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It had been so long since I’d been flirted with that I wasn’t even sure if this was flirting. I didn’t know what his love language was, or what mine had become that’s how long it had been. I could safely assume from his want to do things it was acts of service, but if I was reading this all wrong, we could end up in the middle of a storm together in awkward silence.

Hardin came to the fort in a pair of sweatpants and a flannel shirt. He had a little tray with two mugs and a bowl filled with marshmallows on. “I figured I’d bring the rest of your marshmallows over,” he said. “How are you finding this much better fort?”

“It’s nice,” I said, looking around. It would’ve been nicer with fairy lights, but I wasn’t going to start demanding the world from him. “Where did you learn to do all of this?”

Gently, he pushed the tray inside on the duvet-blanket flooring, it slipped across with ease. “I’m pretty sure you know the answer to that already,” he said, kneeling in the makeshift doorway. “I do have another question for you first, if you don’t mind answering.”

“Go for it.”

“Mick,” he said. “Did he send you because he thinks I’m lonely out here?”

I scoffed into a snort. “Mick told me this was going to be a vacation,” I said. “I had hoped I was going somewhere with a beach, cocktails, and plenty of sunshine.”

He smirked. “Ok. It’s just I had it in my head that Mick knew about my life and how he was trying to set me up with you. It’s a ridiculous thought now that I’m saying it aloud, you know, because who’d travel all this way just to—”

Touching his hand, he paused to take a breath. “I don’t discuss this part of my life with him,” I said. “He’s just my agent, but if you read my books, you could probably understand why he sent me here, if you are what I think you’re going to say you are.”

Hardin tilted his head slightly. “Who I am. Well, I can’t be certain on what you think I might be. I’m actually a lot of things. Great with my hands, amazing in the kitchen, and—”

“A total cowboy.”

“Oh, see, I thought you were going to say Daddy .”

I gulped, the sound of it so sharp in the space between us. “A Daddy.”

“In a past life, like many lives before this one, I had been called it,” he said.

Scooching the tray further inside the fort, I gave him more room to come inside. I didn’t want a Daddy to be stuck out int he cold. “How long ago?”

“Over ten years,” he said, slouching inside. He laid on his said, resting on an elbow. It was the first time he didn’t look so stoic and solid. “I’m out of touch with the scene, not like I was ever part of one, but I know what a little needs.”

Copying his body pose, I laid parallel with the stick through the middle of the fort and the tray of drinks separating us. “Go on,” I said. “What does a little need?”

“Space to play,” he said. “A well-made blanket fort.” He gestured to the one we were inside. “Access to crayons and coloring pages. You can’t forget the fun drinks with whipped cream and marshmallows. Of course.”

“Of course.”

“What else? Well, those one piece outfits,” he said. “And teddies, but I—”

“I didn’t want to bring them out,” I said. “You said the dogs would get them.”

Hardin sucked on his teeth. “That’s true, but if they’re in here, and we secure the door somehow. I’m pretty sure they’ll be safe,” he said. “Only if you want to bring them in and show me.”

It was nice to have engage, even if that’s all this was, just a way to pass time. “You want a show and tell?”

“Only if you want to show and tell.”

Before he could change his mind, or the topic of conversation. I bum shuffled out of the fort, trying my best not to make any sudden jerk motions and have the hot cocoa spill. I dashed and slipped across the floor all the way to the bedroom. The door was shut and the teddies were all propped up on the bed, waiting for me to get back to them. The dog was close on my heels, trying his best to see what I was running for. I should’ve learned by now how dogs fed off energy and I was very excited.

Hardin had brought my comics into the fort. He had the correct book to start with this time. It put me on edge to see, even if I’d told myself that I was going to re-read them to better prepare myself for the upcoming book I was yet to write.

“You’ve got a nice art style,” he said.

My stomach in knots at his words. Compliments were nice, but during this period of imposter syndrome, they made me a little sick. “The teddies,” I said, going back to what really mattered. “These are just some of the ones I have. I do have more back in New York. Oh, actually. I can show you on my phone.” I pulled my phone out of the pocket in my onesie. There wasn’t a lot of battery left on it. “Some of them are actual merch teddies, and others are teddies that inspired the ones in the book.”

He reached out to the largest teddy, stroking its leg. “Well, I’m looking forward to seeing these cowboy teddies,” he said. “Unless that’s still a spoiler. But still, a cowboy teddy. If you hadn’t written one before meeting me, I would have hoped there was some inspiration there from me.”

