyed many terms, if sweet or beautiful came before them. I’d even accept talented and handsome. “Yes, please,” I said before stumbling over my words to add, “Daddy” to it.
It felt right, but it still felt like a dream.
There wasn’t much he wanted me to do but sit back, relax, and play.
He told me he would make all the food and prepare it on plates for our tea party.
I think he just wanted to look around the kitchen a little more, since his eyes were so big earlier looking at how much color we had—I think.
I sat in my bed, organizing my teddies. I’d cleaned my room somewhat, but this place was a mess.
Daddy came to the bedroom door. “Dinos are in the oven,” he said, the musky cologne scent he brought with him was intense in all the best possible ways. “Do you want to get dressed in something else?”
I nodded, jumping to attention in front of him. “You smell so good.”
“You smell better.” He grabbed me by the waist, pulling me into him.
He wasn’t going to let go of me, I could tell by the hold he had me in.
It was so nice to be held, especially when that hold was coming from him.
I leaned into his chest, smushing my face against his muscles and wondering what it was like underneath his shirt.
My hand slipped underneath, untucking it completely in the process.
“Oh, and where do you think that hand is going?”
Feeling his furry belly and the magical treasure trail he’d been hiding, I yanked my hand away. “It’s like a carpet.”
He laughed. “You are cute. Now, I think I might have redeemed all the bear hugs that T-shirt has to offer.”
“Maybe,” I said, my hand tugging at the end of his shirt—almost praying for permission to go inside again and feel how soft and fluffy his hairy trail was. “So, which onesie should I wear?”
Daddy hummed, stepping further inside the room with me clinging to his body. “I didn’t really get a good look in here earlier, but I think I saw a cute one with a tail. White and pink.”
“My unicorn one,” I said, springing away from him. “Oh my god. Yes. I love that one.”
“A dinosaur would’ve been better.”
Busy rummaging through the closet of crammed onesies. “I do!”
“You do?”
I nodded, but my eyes were too focused on trying to find the onesie—it was like flipping through a picture book, and my hands were growing tired. The closet was crammed.
“That could be a fire hazard,” he said from behind me, his strong warmth up against my back. “Is that pole reinforced?”
I shrugged. “I think it’s okay, unless it’s not. Is it okay?”
As he reached up to the pole, his armpit almost in my face, I managed to get more of his musky scent in my nose, and it was absolutely divine. “It’s really stuck in there,” he said, and I thought he was talking about me.
“Uh.”
“The pole,” he said. “It should be fine, but I think you should try putting less stress on it. I don’t want it to give way and suddenly you’re trapped under a mountain of onesies.”
I pouted, looking up at him with my big blinking eyes. “But you’d save me, right?”
“Baby, I’d be here in heartbeat.”
A tingle shivered through me at baby. I was his baby. I could’ve screamed, and tears welled behind my eyes. I definitely was his baby. “Well, there isn’t a whole lot of room for a new closet in here, but that’s okay, because I like having all my stuff near me.”
“It’s definitely a treat to see,” he said, stroking the side of my face. “You get changed into something, surprise me, and I’ll finish getting the food ready.”
We kissed, and I swore there was a spark—a literal crackle from the connection of our skin.
I had a lot of onesies, and I wanted to show him all of them.
I knew I couldn’t do that because it would take up all the time he’d probably set aside to come here.
I knew he was busy, and as a fireman he could be dragged away on a call at any minute.
I had to make every moment with him count right now.
He might decide it wasn’t for him—and then I’d probably have to move, change my name, and start a whole new bakery.
It’d been fifteen minutes. He called out to me while I was on my third onesie try-out.
I didn’t want to show him any of the boring ones with the designs on them.
He had to see the full playfulness of them, and I had that.
The perfect onesie. It wasn’t on the rack.
It was buried in some suction-packed cube.
It was an almost replica design of the big green dinosaur, Reptar, from Rugrats in Paris, one of my favorite movies ever made.
There was a copy of it on VHS stuck in a TV unit somewhere in my parents’ basement.
The tail on the onesie was all foam and thick, nearly had a life of its own, or maybe I was swaying when I walked, but it whipped at the walls.
“Whoa,” Daddy said. He was plating the food for me on the counter, making full use of the compartments. “Dinner is almost ready. You know, I’ve not had this much fun in a while. Thank you.”
“The fun is just beginning,” I said, then gave my best dino roar.
“Oh no, you’re going to scare the dino nuggets on your plate,” he said, trying to hide them with a hand hovering overing the plate. “You look amazing, by the way.”
“Thank you,” I said, swishing my hips as the tail whacked the sides of the door. “Okay, I think I might have to put something else on.”
“Aw, why?”
“I can’t sit in this. I just wanted to show you.”
He stared at me for a moment, longer than I thought he would, with his eyes all over me. I loved every second of it. “I’m taking pictures with my brain.”
I giggled. “You don’t have to. If you ever want to see me like this, you just have to ask, but—I think it would destroy the tea-party setup just like it destroyed Paris in the Rugrats movie.”
“Ahh,” he said. “That’s why the face of it looks familiar. Not that I ever watched it, but when I was a teen and my younger sister was that age, she had it on sometimes.”
“You’re funny.”
He blew a kiss and winked at me. “Now put something on you can sit down in,” he said. “That’s a good boy.”
It was a good job this onesie had room inside—because I was chubbed up to the max. He called me a good boy, he’d prepared dinner for me, and he winked at me. I didn’t know people still did that. Like one of cupid’s arrows right through my heart.
I rushed back to my bedroom, giggling.
Maybe the guys were right, maybe we would get naughty in my bedroom.
The bedroom which needed to be cleaned.
Oh god.
We were going to play in here.