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“We’ve got time for this,” he said.

In hindsight, the tone of his voice should have given her a warning, but she wasn’t in a particularly discerning frame of mind.

They’d made it to a volcanic boulder. It wasn’t the first one she’d seen on their trek, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

“As you so cleverly pointed out, little girl, we don’t have a lot of time. So, let’s do this in bullet points. We can talk it out in detail once our feet are on American soil. Deal?”

She automatically said, “Deal.” But what the devil had she just agreed to? He sat down on the boulder as if they had all the time in the world.

“Okay, point one. I’m a Daddy Dom, but I think you already know that.”

All the breath left her body, and her knees almost buckled. Holy cow! Had he just said that? He had. He’d just… said that right out in the open. Her mouth opened and closed like a catfish seeking water, finally landing on open.

He didn’t take his eyes off her. Reaching out, he put a finger under her chin and lifted, closing her mouth for her. She’d have to be embarrassed about that later because he kept talking.

“You aren’t asking me any questions about that, so I’m going to assume you know what it means. Bullet point two, I’m guessing you are a Little. Am I right?”

She was in such a state of shock at this turn in the conversation that she nodded before she knew what she was doing.

“Good girl,” he said. “Have you ever had a Daddy before?”

She had read words like that hundreds of times in her spicy romance books, but no one had ever said them to her before. They made her feel just as amazing as the girls in the stories felt.

“Um, no,” she answered honestly. “I thought I did, but he wasn’t a real Daddy. That was years ago, but I’ve always wanted to find my real Daddy.”

He nodded. “I haven’t had a Little girl in a long time, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t missed it. I feel drawn to you, and at the risk of sounding egotistical, I think you feel drawn to me, too. I don’t know whether that is something real or situational, but right now, it doesn’t matter. Bullet point three, I propose we agree to a short term DDlg relationship. I think it will make things easier for both of us.”

She tried to give him her answer, but he held up his hand. “Before you decide, you need to know I take being a Daddy very seriously. I’m not the marshmallow Daddy you might have read about in those books people write. And even though I can’t sayhow long our relationship will last, you need to know that while we are in that relationship, I will be your Daddy, and you will be my Little girl in every sense of the word. Any questions?”

None that she could think of, but then, she couldn’t even think of things she needed at the grocery store when someone asked out of the blue like he was springing on her. She shook her head.

“Think carefully, Tildi not Matilda,” he said. “Your answer lasts until we reach Washington state. That’s where we have to return a yacht that’s taking us back to the US. That is what you are agreeing to. You will be my babygirl until we are safely back on land. You will have a safeword, of course, but we will be in a relationship with everything that entails. So, again, do you have any questions?”

She took a breath and tried to think. Did she have any questions? Surely there was something she needed to know. The anticipation of everything his proposal might mean had her nipples hardening. Oh yeah, she did have a question.

“Um, does this relationship include sex?” Her face flooded with heat as soon as the words left her mouth. He was going to think she was a horrible person to ask such a thing of a complete stranger. How could she have said that? Worried that, best case scenario, he would laugh at her, she covered her face with her hands. When no laughter came, she peeked at him through her fingers. He didn’t seem to be disgusted or amused. Actually, he looked pleased.

“That is a very good question, babygirl. I’m proud of you for having the courage to ask.”

Warmth at his praise heated her entire body. At that moment, if he had told her she could fly, she might have jumped off that cliff for him. Well, she’d have jumped off the rock he was sitting on.

She had lived twenty-four years, and that was the first time anyone had ever told her they were proud of her for something she did.

“To answer your question, that would be up to you, Bluebell,” he continued. “Not gonna lie, I would love to be with you in every way you can think of, and probably a few you can’t. But it’s your call. I would never put pressure on you for sex of any kind. Now I have a question. If we do this, I want to be your Daddy in every sense of the word, excluding sex. I will treat you as my Little because that is what you’ll be, with all the rewards and all the consequences that go with this type of relationship. Is that what you want?”

Was that what she wanted? It was clear she’d never have to worry about what he was thinking or what he wanted. He was perfectly capable and willing to lay it out there in the open. After a lifetime of trying to guess what people really wanted from her and for what reason, that was more appealing to her than almost anything else he’d said.

She tried to think things through, but she really couldn’t see a downside. To be able to turn over the reins to someone like Boone would be amazing. The stress and complications her life held were often too heavy to bear. To have the chance to experience what it was like to have a Daddy like the women in the books she loved? Sign her up.

She met his eyes and nodded. “I would like that,” she told him.

He nodded. “Since we don’t know each other, we will use the traffic light system for safewords for now. Red for stop, yellow to pause and talk, and green to keep going. Are you good with that?”

“Yes,” she said immediately.

He studied her for a moment, then asked, “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”