Page 7 of Culture and Curiosities (Blue Ridge Charm #1)

Wren

That was so…

Not knowing what to say was so weird it cleared some of the emotion running through me and I wrapped my arms around my mate.

My mate…hmm…

“Daddy?”

He stroked my back, making a soft hum that sounded like something he’d practiced. “Yes, my mate?”

“What’s your name? I’m going to call you Daddy most of the time but I need to know your actual name to be able to introduce you to people when we get to that point.

” I needed to figure out when that point was, but somewhere between after we’d fully mated and before that Canadian lady dragged us through the portal seemed like a good plan.

From what I’d heard she was a force of nature and the diner men were still deciding if there should be a Team Bulldozer. I couldn’t decide if I was excited to meet her or was just going to hide because she’d be too much to deal with.

“Oh.” He was still and nearly silent as he thought and forgot to pretend to look human, going so quiet it was almost like seeing a predator in the woods. “You are right. I did not make introductions.”

Before I could tell him that was alright, he huffed. “The locals skip that step as well unless they are gathering information.”

Giggling, I nodded against him and gave him attention me wiggles. “They’re pushy and nosy and I love it. They’re so funny.”

I could hear the smile in his voice as he went back to stroking his hands over me and nuzzled the side of my head like he was supposed to. “They have been unexpected. Klynn does not appreciate them.”

Daddy’s friend sounded a bit like Pierce and I couldn’t wait to meet him to get to be nosy too.

“I am called Toman. My name is Toman. Yes. That is better.” His grumbles as he got the wording right had me trying not to laugh. “I came with a small party through the portal. However, our third member went back through again to share our first information.”

“You’ve got a wonderful name, Daddy.” Toman. Toe-Man. My man. My Daddy man. My Daddy Manny. “That’s close enough to a human-sounding name that we won’t confuse the diner men.”

They had enough on their plates figuring out kinks and age play, so we didn’t need to add anything else.

“They appear easily confused.” Daddy was so funny but the best part was how serious he was. “I am glad my name will be easy to say, however. I did not expect the names your people took to have changed so much.”

Oh.

“Um, well, there were locals that I’m told our people spent a lot of time with but the next wave of outsiders who moved here after us were Scottish.” Hmm. “From a land across the Atlantic Ocean called Scotland. We took a lot of their names after we mated and married them and started having kids.”

And it’d just stuck.

“There is much information to exchange.” Daddy Manny sounded thoughtful and like the list was adding up in his head, but nothing I could feel from him said he was worried about it. “Where would you like to start our discovery, my mate?”

When I giggled, he made a cute thinking sound he must’ve heard at the diner. “I should have been able to guess your response.”

Shrugging, I kissed his cheek before snuggling against him again. “Building our bond, Daddy. That’s very important too. With a stronger bond you’ll have a better understanding of everything Earthy.”

Making sure to wiggle against him so he could feel just what kind of bonding I meant got a little moan from him.

Daddy Manny might not give off a lot of emotions and expressions, but bodies were still bodies.

“We should also explore to make sure we’re compatible.

There’s only one way to figure that out. ”

Oh well.

We’d have to take one for the team.

Something about his huff sounded like a laugh that time. “We are what I think your people would call pioneers, so research must be done.”

Trying not to laugh, I nodded and rocked against him. “It’s just what we have to do.”

“For a variety of reasons.” Daddy’s hands slowly inched lower down my back. “Your movements indicate you would like a more intimate touch, my mate. Is that correct?”

Oh yes.

Slow for Daddy Manny, though.

“Yes, Daddy.” If he hadn’t touched that many people there was a lot of things he probably hadn’t done. “The only place I don’t like being touched is the bottom of my feet. They’re tickly in a bad way. I don’t know why because I walk a lot without it being a problem.”

Daddy kissed my head. “Then I will not be tickly to your feet.”

Pausing, he went thinky quiet. “I will not tickle your feet?”

“Yes, that’s right, but the first one was fine too. I understood it.” Daddy Manny was the type to be precise, though. “See? We need to hurry up the bonding so that you have all the words you need.”

And so he’d know when I was being cute and when I was using the right words.

That was important too.

“I am glad I was able to be understood.” He paused again before feeling very frustrated. “The spell was supposed to help us obtain language in the most natural way. It did not go as expected.”

And he really didn’t like that.

Was Daddy Manny a mage?

His body certainly felt magical against mine.

“Not everyone around here has the same language knowledge.” Was that the polite way of saying some people didn’t speak good English? “One of the diner men said there are even small pockets where they’ve got something close to their own version of English.”

People were fun.

“If you learned English from someone really isolated or just old and basically living in the past, that would’ve made it difficult.” And camping couldn’t help either. “We’ll work on the language thing and show you more TV and entertainment media so that you get more familiar with that too.”

Had Daddy Manny even seen cartoons?

We had to fix that.

“You can come back to my hotel room and we’ll hang out.” Hmm. “We’ll sit down and snuggle and talk. That’s basically what hang out means in this context.”

Words had too many meanings.

Oh.

“What about your coworker? Your work partner.” They didn’t seem to be friends but that sounded weird. “Does he want a hotel room too?”

Why did the men think he was grumpy?

Why did the diner men seem to think he was little?

Piecing the different conversations together, that’s what everyone seemed to be saying, but even I knew it wasn’t the time to ask about that.

