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CHAPTER NINE

ELLIE

“Good morning, kiddo.”

This morning I woke up at five a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep.

Rather than chance waking up Brennen, I’d snuck out of the bedroom to the living room.

On my way, I’d grabbed a blanket off my bed so I could wrap myself in a burrito, turn on some cartoons, and read while I waited for him to wake up.

It was closer to eight before he emerged from his bedroom.

“Hey, Brennen, I hope?—”

“Why are you calling me that?” he interrupted before I could finish my sentence.

“Because it’s your name?” His confusion baffled me.

“Yeah, but why are you calling me that?”

“Because that’s your name,” I repeated. He hadn’t taken any falls yesterday and hadn’t mentioned hurting anything. Clearly, some part of my understanding was missing, but for the life of me, my mind drew a complete blank.

“I thought that we’d agreed I was Daddy B.”

The question hung in the air as he came and sat beside me on the couch. I fell into him when it dipped and didn’t have a way of stopping myself because I was wrapped in the blanket. He didn’t miss a beat. He put his arms around me and pulled me close against him.

“Wow, I mean, yes, we did, but yeah, no pressure.” I hated the way I tripped over my words.

It was one thing to have a moment out in the woods when you had your first honest-to-god hand job.

Highly recommend ten out of ten, by the way.

But it was something else to be sitting in your apartment and needing to convince yourself that you really could call the sexy specimen of a man Daddy.

“Before we go any further, we need to backtrack.” Brennen shifted me so that instead of being under his arm, he cradled me in his lap.

“You aren’t forcing anything on me. I’m volunteering.

And on top of that, I’m making it a rule.

So we’re crystal clear, the rule is that you can call me Daddy B. I’m not Brennen to you.”

“I can’t call you Daddy around the rest of the team.”

“I won’t stop you.” I gave him an exasperated look and he broke into a grin. “Fine, you can call me B around other people, but Brennen is off the table.”

“Got it.” He gave me a look that unquestionably meant I hadn’t gotten it at all. “Got it, Daddy B.”

The smile he gave me in return could have lit up the sun. His eyes crinkled, laugh lines appeared on either side of his mouth, and his eyes straight up sparkled.

“Better get locked in, kiddo. We’ve got a lot to do today.” Daddy B’s lap was too comfortable, and I burrowed down. He knew exactly what I wanted because he tightened his grip until it was nearly too tight.

I loved it.

“What do we gotta do?” It was hard to remember words when he held me. My little time had always been so restricted and never with another person. This was new and amazing. When Daddy B snuggled me on his lap, my little mindset surged to the forefront and my adult self took countless steps back.

Before he answered me, Daddy’s mouth nibbled along my jawline and behind my ear.

When he found a secret spot where my nerve ends congregated, his soft kisses made my entire body shudder.

My cock chubbed up more than it had already been.

As much as I wanted him to keep touching me, my body already felt like it was primed for release.

My squirming in the blanket wasn’t unnoticed.

Daddy’s soft laugh wasn’t mocking, which I’d be forever grateful for.

“What’s the matter, baby? You okay?” His nibbling mouth created an invisible pattern down my neck until he reached the collar of my T-shirt. “This doesn’t look like the onesie I saw. It was cute.”

Before I attempted to speak, I drew in a deep breath and worked to gather my scattered thoughts. “I, uh, wasn’t sure how little you wanted me to be.” My answer caused Daddy to draw back and study my face.

“How little…? What are you talking about? I want you to be as little as you are.”

“Yeah, I get that, but it doesn’t mean you want my freak flag flying all day.”

Daddy’s expressive eyes clouded over. The fantasy of having Daddy B’s undivided attention hadn’t prepared me for the reality of it. His eyes bore into mine, and I was struck by the intensity in them.

“Ellie, you need to hear me clearly. Are you listening?” I nodded. “You don’t have a freak flag. You’re you, and I’m here for every fucking bit of it. Be as little or as big as you want. I never, ever want you to apologize for being you.”

His stare was too much, and I looked away, but Daddy B wouldn’t let me get away with it. He cupped my jaw and guided me back to face him directly.

“Kiddo, you didn’t answer me.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Can you try that again?”

“Yes, Daddy B, I understand.”

The full force of his smile, like his intense stare, knocked me back. It tipped up at the edges and showed his pretty white teeth. Sunny. When he smiled like that, everything about him radiated.

