Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Connor couldn’t help but see Tessica’s backside in a whole new light as she walked down the hall and back out to the club’s main floor. He’d always found her shapely, but now that he knew she was kinky, everything about her seemed better than before.
His eyebrows furrowed as he realized the skirt that currently encased her backside was one he hadn’t seen her wear before. But more than that, it wasn’t the type of skirt she normally wore. This skirt was tight. It was black and went to her knees with a small slit up the back. Without the slit, she probably wouldn’t have been able to walk comfortably. Underneath, she wore black nylons with a seam up the back of each leg, and on her feet were black high-heels. Her blouse was a deep red, and she wore it tucked into her skirt. She definitely looked like a Domme. Except for the adorable mouse ears on her head. But her outfit exemplified what she’d told him. Ninety percent Mommy and ten percent Little.
Calm down, he chided himself. This is Tessica, not some stranger in a club. You can’t just take her into a room and rip her clothes off. But damn, he wanted to.
He watched as Gwen and another Little got up from the reading circle and rushed to Tessica’s side.
“Are you okay, Mommy?” Gwen asked.
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine. We just needed to have an adult conversation.” Tessica wrapped an arm around each of the young women and pulled them into a quick hug.
“I don’t like it when Paul gets bossy with you,” Gwen complained.
Tessica laughed. “Aren’t you always getting into trouble for being too bossy?”
Gwen gasped and pulled out of the hug. “No fair! That’s different! When I’m bossy, no one has to do what I say. When Paul is bossy, everyone has to do what he says.”
“Well then, I guess it’s a good thing Paul isn’t bossy very often, isn’t it?” She turned to the taller girl dressed in Piglet pajamas and ran a hand through her long brown hair. “What about you, Susan? Are you okay?”
Susan glanced over Tessica’s shoulder at Connor, took her pacifier out of her mouth, and then leaned forward to whisper in Tessica’s ear.
When Susan finished whispering, Tessica turned and scrutinized Connor. Then she focused on Susan again. “I don’t know. Maybe you should ask him yourself.”
Susan’s eyes opened wide, and she shook her head vigorously.
“Tell me.” Gwen leaned forward. “I’ll ask him for you.”
Susan whispered to Gwen, who then faced Connor. “Do you have a Little of your own?”
Connor shook his head. “I used to, but not anymore.”
“Why not?” Gwen asked.
“Gwen,” Tessica scolded, “that’s a very personal question for someone you’ve just met.”
“It’s okay,” Connor said. “She wanted to have kids, and I didn’t.”
“Why?” Gwen asked.
“Okay,” Tessica said firmly, “No more questions. Do the two of you want another story, or are you ready to do something else?”
Susan pointed to the television set.
“The Little Mermaid is starting,” Gwen said. “Will you come snuggle with us while we watch?”
“Sure.”
“Hooray!” Gwen grasped both Tessica’s and Susan’s hands, and then pulled both of them toward the movie area.
Once the women were out of hearing range, Connor glanced around for Brian. He spotted his friend talking with Paul near the snack table, and went to join them.
Paul noticed Connor coming toward them and gave him a nod. “Everything okay between you and Tessica?”
“More than okay,” Connor said.
“How do you two know each other outside of the club?” Brian asked.
“I’ve known Tessica since she was fifteen.”
“Fifteen?” Paul asked, as if he wasn’t sure he’d Connor correctly.
Connor nodded. “She was best friends with my sister in high school.”
“Damn,” Brian said. “That’s why I never went to clubs when I was going to medical school. I was terrified of running into someone from high school, and it getting back to my parents that I was into kink. I’m sure they would have cut off my funding unless I went to some kind of conversion therapy church camp.”
“Do they have those for kinky people?” Connor asked. “I thought those groups specifically targeted gay people.”
Brian shrugged. “I’m pretty sure they target everyone who isn’t heterosexual, monogamous, and vanilla. And my parents had enough money to make any of those groups take me, whether they focused on kink or not.”
Connor put a hand on Brian’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I’m sorry.”
Brian gave him a bitter smile. “Don’t be. If they weren’t extremely conservative, I never would have done my residency in Alaska to get away from them. Then I never would have met you. You’ve been a much better role model for me than my biological father. Back when you first told me that you’d never shared your kink with anyone in your family, it seemed like such a novel idea to me. Knowing that I had the option to never come out to my parents was freeing. It’s made it a lot easier for me to get along with them over the past year since I moved back to Portland.”
“I’m glad.” Connor let go of Brian’s shoulder.
Brian nodded at Tessica. “Is she still friends with your sister?”
“She is.”
“Do you think she’ll tell her about you?”
“Definitely not. She claims she never told Erin about herself, and I believe her. She seemed just as horrified by the idea of my sister knowing as me.”
“Great, so bullet dodged. No harm, no foul,” Brian said.
“It’s not quite that clear-cut. Tessica also helped my mom run the animal shelter out of her house, and is the one who gets half the money if I sell it.”
Paul said, “Wait a minute. You’re Fiona’s son?”
Connor frowned. “That’s right. Did you know her?”
“No, I never met her, but I feel like I know her since Tessica and Gwen talk about her sometimes.”
“Gwen?” Connor looked back over at the three women watching cartoons, and then back at Paul. “Wait, that Gwen is the veterinarian Gwen who helps at the shelter?”
Paul nodded. “One and the same. Tessica met Gwen here and then introduced her to your mom once she found out Gwen was a vet.”
“Small world,” Brian muttered.
“You can say that again,” Connor agreed, and turned to Paul. “They must have been coming here for a while for you to know my mother’s name.”
“Tessica has been doing my books for five years now. And she’s been coming to Littles’ night for about four years. Gwen’s been coming for about two.”