I should meet him first before I was nosy.

“He does not seem to enjoy the locals.” Daddy Manny’s tone was so neutral I couldn’t decide if that was simply just true, an understatement, or him making fun of the diner men. “He spends most of his time gathering knowledge on a reading device and watching the portal.”

Reading device?

“But yes, I would enjoy hanging out with you.” Daddy Manny made a soft thinking sound. “Does that word pair with the word awesome? I was told it would be awesome to hang out with locals to obtain what seems to be alcohol.”

Giggling, I nodded. “Awesome is like saying very good or exciting and great.”

Who had he gotten English from?

“People keep words that are their favorite and don’t always stop using them even when they’re not used by most people anymore.” Hmm. “We have a lot of words that are fashionable and then we stop using them. English changes a lot in a very short period of time.”

So learning it from an isolated old lady might not have been that helpful.

“Our language has not evolved in the same way.” Daddy Manny’s hand got close to my ass before pausing and moving higher again. “I have no issue with providing you with intimate touches, my mate, but I do not think social convention allows it in public.”

He was so cute.

“You’re right.” Straightening, I kissed his cheek and took his hand so he knew to hold mine. “Let’s go back to the hotel and have privacy.”

Hopefully lots and lots of fun privacy.

“I have many questions about intimacy and regarding you being little .” Daddy Manny was studying me carefully. “You must answer them without the human behavior of teasing so I accurately understand your needs.”

Daddy Manny was smart.

“Yes, Daddy.” Giving him another cheek kiss, I made sure to look cute. “No teasing Daddy Manny.”

Everyone else was still fair game, though.

“Daddy Manny?” Daddy cocked his head like he was pretending to be human. “The human convention of nicknames?”

“Yes.” Giving him another kiss since he seemed to like them, because he hugged me tighter every time I did it, I curled into him again. “It’s a way of showing you’re special to me.”

Hmm.

“I have a question. When did you eat last?” Had he eaten at the reception? The diner? “Does your work partner need food? Do we need to talk to him before we get distracted? I’m ready to get distracted with you.”

So maybe I had a couple of questions.

Daddy Manny’s lips turned up in the faintest smile. “I did not understand some of the cake. However, I ate at our campsite earlier.”

That was vague.

“Did you eat enough?” It sounded like I’d need to feed him soon at the very least. “What about your work partner?”

What was his name?

Kevin?

No.

Klynn.

Yes. Klynn like…what rhymed with that?

Klynn like fin.

He’d be a fish.

I could remember that.

Daddy looked like he wanted to lie but he was a good boy. “Our resources are low but Klynn does not like the diner and I do not have the visual knowledge to transport us to a further location for food.”

Like Star Trek?

No.

We could come back to that.

“Alright, I have a car and I’m a very good driver.

We’ll go to Walmart real quick and pick up some easy stuff for you guys to eat and then you can introduce me to Klynn.

” Because Daddy Manny was going to sleep with me tonight and I didn’t need a cranky alien crashing through town looking for him. “Will Klynn want anything else?”

When would I be allowed to ask about the whole might be a little thing?

“Patience and what one Daddy at the diner called an attitude adjustment.” Daddy Manny frowned but his eyes sparkled. “He is cranky.”

Yep, the men at the diner knew that too.

“What does he like?” Keeping him close, I led us back to the front of the building and over to my car before Pierce could pop up. He was like a bad penny and was always there when I was doing something fun.

Or dangerous.

Or mischievous.

Or naughty.

He had very good radar for that kind of stuff, so I was going to have to let his new friend know. That wasn’t something a little should be surprised by.

“Helpful answers are not easy.” Daddy Manny didn’t like that but he didn’t give up. “Reading. He has led me to believe he is reading historical information but I believe he has misled me.”

Giggling, I squeezed Daddy’s hand. “I’ll help you figure it out and we’ll teach him how to be a good boy.”

When Daddy Manny nodded, I knew he’d been thinking about the little stuff too. “I think that will be a good plan.”

And since littles needed toys, we needed to find something for a cranky cutie.

“So he’s got some kind of tablet?” Had they raided the library? That used bookstore over by the candle store?

Oh, the used bookstore.

“Yes.” Daddy was confident about that even if he looked very skeptical about the car. “Are you sure of the safety of this?”

“Yes.” As much as I could be. “Don’t you guys have anything like this?”

Was their world smaller than I’d thought?

“No.” Daddy let me inch him close but he didn’t seem ready to touch the small sedan I’d rented for the week. “We fly or have magical methods of transportation.”

The mage version of Star Trek.

Got it.

“Well, we do a lot of things the human way. I’m not sure why because no one around here is trying to hide being magical anymore, but it’s what we do.” Daddy actually smiled when I shrugged. “We really shouldn’t just beam ourselves over to the Walmart parking lot, though. That would not be subtle.”

But first we had to get Daddy in the car.

“There’s got to be someone who can make cars safer with a spell, but for the time being, this has built-in human safety features that work very well.

I promise to be very careful with you.” Kissing his cheek, I pointed out the obvious.

“You’re my mate. I want you alive and healthy so I can brag about you. ”

To everyone.

That got another smile from my slightly stoic Daddy.

“Your words imply positive things but your expression would have the dragons at the diner asking additional questions.”

Ha.

My Daddy was smart, sexy, and a mage?

A dragon?

Well, he was my Daddy so that was what mattered.