Page 63 of Daddy’s Naughty List (Dirty Daddies 2024 Anthology #4)

Chapter Eight

Stirling

“Oh, Santa…” One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. “Lots of Goldfish.”

“I hadn’t realized how many flavors these came in now.” Santa shrugged as he reached for a pizza-flavored one. “But some of these are not gold Goldfish. That pretzel one is really good if you eat it with the messy cheesy ones, but it should not be called a goldfish.”

Santa liked snacks but Santa had lots to say about snacks.

“Dessert?” Pointing to the cupcake flavor, I waited to see what Santa would say.

He sighed. “I don’t know about that one.”

Nodding, I pointed to the s’mores bowl. “Dessert?”

Santa smiled and reached for more. “Those are a do-again.”

Then he frowned and looked at the naughty crackers. “But that hot one… I must’ve fat-fingered that one. I don’t remember ordering it.”

Snickering, I wiggled my fingers at the lots of cheese ones. “Mine. Please, Santa. Mine.”

“Here you go.” Kissing my head, Santa gave me my bowl and snuggled me tight. “Ready for one more chapter?”

Nodding, I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed as the witch got abducted. “Like fairy tale, Santa.”

He snorted. “I will not agree with that.”

“Good men. Naughty men. Scary thing. Save the day.” Oops. “It’s okay.”

Goldfish didn’t get dirty if they fell on shirts and tummies and laps and chairs.

Santa made a silly sound. “If those hit the floor, you can’t eat them.”

“Oh no, Santa.” Cheek kisses. Snuggle. “Saved the day.”

“You saved your snack. Not the day.” Santa grumpy.

“Hugs.” Careful. Careful. “Now hugs.”

Santa snickered. “I can’t decide if you put the Goldfish down because I’m more important and you didn’t want to spill them on me or if you didn’t want to take any chances on your snack falling.”

“Kisses.” Helper was smart. “Hugs and kisses.”

Climbing around on Santa’s lap as he giggled, I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a big hug. “Cartoons?”

Santa liked cartoons.

“ Transformers ?” Santa liked those.

“Really?” Santa was suspicious. “Okay.”

Oh, big Santa hugs and kisses.

“Cartoons and snacks and then we’ll go snuggle in bed.” Santa was trying to hide his yawns but it was big hard. “Santa has had a long day and so have you.”

Maybe.

Hands up. Wide fingers. “See? Awake.”

“Making your eyes wider will not make you more awake, silly goose.” Santa kissed my head and reached for the remote. “But you look like a cute bug that way.”

“Monster?” Not bug. “Monster.”

Santa glared at me. “A scary monster or a naughty one?”

Santa was silly goose.

Closer.

Closer.

Whisper.

“Naughty.” Ha ha ha.

“Ugh. I knew it.” Frowning and huffing. “I shouldn’t have even asked.”

Naughty monster.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t ask and we’re going to watch the funny robots.” Snuggle. Snuggle. “Here we go. Let’s turn you around. You know, if we keep watching the show together, then next season I can show you my favorite queer couple. They’re really cute.”

Huh?

“Santa?” He snickered. “Teasing?”

“Nope. You’re just going to have to watch and see.” Santa smiley but Santa serious? “They’re definitely queer-coded and in a relationship. Most of that had to be off screen of course, but there was romance.”

Hmm.

“Santa silly.” But Santa happy. “Snuggle Santa.”

“Aww, thank you.” More kisses. Big cuddles. “Here we go.”

Yep, Santa big smiley.

“You laughed and smiled. I saw you.” Santa giggled and hugged me big- big . “I knew you’d like it.”

Silly goose.

“Oh, no pretending. I saw you laughing.” Santa growled and tickled. “Ha. There’s your laughter.”

Santa…

Santa…

Santa cheated.

Big hugs. “Love you.”

Being tickled was hard work. Santa made me yawn too.

“I saw that too. Time for bed.” Santa looked like I was sneaky. “Arms around me. Bedtime for Santa and his helper.”

“Monkey.” Tight. Tight. “Santa’s monkey.”

Santa giggled. “I don’t know about that. I’ve got a helper. I don’t need a monkey. They’re messy.”

Messy monkey.

He was so funny.

Hug. Hugs.

Hold tight.

“Bedtime for the tired monkey.” Kisses. “He’s had a long day and now we’re going to cuddle.”

Santa needed cuddles.

Bedtime for Santa.

“Whatcha thinking?” Rhett’s soft voice sounded like he was only half-awake, but all the brains that were working were focused on me.

“That the world didn’t end.” Instead of telling me I was crazy, he simply nodded and wrapped himself around me, pulling my back tighter against his chest. He was always a really good big spoon, but he did it the best when he was only half-awake.

“I’m glad it didn’t.” Kissing my head, he let out a deep breath that tickled my neck and sounded like he could’ve easily gone back to sleep. “I was… I was worried it might, but I didn’t want to stop you from exploring.”

He’d trusted me.

“You were the best.” Closing my eyes, I tried not to sound stressed or worried, but I knew the slow exhale I made gave me away.

Being too relaxed was as much of a tell as being too tense.

Rhett kissed my head and made a thinking sound, letting me know he’d heard me and he knew what my careful breathing meant.

