Chapter 14
Teddy
“I don’t know how it happened.” I threw myself at Levi as he came in the front door, making him laugh as he wrapped his arms around me. “She texted me at six this morning and was over here at seven.”
Because I hadn’t seen the text.
“Well, she was frustrated that I always get you first.” Levi kissed my head, looking very pleased about that. “Daddy always wins, but he’s a good winner, so how about we make sure you have time to hang out with her later this week? When does she head home?”
Oh.
“She lives in town.” Most people weren’t this local but her family was. “Maybe I could go see a movie with her? There’s this emotional one that she’s been wanting to see.”
But couldn’t talk anyone else into it.
“That doesn’t sound like fun but it does sound like a good plan.” Levi shrugged when I laughed and shook my head. “I’m not going to lie.”
Before I could tell him being nice and lying weren’t the same thing, he winced. “I am, however, going to have to apologize for forgetting something.”
“What did you forget?” Knowing Levi, it could be anything from ordering something online to us needing to fly to Europe for a family function.
“Dinner with my friends?” He did his best not to laugh as I winced that time but he needed to try harder. “If you’re not ready for it for any reason, we’ll come up with a good reason why you can’t come. But…I don’t want them or you to think I’m hiding you and I think you’ll like them.”
At least it wasn’t dinner with his family?
“I don’t know them, but from what you’ve said and what I’ve seen, one is dating the professor down the street and everyone is well…interesting?” How was I supposed to ask about that part?
“Yep, Dante is dating Professor…god…Ruslan who runs the mac-n-cheese club and everyone else is Dom, sub, or switch…and are all openminded so nothing will surprise them.” Levi paused, raising one eyebrow. “And they all know I was looking for a relationship where I’m a Daddy.”
So…
Yeah.
“I realized that right off the bat.” But spelling it out was a good idea. “And while I don’t like being obviously little in front of most people, I’m not exactly in the closet.”
“Gary said you guys have a few friends in common so he basically already knew.” Levi kissed my head as I snuggled close again.
“No one will make a big deal out of it if you want them to ignore it, but if you want toy kind of presents at dinner, they need to know it’s okay to talk about the little stuff. ”
“Toys?” I liked toys. “They’ll get me presents?”
Wait.
I straightened without thinking about it, getting another laugh from him. “I don’t have presents for them.”
Giving me a soft, grown-up kiss that time, Levi shook his head. “No worrying. I made a list of possible options and what they’re into this morning and all you have to do is pick something from the list that we can order online.”
“That’s wonderful.” The relief running through me had me collapsing back into him again. “You were productive this morning.”
His scoff made me grin as I hid it against him. “I wasn’t supposed to be productive. I was supposed to be spending the day with you but she stole breakfast and lunch.”
Before I could tease him about that, he sighed again.
“What did you do, Daddy?”
I was glad he was so good at tattling on himself.
“Gary and I were talking and he got slightly stubborn about the fact that I hadn’t made it abundantly clear I wanted to keep you.” His dramatic sound effects had me trying to decide how rude laughing would be. “I think I’ve made that obvious, but he seemed to think there was some debate on that.”
Gary was smart.
Which one was he?
“Well, to someone else that might be a good idea, but I think you made it clear enough.” At the very least little me had decided he was going to keep me. “I’m glad he was thinking about you, though.”
Levi’s snort made me giggle. “He thinks I’m ridiculous. He was worrying about you.”
Aww.
“That’s my job, though.” Levi’s possessive tone had me trying to remind my dick he wasn’t supposed to be trying to get any attention at the moment. “So you need to remember that you’re supposed to tell me when something worries you…even if it’s about me.”
He was adorably insane.
My mother was going to love him more than she already did.
“I will do my best but I’ve never had anyone keep me before, so I might need some practice with that part.” He was really good about tackling anything that came up, though, so the idea of talking to him about stressful stuff didn’t bother me as much as it would have with anyone else.
Not having his attention bothered me a lot more, evidently.
“I’m enough of an asshole to like that I’m the first to keep you.” Pressing me tighter against him, he let me feel just how much he liked that. “I also like kissing you.”
We weren’t anywhere near done with the Christmas dinner conversation but I let him distract me with kisses and firm, wandering hands.
Distractions were amazing.
So were his lips and his tongue and his teeth when he nibbled on me.
“Woohoo…they finally got together.”
What the hell?
“Those girls are annoying.”
Oh.
Before I realized what he was doing…or that we’d been making out in the open doorway…Daddy got us inside and shut the door before he took a deep breath. “They need to learn boundaries.”
“I’m not going to be the one to teach them.” But I could kiss Daddy’s cheek. “Thank you for saving me, Daddy.”
He smirked, kissing my nose. “I will always save you.”
He was so cute.
“Just remember that when my parents get overbearing at Christmas.” That seemed to deserve another cheek kiss. “They’re going to be insane but they mean well.”
“As long as we get a bit of alone time and no one screams at me that I’m a pervert, it’s going to be the best Christmas in years.” He was making light of all the chaos in his home life but I could tell he was serious.
“Oh, alone time.”
Oops.
“Um, it’s my turn to confess I forgot something too.” Daddy’s chest jerked but he didn’t laugh. “We’re a perfect match. Um, my mother wanted to know if you’re expecting to stay in a separate guest room because of your Puritanical views on sexuality.”
I didn’t want to edit that too much just in case it came up again later.
“Huh?”
Daddy pulled back just enough to frown at me.
“Let’s try that again, please.” He blinked a few times like he was trying to clear his mental cache. “My Puritanical views on sexuality?”
