Page 55 of Wrestling with Daddy

“You can stop with the kisses, you know?”

He didn’t want him to stop, but he didn’t want to start giggling and laughing when he was supposed to be upset and making his point.

“Ican, but why would I, boy?”

Nathan didn’t answer, noting how his body slowly gave in to Ken’s ministrations. “I… I don’t want to freak you out.”

“You don’t,” Ken promised after he pulled back because apparently eye contact was important and stuff. “If anything, you have no idea how refreshing it is to know where you stand.”

“Huh?”

His head tilted to the side, he managed to stay quiet as he saw Ken sigh and run a hand through his face.

He had questions, though.

Many.

“Do you mind if I put some clothes on first?” Ken asked eventually.

“I mean, I do.” The joke fell flat, which he could’ve guessed, but no one could say he hadn’t tried. “But, yeah, sure. You’re not freaking me out or anything.”

Ken didn’t comfort him, either, instead heading to the sleek wall closet and grabbing one of the sweaters he’d hung up there earlier in the week.

The combination of a sweater and sweatpants had never done it for Nathan—until that moment, when he found himself drooling at the unabashed confidence Ken still exuded in the mismatched clothes in spite of everything else going on.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Ken murmured, passing by him to sit on the bed, his back to the wall, propped up by one of the pillows. “Only one person really knows about it.”

“Okay…”

Ken’s eyes had taken a faraway look Nathan didn’t know how to read, what to feel about.

Ken was back seconds later, though, shaking his head and patting the spot next to him. “Come here.”

It was hard to deny him anything when Nathan was feeling as raw as he did.

Besides, even if there was some lingering fear, curiosity was his main motivator here, burning at him from the inside out with the need to know.

Of course, he wasn’t going to just sit down next to the man, instead deciding to straddle his hips and wrap his arms around his neck.

He wasn’t rubbing against Ken or anything, though, so the Daddy in him couldn’t complain or say he was misbehaving.

“Brat.” There wasn’t bite to the tease or the way Ken’s fingers pinched the skin above his hip bone, making him squirm. “I want to keep seeing you, to learn more about you. Not out of some misguided idea that figuring you out means I’ll get you out of my system.”

“That’s…” Nathan sniffled. He’d already thought about how he was still raw. “That’s good, Daddy.”

“I think so, too.” Ken nodded, wiping non-existent tears off Nathan’s cheeks. “Do you remember I told you I was in a relationship for four years?”

“Yeah.” He couldn’t help the face he made, his displeasure clear in his scrunched up eyebrows. “And then you shut down questions about it which, just FYI, is not fair to do to a journalist of all people. I suffered.”

Ken, of course, chuckled, Nathan’s very real suffering a source of entertainment for the evil Daddy. “I’m sorry, baby.” He didn’t look sorry. “The guy I was with, he was a brat, too. I haven’t been with one since.”

“Why?”

“Because him being a brat broke me.” Ken closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. “Being with him was a constant battle of wills. Everything was a challenge. Nothing was done without a punishment first or a lot of bantering. He didn’t kneel for me because he wanted to. He didn’t randomly snuggle up to me or offer his ass or his mouth or whatever was available. Sometimes it felt like he never gave anything that I wasn’t taking by force.”

Nathan didn’t say anything, but his fingers curled around the short hairs on the back of Ken’s neck, massaging the scalp there with soft, small circles.

“I don’t really get along with other brats,” he admitted. “I want to, but the guys in my community… They’ll either mock me because I behave too well or don’t fight enough, or they’ll tease because I’m not letting all Doms try and tame me.”