“You make it sound like you’re the first and only cowboy to ever exist.”

“If I’m reading this the way I’m hoping it’s supposed to be read, then yeah, I should be your first and only cowboy.” He winked at me. That was a definitely wink. I wasn’t imagining things this time. That was a full dry-gulp echoing wink.

“I’m just a little,” I said, pushing out my bottom lip like a professional. “You’ll have to tell me what I’m missing.”

He placed his hand on my leg. “I’d love to play,” he said. “But only if this is something you want. I’ll respect your boundaries if it’s not.”

“Ah.” A single syllable.

“I’m gonna wait for an answer,” he said, and as he tried to take his hand back, I snatched it and pulled it to my chest. His hand flush against my skin, I hoped he could feel the intense beating of my heart, unless it really had lodged itself in my throat like it felt. “Well, then. If that’s the case.”

“Yes,” I said.

“You gotta be careful, kid. You almost knocked the drinks over,” he said. “And I don’t this would be a nice place to seek shelter in the storm if it was all wet.”

He giggled. “I’m careful. I’m not gonna spill it.” But I was wrong.

After showing off my teddies to Hardin, who was my unofficial Daddy playmate. He greeted each of them with a handshake, or as much of their plush paw he could fit between two fingers to shake. It was after that, when I’d sat the teddies in the far side of the fort that I went to drink the now lukewarm cocoa and spilled it all the way down the front of my onesie.

“I saw that coming,” he said, reaching out, he wiped the whipped cream from around my mouth with a thumb. “Best get that thing off.” He licked the cream from his thumb. “I’ll let you put this on.” He was already undressing out of his flannel shirt.

“It wasn’t completely my fault,” I said. It was all me, I had nobody else to blame. “It was—”

“You only got it on yourself,” he said. “Put this on.” Under his shirt, he wore a tight white tank top, it put his hairy chest and large muscles on full show. Henry Cavill finally had some competition. I couldn’t help be stare at his nipples through the shirt. “My eyes are up here.”

I only had a t-shirt and underwear on, and I felt like I needed to hide myself as I undressed. It wasn’t like he wasn’t seeing anything he’d already got a view of yesterday in the bathroom. “I’m not even looking there,” I said, unable to break eye contact with his chest. It was like a pillow, and the space between his pecs was the perfect place for me to rest my little head.

He threw the shirt over my head. “You want to share some of my drink?”

In my defense, the whipped cream had thrown off the placement of my mouth. “Only if you insist.” I inhaled the sweet smell of his body on the shirt. “I still have some in my cup.”

“Yeah, you do, assuming you’re not going to throw them all over me next to get me undressed,” he said. “It would be a very devilish way of you getting me out of my clothes.”

Now my head was filling with idea. “You offered me your shirt.” It was oversized, almost a blanket over me in its own right. “My legs are a bit cold too.” I sat with the balled up onesie between them.

“Let me take a look at them,” he said, reaching for my knee. His warm hand stroked slightly toward my thigh.

My cock reacted to his touch immediately. There was no way I was removing the onesie right now. It was the only thing keeping me from showing how tight and restrictive these tiny briefs were. They were no conducive to the type of erection he was giving me.

“As long as it’s ok to see,” he said, rubbing his thumb on my knee.

Sucking in, I squished the onesie deeper into my crotch and against my cock. It was a nice feeling to have that pressure against me. “It’s more of an ache. Just a little bruising.”

Hardin brushed the back of his warm hand against the inner thigh closest to him. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s not a big bruise. I find that when I don’t do something for a while, when I go back to it, there’s an ache in those muscles. So, my guess is, that’s even worse for you right now.” He pushed his hand into the bruise, causing me to flinch and nearly kick the tray. “Careful.”

“That was all you,” I said, continuing to push the onesie at the throb of excitement in my cock. “If you know how to get rid of bruises faster, I’ll be happy to try and do it.”

“Massage might help,” he said. “I don’t have any oils, so I don’t even know why I suggested it.”

Clenching my legs slightly, his hand still there, I closed in on him. “Oh. That’s ok. I don’t want you to ruin that rep of yours.”

He smirked. “We’re way passed the point of me needing to keep up a so-called rep around you,” he said, slowly pulling his hand away from my legs. “I actually have some coconut oil somewhere. It’s good for cooking with. If you want a massage. If not, I’m happy to keep playing in other ways.”