The exact sequence of events that had led me to this point remained a blur, but I wasn’t willing to push it too hard.

Pushing too hard meant the balance of the universe could be tipped, and I’d find my way out of this rabbit hole.

That was the last thing I wanted. My butt was planted on this ride until I was kicked out of the fair.

I knew Daddy was about to kiss me before his mouth ever touched mine. His eyes connected with mine, and I felt the intensity that had been building earlier shift to a heat that radiated beneath my bottom. As I pressed against him, trying to find a comfortable spot, I felt his hardness.

“What’s the matter, baby boy? You’re moving around a lot.”

Thankfully, the concern I’d seen earlier from him had shifted to laughter, want, and need. He was offering me everything I wanted, so it seemed foolish not to take him up on it.

“Daddy B, I want you to kiss me again.”

“I’m so proud of you, baby. I love it when you use your words.”

Daddy’s mouth fit over mine and his tongue thrust into my mouth. I parted my lips and tried to remember every movie I’d ever seen with people kissing. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I wanted to at least make it not terrible for him.

But I didn’t have to worry because Daddy knew exactly what I didn’t know and gave me a demonstration of what it was like to kiss someone properly.

He nibbled on my lips and then softly put his tongue between them.

He encouraged me to wrap my tongue around his own, and then he mapped every bit of my mouth.

He tasted like fresh mint and, oh dear god, I’d forgotten to brush my teeth.

“What’s the matter? Why did you stop kissing me?”

I clapped my hand over my mouth so he would not get the full blast of what had to be terrible breath. “Oh my gosh, I forgot to brush my teeth. I am so sorry. “

“Silly boy.” Daddy laughed. “I brushed mine enough for both of us.” I knew that he knew that I knew he was full of nonsense, but he pressed on anyway. “I’m your Daddy, right?” I nodded. “That means I get to make the decisions, right?” I nodded again, this time a bit more reluctantly.

“That means that if I didn’t ask about whether you brushed your teeth, I must not care.”

I sat back from him and thought about what he’d said.

If I were going to let Daddy B be a real Daddy, then I would have to let him do it, and he hadn’t said anything.

He hadn’t even asked about it, and he must’ve known ’cause I was sitting on his lap.

Decision made. When I looked at him, his face was friendly and open, looking very Brennen Tate. He was all puppy dog until he wasn’t.

“Are you gonna kiss me, baby?”

Rather than answer, I pulled his head toward mine and fitted my mouth over his.

His groan of appreciation spurred my exploration.

This time, I did what he had done to me earlier.

I nibbled on his lips and traced the seam of them until his mouth parted.

I slipped my tongue inside and explored every bit of his mouth.

My cock pulsed as we languidly kissed each other over and over.

Other than to rub a hand against my thigh or across my back, Daddy B didn’t make any moves to take things further.

He already knew he was my first kiss, so he’d probably figured out that I didn’t know anything about the rest of it either.

Other than my hand job yesterday, which I came ridiculously fast from…

I don’t even think I lasted a minute. But I wondered…

“Daddy B, you know…umm… I wondered if maybe I could, you know, ah…” My shot of bravery was gone, and I was once again the quiet, shy kid who never spoke up and was always overlooked. With sweaty palms and a face flushed tomato red, I wasn’t the picture of sexiness.

“Spit it out, baby boy. What do you want?”

“To suck you?”

“New rule: blanket permission. Anytime, anywhere, no questions asked by me.” Daddy B laughed and playfully cuffed me on the chin.

“But I don’t know what to do. What if you hate how I do it?”

“Unless you use your teeth on me, it’s gonna be fine. Know why?” I shook my head. “Because my guy is giving it to me.”

“I’m serious, Daddy B.”

“Fine, we’ll practice until it’s perfect.”

“And we can start now?”

Daddy nodded and gave me a version of his sinful smile I’d never seen before. Something about it was deeper. More personal. Something directed only at me.

I shrugged off the blanket I’d burritoed around me. After I was free, with Daddy’s urging, I straddled him. He was strong enough to be able to lift his hips, even with my weight on him, and move his pants down a little.

“Do whatever you want, baby boy. Touch anywhere you want. Nothing on me is off-limits to you.” I glanced up at him to confirm I’d heard him correctly. He looked serene, but I felt the rapid tap of his fingers against my leg.