I wasn’t sure which piece he’d focus on first, but that wasn’t a bad place to start.
“Um, well, your family did come over on the Mayflower. So she’s not wrong.” Not technically.
“How did my views on sex come up?” He was being remarkably calm based on how crazy the conversation was. “Yes, let’s go sit down and we’ll back up the conversation a bit.”
“Okay.” It wasn’t going to make it less weird but we liked cuddling. “Couch or bed?”
The way he rolled his eyes said what he was thinking even though he kept most of it inside. “Couch.”
Great.
“I didn’t tell her anything weird.” I didn’t think I had. “It seemed like a normal conversation.”
“With her…a normal conversation with her. But Chipmunk, normal with your mother is not normal with anyone else.” Daddy took my hand and led me into the living room where he plopped down and pulled me half onto his lap and half onto the couch. “Alright, let’s start again at the beginning.”
“Yes.” Where was the beginning? “Well, she called me the other day when you went into the grocery store to surprise me with dessert.”
That’d been really cute.
“You mean when I went in to surprise you and you changed all the preset buttons on the radio?” Daddy glared at me, so I just made my eyes wider and kissed his cheek. “Fine. I’ll stop mentioning that.”
No, he would not.
He was going to be frustrated about that for years and he was going to bring it up every time I drove him crazy…but his music taste was terrible and half the buttons were set to talk radio stations.
How did we have so many talk radio stations?
“Well, while I was trying to keep myself occupied and big, she called because she’d snuck her phone into that retreat and was hiding in the bathroom.” I wasn’t even going to begin to guess what that was doing to her karma, but it wasn’t mine, so I wasn’t worried about it.
I was slightly worried about the rest, though. “I told her about you coming and how we’re getting along and I wasn’t specific but she did that aww how cute thing and started asking how long we’d been a couple.”
Daddy let out a long sigh but eventually nodded. “She was going to notice that anyway. We’re not exactly subtle or hiding that we’re together.”
Good, we were on the same page with that.
“But I’m still not sure how we jumped from our being a couple to Puritanical sexual views.
” Before I could answer, he seemed to have a lightbulb moment.
“Oh, she asked about the bedroom thing and then it came up that we hadn’t shared a room yet, so…
so you probably said something about asking me what I was comfortable with before you picked an option. ”
Yep.
“Consent and limits are important and I didn’t know your limits.” I hadn’t meant to go down the whole not having had sex yet road. “I didn’t say limits to her, though. That’s one of my limits. I’d rather not use BDSM or age play language around my parents.”
Daddy’s eyes flashed wide. “That’s a limit I am completely in agreement on.”
“Good.” It seemed like another good time for a cheek kiss. “What are your thoughts on sleeping arrangements?”
His first reaction was to close his eyes and groan, but since it wasn’t helpful, I decided to be patient through the sound effects. “Okay, so I hate the idea of making a bad impression on your parents if it’s not necessary.”
I love how he knew sometimes it would be necessary to upset them…it showed how smart he was.
“I’m going to predict that sharing a bed will make your mother happier because it will show…something related to commitment and us…us becoming one?” Daddy straightened his head and opened his eyes. “How did I do?”
“Amazing. A plus on the weird parent situation.” Unfortunately, this wasn’t something they could prepare us for in school. “She had a long rambling explanation but it boils down to us being fine to share a bed as long as it’s what we want.”
Daddy’s frown was cute, not worrying. “What do we want?”
I was kind of assuming we meant me, so I answered honestly. “Um, I want my Daddy with me at night so I can have attention. It’s exhausting to have to be a full grown-up all the time around them. And they’re not great grown-ups, so someone else has to be the one to take charge.”
Good intentions did not mean good outcomes.
“You don’t have to sleep in my bed, though. We could get a blow-up mattress or move an actual mattress from a guest room into my room too.” I was flexible. “What are you thinking?”
“That I’m not having sex in your house so that your mother understands our souls are bonding or whatever she’ll say.
” Daddy was back to looking like he wanted to laugh or sigh…
another sign he was smart. “I don’t have a limits or moral issue in sharing a bed with you, but I don’t want her pushing you into something you’re not ready for. ”
Best Daddy ever.
“I won’t. I’ve had lots of practice telling her no and sticking to it. She can be exhausting but she honestly wants to support me.” It was sweet and maddening most of the time. “I’m more worried about you.”
“I’m pretty sure we’re at a slightly unhealthy level of watching out for each other and we’ll keep circling around it if we’re not careful.” Daddy’s brows pulled together and he sighed, but he wasn’t frustrated at me. “Okay, sleeping together…actual sleep…what is your limit on that?”
“Green.” Having to answer him was easier than needing to have the conversation with my mother. “What are you?”
Daddy smiled and I got a quick peck. “Green.”
“Good.” That was solved. “We did great.”
Laughing, Daddy shook his head and snuggled me closer. “I think you work better under threat of your mother than me being nice…at least when it comes to limits topics.”
I couldn’t help groaning and curling into him. “She’s scary and really nosy.”
“Yeah, like assuming not sharing a bed might mean sexual Puritan rather than slow and careful.” He huffed when I giggled. “Being picky about sexual partners is not a bad thing.”
“Nope.” I liked that he was picky…and that he’d picked me. “We’ll get there when we get there.”
We probably needed to work our way up to that…but…
“But while we’re not letting anyone else dictate that part of things, we get to say what we’re comfortable with.” Kissing his neck, I grinned as I made him shiver. “So while I’m big and feeling confident, how about we explore more limits?”
I was going to do my best to remember I had a boyfriend and a Daddy…and I was going to start by not letting little me have all the fun.