Chapter 8
Teddy
“I think your mother would like something homemade best…from what I remember she seems like the type…but I have no skills that translate to Christmas presents.” Levi mumbled something low after that, but I pretended not to notice.
It definitely wasn’t a public shopping kind of comment, but it did make me wonder what skills he thought he had that would be appropriate for a dirty sub.
No, had to stay back on track because I’d avoided that limits discussion…again.
It was easier to avoid when I was little but he was going to get stubborn at some point…and I was pretty sure we’d reached some point. He really hadn’t liked it when he’d stopped himself from reaching out to touch my back and he’d realized he didn’t know if he could do that or not.
Or what we were, either.
That was my stumbling block but it didn’t seem to be his.
So maybe he wasn’t a labels and definitions kind of guy?
“Yeah, she’d appreciate that but we’re both past the macaroni art phase and I’m not handy either.” The incredulous look on his face as he turned back in my direction made me laugh. “I know. I’m also not musically inclined either.”
“Did your mother get you from a fairy ring?” Cocking his head, he looked serious even though it should’ve been a stupid question. “Isn’t that what she told you about how you were born?”
“How do you know that?” She thankfully hadn’t said that around too many people…well…I thought she hadn’t. “She used to say that when I was a kid.”
For the first time, Levi actually looked guilty. “Um, your housekeeper told mine. Most of the time they don’t gossip, but every once in a while, your mother said something really confusing and it’d come out when they did their weekly tea parties.”
Great.
“Tea parties?” Why hadn’t I heard of this? “Where?”
Levi shrugged. “My house. My mother gave the staff an old china set that she hates the pattern of, and they use it for tea parties once a week when my mother goes from work to that volunteer organization that’s just a front for them to drink wine and gossip.”
Whatever he saw on my face made him laugh as he browsed the jewelry we’d been looking at. “The housekeepers and a few of the house managers come over and have coffee and tea and eat finger sandwiches.”
Was that weird?
“That’s kind of confusing.”
Maybe.
“I might be rude?”
Was that why she hadn’t mentioned it?
“As a kid I thought that was what all adults did to socialize, so I thought it was reasonable. They let me pour and I was the host, and it was fun until I was too busy with school and stupid real adult shit.” Levi’s eyes flashed something angry or close to that, and he seemed more upset about that than how his parents had treated him.
“Everyone likes your mother, though, so don’t tattle on them.” When he actually looked worried, I shook my head. “I think they’re still going on, but I haven’t been home much, so I’m not sure.”
It’d been a long time since he’d been home based on the gossip I’d heard too.
“I won’t tell.” My mother was well-meaning but I could see most people getting confused. “How did that story come up, though?”
Oh.
His face went white.
Good grief.
What had she done?
“Um.” Levi looked a bit like he wanted to climb under the table. “Promise not to be angry at me?”
I’d sent him soup for weeks and this was what worried him?
“Promise.”
Bracing for impact, I pointed to a butterfly pendant I thought she’d like. “That’s a pretty one.”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to get distracted or not, but he wasn’t the type to run from the hard stuff or weird stuff.
“Your mother had said a few weird things that made your housekeeper wonder if she’d stolen you…as a baby…and the fairy ring thing just made it even more confusing.” Levi was watching me like he was the one bracing for impact that time. “Nothing came up when she searched for stuff online, though.”
Great.
“Um, I’m technically adopted.” And my mother always described it so oddly I hadn’t asked many questions. “Legally I’m her son because of the adoption, and I have seen very official-looking paperwork on that.”
Macy hadn’t been the only confused person to go on an internet hunt.
“Really?” Levi looked startled. “I never realized that.”
“Oh, my mother thinks I’m hers and would never use that word in a million years.
I was a gift from the fae or the fairies or from whatever god is most important at that moment, so we don’t use the A word in our house.
” She was understanding about anything else I could’ve done or said… except use that word.
“She’s really irrational about it and it’s kind of cute.” The way Levi rolled his eyes made his views clear, but he didn’t say it out loud. “I talked to my dad about it in high school and he’s much more reasonable.”
Mostly because I wasn’t sure if he knew where I’d come from.
“They’re both insane, but I seem to be one of her sister’s biological child.
There was a biker named Moe involved and while it was consensual, he ended up in jail somehow.
I didn’t ask so don’t ask me how that happened.
” I shrugged when Levi’s eyes went wide.
“I think he was doing something else illegal that caught up to him, and yes, younger me was very curious and Moe does not seem to be his real name.”
Levi’s eyes went back to normal but he looked like he wasn’t sure if he could laugh or not. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“Welcome to the club.” But my parents loved me to pieces so that was what mattered. “But it seems like my biological grandparents were beyond trash and my mother decided her boyfriend at the time was going to marry her and so he did.”
And Levi’s eyes went round and around again. “You sure you’ve seen adoption paperwork?”
“Yes. It was several years after I was born, though, and it was a closed adoption.” I was just glad they’d eventually gotten it done. “So no idea what really happened but I have a social security number and was real enough to get into college.”
Head cocking again, he nodded. “Yeah, that would’ve pointed out major issues like kidnapping.”
That was what I’d thought.
“You never tried to narrow it down to one of her sisters?” Before I could answer, Levi held up his hands. “I won’t go nosing around. Honest.”
He was so cute.
“There were twelve of them.” I laughed when his mouth dropped open. “Yep, and way too many of them were in the range of possible.”
I wasn’t going to poke at that can of worms.
“You seem good with everything, but I just want to make sure there aren’t any emotional minefields I need to watch out for.” His Dom side was showing so completely I had to fight the urge to smile.
“No. My parents love me and they’re wonderfully weird about it, but they’re my parents.
