Chapter Thirteen
Abbott
I woke with strong arms around me, his body keeping me warm and snug. Last night had been so much more than just a dinner date. Yes, we ate dinner, and it was great. And yes, we came home and had sex, which was even greater. But what stood out the most was the spoon he gave me.
The way he’d gone through…I couldn’t even guess how much to hunt down and get that spoon for me, wowed me. I’d tried myself and never came close to succeeding, and he nailed it in one, or maybe five, or ten. I didn’t know how many tries it took.
It was sweet because he knew how important that spoon was to me, but it was so much more than that. Soren understood how hard it had been for me when I lost it and wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again.
I rolled over to see his face, surprised to see him looking at me too. “Did I wake you up?”
“No. I was listening to you breathe, feeling your body move with each breath, and waiting for you to wake up.”
In some context, that could sound pretty creepy, but in this one, it was sweet. He kissed my forehead. “Did you sleep well?”
“I did. Someone made sure I was good and tired last night.” I wiggled my nose against his.
“Well, I’m glad my plan worked.” He smirked.
“I could get used to waking up like this.”
Everything with Soren had been going well.
So well, that I was starting to question it.
The old adage of if it seems too good to be true, it is, kept popping into my head.
I liked talking to him about everyday nonsense, like work, and that a piece of my mail was wet, and that I ran out of laundry soap, just as much as important things like my health scare a couple years ago, that turned out to be nothing.
Of course, I liked the dating part of it, where we went out and had fun, too.
And if that was all it was, it would still be fabulous.
But, adding to that, the way he fit in with my friends and their daddies, and how our bodies were compatible—it was just so much goodness, I started to talk myself out of thinking it was possible.
“Hey. What’s going on up there?” He brushed the hair from my brow.
“Nothing,” I lied.
“You don’t have to tell me. You can just say you don’t want to talk about it, and I won’t push if you don’t want me to. But please don’t say nothing unless your head’s really completely blank.”
It’s not. I should tell him before I chicken out.
“Do you regret last night?” he asked, and my stomach dropped.
I was the worst.
“Absolutely not. I regret not a single second of our time together yesterday or this morning, except for maybe when I was all in my head. That, I kinda regret because I gave you the wrong message.”
“Good. Because I like you, and I don’t regret anything either.”
“I like you too. And that’s what was in my head.” I didn’t fully understand it myself, but I was already feeling better by attempting the conversation. I should’ve done that from the beginning.
“You looked like you were doing complicated math problems because you like me?”
That was how I came across? “Yes and no. I was thinking how everything was going so well and then deciding to worry about problems that weren’t there.”
“Particular problems you want to talk about?”
“No. That’s the problem with my head today. I was thinking about how there has to be one. I just need to look hard enough.” I sat up, no longer able to wait. “I have to pop into the bathroom real quick.
He kissed my forehead again, and I scampered inside and took care of business. But that few minutes away had me realizing what it was I needed to say to him or at least how to start the conversation.
He had popped into the bathroom after me, and I put on a pot of coffee. And when he rejoined me, I just let it all out.
“Here’s the thing, Soren. You’re a daddy. Right?”
He nodded.
“And I’m a little. Right?”
He nodded again.
“And we knew that from the beginning. But I’m always big around you, and I didn’t know if maybe that’s because you didn’t see me as someone you wanted to be daddy with.” I’d been thinking all around my worries, and it wasn’t until I started talking that I fully understood what they were.
“So very much I do want that.” He pulled me into a hug. “I think you’re the most adorable little, but I didn’t want to pressure you. And the time I saw you at the club with your little friends, you were acting more big than little, so I let that lead me.”
And looking back, he wasn’t wrong. I was doing a little thing by coloring, but that was as far as it went.
“How about this?” The coffee ready, he poured two cups and made one mine. “Why don’t we sit down and talk about what it is we’d ideally want and see if they line up?”
That had been exactly the right call. I told him I didn’t want to just do scenes with daddies. I wanted more. And in return, he told me he preferred I didn’t do scenes with anybody other than him anyway, so that worked well.
We both wanted big dates and to spend time with friends, and more of the fabulous sex and lazy mornings, and little time—with me being little and him being daddy. We wanted it all, and one by one, everything lined up.
“So now what?” My coffee was gone. A Post-it note listing it all that I had every intention of ripping up afterward sat on the table between us. It was just too embarrassing to look at. I wasn’t even shy about my little side, but something about this conversation had me wanting to blush.
“Let’s have a little night. Like, a full little night, and not because we ran into each other at Chained, and not because we’re doing a scene, but to see if we’re compatible that way. You know? Just be my daddy for the night.”
I watched his face, worried as it stayed the same, no change in expression whatsoever. Had I upset him? He was quiet. So quiet.
“I think that’s a really good idea,” he eventually said. “And you know what? I don’t know a lot about what you like to do when you’re little. Are you somebody who wants rules and consequences?”
“Consequences?” My eyes went wide. I had friends who liked to be spanked. I was not one of them. “You mean, like, you know…” I waved my hand just to make the point. “Like that?”
“Well, some people like that, but some people like getting reflections.”
“Reflections?” That was new to me.
“Essays. I have daddy friends who give their boys and girls essays all the time.”
Do not sign me up for that version.
“No writing. And for the record, I don’t like to be a bad boy or a brat. I like to be good and get praised.”
He jotted that down, his note-taking both practical and cute.
“I really don’t wanna have consequences, I don’t think. But I don’t mind if there are rules you have, as long as they’re for our little time and not all the time.”
Of course, I said that before he told me one of the rules was, I had to eat all my veggies if he made them. We’d cross that bridge when we came to it.
We talked about what kinds of things I liked to play with.
We talked about all the foods that I liked, what shows and movies, if I had any toys I preferred, what I liked to wear, if I liked cuddling or just sitting by each other.
Detail after detail of what we enjoyed. And he wrote them all down.
And then his last one told me I’d made the right decision.
Abbott wants praise. I hadn’t told him that, but it was true. I thrived on it.
Then we talked about where our first playdate would be. We both agreed Chained would be too much. It wasn’t as easy to fall into little space, and we didn’t wanna explore this side of our relationship with an audience.
He suggested my apartment because it was familiar—all my things were here; everything was normal in that way.
But I didn’t want that. I wanted to go to Soren’s.
I could bring a few things, but I wouldn’t have to worry about whether he knew where something belonged or not, or if I got weird about how he washed the dishes, or all the small things that could distract me.
I also wanted to see if I could fit into his life more, and that seemed like a good start.
We decided to pick a day and not rush right into it. We had work and commitments, so it would be a week before we could explore this side of our relationship. But that was probably good, because it gave him time to prepare, but it also gave me time to prep.
My stomach growled. Loudly.
“I think someone needs brunch.”
I looked up at the clock. Yikes. It was getting close to lunchtime.
“I would like that, Soren. But first, let’s shower and get dressed.”
“Together?”
“Yeah. Together.” It was a tight squeeze, but we made it work.