“I woke up thinking you might be frustrated with me, but you’re not.” He had a few reasons to be, though. “You even had Goldfish crackers delivered for me.”

Shaped food was for kids and Littles… and I’d spent a really long time ignoring everything even remotely childlike.

“I love you delivery apps and fees, baby.” He didn’t seem to think that was ridiculous judging by how sincere his tone was. “If anyone deserves a dozen bags of Goldfish, it’s you. I was really proud of you. Confused. But proud.”

He was so cute.

“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure I’d ever say the D word in relation to submitting to him, but he didn’t seem to mind the alternative that’d popped up. “You’re good… you’re good with the unconventional name?”

I’d been slightly more stressed than I’d wanted to admit, and it’d seemed completely rational before. I wasn’t so sure about it after a good night’s sleep and a lot of cuddling, though.

“I’m good.” Sounding a tiny bit more awake, Rhett shifted his head to kiss my neck and made a soft, sexy hum. “I’m very good.”

His brain still wasn’t working at full speed but lower parts of him weren’t having the same problem as he rocked his hips forward and moaned. “Very good.”

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or sigh, but his teeth teasing my neck made me shiver. “I like taking care of you and I love seeing you relaxed and happy. The word doesn’t matter. Everything else is what’s important.”

That was what the logical part of me kept insisting he’d say, but I’d long since realized that fears had nothing to do with logic.

“You take really good care of me. You read me a book and you got me a bath and snacks.” Lots of snacks. “Nothing from that stuff was stressing me out when I woke up. I was just… I was just a bit concerned that I hadn’t prepared you for what I’d been thinking.”

“At all.” He huffed but hugged me tighter. “The phrase you were looking for is that you were a bit concerned that you hadn’t prepared me at all for what you’d been thinking.”

Well, technically he wasn’t exactly wrong.

“I told you that Dr. Miles and I had been talking about that kind of stuff. I just wanted to make real progress before I tried it again.” He didn’t like it when I got upset and he really didn’t like it when my world crashed down around me.

“I can understand that.” Kissing his way up my neck, he nibbled on my ear. “But I want more firsts with you. Even if we do things with Dr. Miles or you get upset. I want you to see that I’m here for you.”

“You’re always here for me.” And I was going to be there for him, so I turned around in his arms and kissed his chest. “And parts of you are very excited to be with me.”

Yep, it was time to change the subject.

He sighed.

For Pete’s sake.

“One more thing and then I’ll let you distract me.”

He ignored my huff and sounded like he was just going to keep going, so I whined and tried again with words. “You couldn’t just give me one time?”

“No.” His flat tone had me rolling my eyes. “Now, as I was saying, we’re going to discuss limits together very soon. We can use whatever words you’re most comfortable with, we can have the talk with Dr. Miles facilitating it, or we can draw pictures. I don’t care how we get it done, but limits will be laid out.”

Ugh.

“Yes, Sir.” I was avoidant by nature, but I knew when he was going to put his foot down. “Are we all done?”

“Yes.” Still with a dry tone, he shifted to petting the back of my head. “Now you can seduce me into postponing the discussion.”

Yay.

“Then you’ll make me breakfast?” Hmm. “I’ll sound cute and ask for pancakes if it’ll make you happy.”

Laughing, he reached down and swatted my ass to make me crazy. “If you’re not careful, I’ll make them Mickey Mouse shaped and we’ll see what happens.”

Oh, that was cheating.

“I might even give you the strawberry syrup to dip them in. Not cover them in. Dip.” He was nearly giggling he was enjoying himself so much. “So be careful what you threaten me with.”

I knew he knew but I had to say it anyway.

“That…” My voice lowered on its own but I couldn’t help it. “That’ll make you Santa and me your helper. You know that, right?”

“I do.” Somehow he still sounded rough and wicked but he was grinning ear to ear as he rolled us over so he had me pinned to the bed. “I like you frustrated. I like you happy. I like you grown-up. I like you helping. I like you everywhere and everything.”

“I’m not eating green eggs and ham and you need to learn how to rhyme better.” He was terrible at that.

Laughing, he shrugged. “Someone woke me up early wiggling and thinking very loudly, so I’m going to get a pass on that.”

I’d agree this time since I liked the results.

“You woke up because I was thinking so loudly, because you love me, and because I’m important to you.” Oh, that got good results too.

“Brat.” Giving me a quick kiss, he glared at me. “But you’re my manipulative brat.”

Yay.

Being manipulative got so much better results than expecting him to read my mind. We really should’ve started practicing it a lot earlier in our relationship.

“I am.” And he thought I was cute when I did it, so I got another kiss on the lips before he started kissing along my jaw.

“You know what also started waking me up?” His teasing tone sent a shiver through me but I managed to shake my head. “You spending quite a lot of time in the bathroom.”

Well, I couldn’t stop the blush that was creeping over my face, but at least there was one thing I didn’t have to be bratty to get.

“Did you want some quality time this morning?” He chuckled when I nodded and couldn’t help giggling. “Such a good sub for his Master.”

Being good had its rewards… attention, no hard questions, and quality time.

Yep, being a brat was fun but being good got me a lot too.