I nodded. I didn’t know what I was nodding for. Option C, all of the above. “As long as you know, massages usually make my body act weird.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure we can deal with it,” he said, winking at me.

“Just so we’re in the same page, I am talking about down there ,” I said, gesturing to the way I was jamming the balled up onesie on my crotch.

“I’m a Daddy, of course, I know how to deal with all types of problems,” he said. “Including that one down there. I can take that from you and add it to the wash basket. Or are you hiding something already?”

I could only nod. My stomach was a mix of nervous and excited, and both of them wanted me to vomit.

He went off, pulling the tray and drinks out, alongside my books. He was making room. My cock had a heartbeat, twitching and throbbing until he came back into the fort. He had a glass jar in hand, and as my eyeline drifted south, I spotted his dick print pushed up against the gray sweatpants. The full tip could’ve been cast in a mold from the print alone. “It’s solid right now,” he said.

“You’re telling me,” I mumbled, his wasn’t, but mine was.

“I’ll warm it up in my hands,” he said. “You wanna lay on your back, or front?”

“Front,” I said. There were many reasons. I didn’t want him to see my erection, and I didn’t want to be staring deep into his eyes while I was massaging my thighs. I feared that would’ve been enough for me to experience my first hands free orgasm, and I didn’t know if I’d ever mentally recover from that.

On my stomach with my cock poking out of the briefs by my belly button, I couldn’t make any sudden movements or end up simulating masturbation motions. Hardin spread my legs from behind, going between them. His warm hands occupied both of them, up and down.

“I think a little massage will help you,” he said. “Plus, this is full of vitamins.”

“A cowboy concerned with vitamins,” I giggled.

“A cowboy looking out for a little, vitamins are very important,” he said, a cold sensation hitting my thigh as I nearly constricted him between my legs. “Relax. It’ll warm up.”

“Mhmm.”

I couldn’t recall the last massage I’d had, but whenever it was, this one blew all of those out the window. He went from my thighs, all the way down the backs of my legs and my calves. His firm hands squeezed and cupped at my muscles, up and down. I planted my face into the onesie to muffle the moans he was coaxing out of me.

“You really like that, huh?” he asked, getting further up my inner thigh.

“It feels nice,” I let out, trying to control my labored breaths.

“Want me to go any further?” he asked. “Your back, your arms, they must be sore after working.”

Now that he mentioned it, my arms ached a little, and my back wasn’t in the best of shape after sleeping on the hard mattress in the cabin. But that meant getting more naked, and it wasn’t like I was trying to keep any modesty I front of him, but those nerves and anxieties that told me I was misreading the situation reared their ugly heads.

“It’s ok, if not,” he said. “I’ll admit to selfishly wanting to get my hands on you a little more.”

No, this wasn’t a case of misreading a situation. He was into me, I was into him, and one way or another, things would be inside other things eventually.

I turned my head to look over my shoulder. He’d removed his tank top to show off his furry chest of black hair and his pink nipples. His hair, whether manscaped into that shape, or naturally formed from his physique showed off a series of abs and a connecting treasure trial. My eyes followed the path, meeting a more prominent print now. He was a lot more harder.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” I said.

“You want me to take control?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I offered up in a breathy gasp.

He gestured for me to turn back. My head back in the onesie, my eyes closed as they rolled in pleasure at his touch on my skin again. He undressed me where I laid, the shirt and t-shirt until I was only in the briefs, and they were slipping away on their own, unable to control what was left of me inside them, mostly balls at that point.

Once again, starting cold with the oil, it turned warm as he massaged. His hands going from my hips all the way up, following the contour of my back. I giggled the moment he came close to my sides and ribs.

“Oh, you’re ticklish,” he said. “What type of ticklish?”

“Not the good type,” I said. “I get really hard.”

“Damn. Well, I’ve done it now.”

I gasped. “Then I guess you’ve got me hard.”

His hand slipped around my waist. He felt it. “You need that massaging as well?”

In one of the coldest places I’ve ever been, I still managed to find myself getting hot and flustered. I turned my head slightly again to make eye contact. “Only if I can massage yours.”

His head dipped to mine and we kissed. His beard tickled my chin. He moved to kiss my forehead. “Good boy.”

I was lucky it didn’t activate my cum button immediately. Just a meek moan, desperate for him to say it again.