” And I’d seen enough parents who never should’ve had kids to realize I was incredibly lucky.
“My mother does think that the fairies blessed her for saving me from her family, though, so if she says something odd, that’s what she’s thinking. ”
Levi sighed. “She’s going to say something odd, but just do your best to translate for me once we have some privacy.”
“Deal.” I couldn’t resist frowning at him, though. “But now I have questions about these tea parties. How do we get invited to one over Christmas without my mother knowing?”
****
“You realize I’ve run out of patience, right?” Levi managed to wait until we were sitting down for lunch to push the conversation, but it was probably a deliberate move since I was trapped.
I wasn’t moving until I ate until I rolled out of there.
“Yeah.” That didn’t mean I had to be a good grown-up about it, though. “I have to say…you’ve had more patience than I’d expected.”
“Good. Now that means you have to reward me by giving me answers to my questions.” His words were cute but he sat up straighter like we were in a job interview. “Let’s start with limits during little time.”
He really thought that was a reasonable place to start.
I could see it on his face.
I was starting to see how he’d walked past me so many times without actually seeing me. His level of tunnel vision was amazing.
“I’m going to propose we inch back from that a bit and we discuss what you think we’re doing.” When he blinked, I did my best to keep going. “I know little me agreed to ten…let’s call them play sessions to make up for being a meanie.”
That had Levi trying not to laugh, and I was glad it was a good memory for him.
“But what do you think you agreed to?” Was that the right question? “I’m not sure you remember you need limits too.”
I was glad he knew I needed them because little me was just throwing myself at him left and right, but his limits mattered too…because little me was throwing myself at him left and right.
“Don’t shrug.” My tone was probably sharper than it should’ve been but he grinned and closed his mouth before he could tell me something ridiculous. “I have to know you’re thinking about what you want too. It’s not fair to put all this on me.”
I wasn’t sure my stress or guilt levels could handle it.
And he got it.
The smirk faded and he looked more thoughtful as he finally picked up his fork. Part of me wondered if he’d race back into answering but he took his time and ate a few bites of his salad…if it could be called that…before he answered.
It was still a salad as long as lettuce and vegetables were the base, right?
“Okay, so stepping back a level is reasonable.” He didn’t seem too stressed about that, but his tone was more cautious than I was used to. “I hadn’t really thought about it, though.”
Yep, that was what I’d thought.
When I stayed silent, he raised one eyebrow. “No smart-ass response?”
“No.” I should’ve stopped there…but I was never smart. “I thought it was cute.”
That had the dork rolling his eyes, but he took it in stride. “You need better self-preservation instincts.”
Possibly.
It wasn’t something I was going to work on at the moment, though.
“Don’t think I missed you ignoring that.” The only response I could give him was to grin and it got a glare from him that was sexier than he seemed to realize. “Fine. We’ll come back to that.”
So he wasn’t going to take us off on some kind of conversational rabbit trail?
Nope.
It just took a bit more thinking time and a few more glares.
“You’re going to remember that you have limits too and that you need to do what’s right for you.” He didn’t bother with a long lecture that time. He simply rolled his eyes and kept going. “I started out just wanting to make up for being a dick.”
Because he was nicer than he realized and he knew he needed to make it up to the guy who’d gone into full little mode unexpectedly.
Not that I’d tried hard to fight it.
“But it changed fairly quickly.” I thought he should’ve been feeling more stressed about that, but Levi always did his own thing. “I liked hanging out with you and I had to keep reminding myself that we hadn’t talked about me actually being your Daddy or anything like that.”
“Let’s remember that I was really pushy and was not making that easy on you.” He couldn’t feel guilty about my being a brat. “I think you did very well with finding a good balance since we hadn’t talked about limits, and I remembered to tell you my safeword.”
His glare came back. “We’re supposed to have the conversation that green means good to go before we start the scene.”
Oops.
“Self-preservation.” He dragged out the word to make his point, but he didn’t get stuck on the ridiculous issue. “So yes, we’re going to use stoplight colors for safewords. But now you need to let me know how you feel about the idea of me being your Daddy.”
He was going to drive me insane.
“Let’s step back and have you explain what that means to you.” When his glare came back, I did my best not to adjust myself. “I don’t want an Olivia-level mess because we both have different understandings about what that means.”
“It means we don’t just go around randomly kissing and dating anyone else, to start with.” His grumbling said he was going to be possessive…and that just made my pants even tighter. “Stop squirming.”
“I can’t.” In for a penny, in for a pound. “Um, the possessive Dom tone is hot.”
He rolled his eyes again but I could see he wanted to smile and was barely holding it back. “Self-preservation, Chipmunk.”
Still not going to promise it.
“Let’s go back to what you think we’re doing. Then I’ll be able to give you limits because if you just want to hang out and be Daddy once in a while to give us both what we need, that’s different than if you want a more serious role and to…to do other stuff.”
And the smirk popped out.
“Other grown-up stuff?” He looked very pleased with himself when I couldn’t help blushing. “Or bubble bath kind of stuff?”
Both.
Definitely both.
“Um, you have to answer my question first.”
Whatever that had been.
What had I asked him?
“I think I’m going to pick the ‘serious role’ option with other stuff thrown in for fun.”
That was what I’d asked him.
Right.
“And with the way you’re squirming, I think you’re fine with that answer, so now, let’s talk about limits and what I’m supposed to say when my Chipmunk asks for his Daddy to change his clothes.”
We really should’ve had more privacy when we’d started this conversation.
“Can I get y’all anything else?”
How much had he heard?
Levi was going to have to stop smirking when he got us into trouble or my mother was definitely going to want to know what we were up to.