Connor stared at the back of Tessica’s head for a few moments, taking that answer in. “She’s been coming here for years,” he muttered, shaking his head.
“Sounds to me like you both need some time to process all of it,” Paul said. “You’re both still grieving. You both have to figure out how to move forward with the shelter due to the terms of the will. And now you know about each other’s secret lives.”
“Damn,” Brian muttered.
Connor nodded in agreement. “We’re having dinner tomorrow night so we can talk without the pressure of people waiting for us.”
“That’s a good idea,” Paul said.
Connor turned to him. “She told me she has a Little side. Have you ever seen it?”
Paul’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not sure she’d want me to comment on that.”
“That’s fair,” Connor agreed, somewhat dejected.
After a couple moments of silence Paul added, “But I don’t mind telling you about her Mommy side since that’s the persona she displays most of the time.”
“That would be really helpful,” Connor said.
“Tessica tends to follow old-school gender stereotypes.”
“Old school?” Connor asked.
Paul nodded. “I don’t want this to come off the wrong way, but I’ve met plenty of female Dommes in my time, and most of them have a certain air about them; a certain confidence. Tessica is a much softer Domme than most. Unless she’s defending one of the Littles. Then all bets are off.”
“A mama bear,” Brian commented. “Soft and cuddly until one of her cubs is threatened. Then the claws come out.”
“Exactly,” Paul agreed. “She’ll defer to any Dominant in the room unless she thinks a Little is in distress. Then she’ll read that Dom the riot act, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she resorted to physical violence if that Dom didn’t listen to her.”
“Good to know,” Connor said. “Is she lenient and indulgent with the Littles?”
“Not necessarily. She can be strict, but it always comes from a place of love and understanding of the Little’s needs, not from a place of demanding obedience for the sake of obedience.”
“Again, a true mama bear,” Brian said.
“Yes,” Paul agreed a second time. “And she’ll probably be pissed that I’m sharing this next part, but I’m worried about her, and I have no authority over her outside of the club. But since you own the house she’s running her business out of, you do have some say over that part of her life.”
“Okay.” Connor was intrigued.
Paul continued, “Like a true mama bear, Tessica’s focus is always on taking care her cubs, and I personally think she often overlooks taking care of herself.”
“How so?” Connor asked.
“She’s been working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to make the shelter profitable. Then she goes straight into Mommy mode here as a way to relax, instead of letting me or anyone else take care of her for an hour or two.”
Connor frowned. “Twelve hours a day, seven days a week?”
“Well, that’s according to Gwen, which admittedly might be an exaggeration, but not a flat-out lie.”
Connor’s lips pressed together. “I asked Tessica about her hours. She assured me she wasn’t overworking herself.”
“She probably doesn’t think she is overworking herself. Tessica does better with exact directions than generalities, and she’s a rule follower. Tell her no more than eight hours a day, and she’ll complain, but she’ll do it. Say don’t overwork yourself, and she’ll work twelve hours and fully believe that she’s following that order.”
“Ah, I see. Thanks for the insight.”
Paul nodded. “And I doubt this needs to be said, but Tessica is under my protection. She will confide in me if you overstep her boundaries, and you’ll be banned from the club.”
Connor nodded. “I’d expect nothing less, and I’d never intentionally cross anyone’s boundaries.”
“Good.” Paul focused on Brian. “Before you came over, I was trying to talk Brian into setting up a,” Paul did finger quotes in the air, “‘Doctor Station’ on Thursdays for Littles’ night.”
Connor chuckled. “That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Fun for whom?” Brian asked with a scowl.
“For everyone,” Paul answered jovially. “The Littles could have a safe space to play out all their doctor fantasies, and you’d be able to interact with them without worrying that they’ll get attached, since you said that’s your gripe about Littles.”
“Yeah, but what if their fantasy is having a tantrum about seeing the doctor? Or worse, having a panic attack, and then crying through the whole thing?” Brian asked.
“Put up a big ‘No Crying’ sign,” Connor suggested.
“Or better yet, a sign that says ‘The prescription for a tantrum is a spanking’,” Paul suggested.
Both Connor and Brian chuckled.
“And if any of them have a genuine fear of doctors, it might be the only time they actually see a doctor,” Connor said. “Might be a chance to catch real problems that might otherwise not get caught.”
Brian shook his head. “If I decide to do it, we’d have to make it really clear that it’s all pretend. No actual doctoring could take place. I’d lose my license to practice medicine.”
“I could add a few lines to the waiver people sign when they come in,” Paul suggested.
Brian sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
“Could be a chance for you to play out some of your fantasies, too,” Connor added. “How many times have you wanted to order a patient to take better care of themselves?”
“Every day,” Brian admitted.
“Well, if their Daddy or Mommy is there with them, you’ll be able to give that order and be pretty damn sure it will be enforced.”
“Good point.”
“Great,” Paul said. “Give it some thought. We can talk about it again the next time I see you.”
“Okay.”
“Do you guys want to mingle for a while?” Paul asked. “Visit with some of the Littles?”
Connor shook his head. “I’m not sure I’d be able to give any of them the attention they deserve tonight. I’m too distracted.”
“Want to leave?” Brian asked.
“Not exactly, but I think I probably should. Do you want to stay?”
Brian glanced around the room. “I’ll stay for a bit. Talk to some of the Littles before I head out.”
“Sounds good.” Connor patted Brian on the shoulder. “I’ll text you about next week once I know my flight schedule.”
“Okay.”
Connor held out his hand to Paul, and they shook. “Thanks for all the information. I hope to see you again in the near future.”
Paul nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
“You, too.” Connor took one more look at the back of Tessica’s head before he grabbed his coat from the locker and headed out into the winter weather.