She blinked, looking down at her hands, which were knotted tightly in her lap. She hadn’t even noticed. "It’s just… I’ve never seen a Daddy Dom scene. It’s different.”
"Different how?" His voice was all patience.
She searched for the words. "It’s… softer."
He smiled, just barely, and sat back. "It’s not all whips and chains, baby.”
The word “baby” took on a whole new vibe given where they were.
“There are a lot of ways to engage in a power exchange. To build and show trust.” His voice dropped even lower, and her skin prickled. "Sometimes people want permission to be small. To not have to carry the world on their shoulders for a little while.”
Cessie stared down at the Littles. They seemed utterly content, as if they’d given up the burden of expectation and found peace in its place.
How long had it been since she’d felt anything close to that? She pressed her palms flat against her thighs, trying to will away the sudden ache in her chest.
She’d had it, had what they had. It hadn’t looked the same, but she’d had it with Leon. Had it and let it just… slip away.
She wanted to ask questions, ask if they were going to try this type of play. If that’s why they were here. She wasn’t sure she wanted to engage in ageplay, but she wanted the result—the complete trust and safety.
She hoped Leon would say more. They’d both updated their checklists before leaving L.A., and Leon had added both ageplay and Daddy Dom/Littles to the list, because she knew they hadn’t been on the list when she first filled it out back at Las Palmas.
She marked both items as “willing to try” because at this point, she’d try anything. Something in her life had to change, had to give. She had a horrible feeling the thing she was going to lose was the one thing she needed most—Leon. Sitting on that bathroom floor months ago after she’d fallen asleep behind the wheel, she’d felt herself start to fall apart when she thought he was breaking up with her.
"If you want to try it," he said, “we can. You marked it as ‘willing to try’ on your checklist.”
Her breath hitched, and she tried to figure out the right answer. Which answer he wanted to hear.
And wasn’t that part of the problem right there—her first instinct was to give the answer he wanted, rather than her truth. She wasn’t communicating with him, and lack of communication was a death sentence in a relationship, BDSM or otherwise.
She was fucking this up and she didn’t know how to stop herself.
Leon’s hand shifted from her shoulder to the back of her neck. Fingers sliding under her hair he gripped her neck lightly and Cessie sighed in relief. His touch grounded her in a way nothing else did.
And for a moment the years rolled away, and she was back to the place she’d been when they first agreed to an exclusive Dom/sub relationship.
“You have a plan,” she said, studying him with narrowed eyes. “A reason for cominghereinstead of renting a kinky Air BnB.”
They’d given up their Las Palmas membership months ago, but there were several good kink-friendly and even kink-educational rentals and bed and breakfasts up and down the California coast.
“Maybe my plan is to try out being your Daddy.” He arched a brow.
“Dance for your Papi,” she sang, adding a little shoulder shimmy as she uncrossed her legs.
His laugh melted some of her tension and she went back to studying him.
“But this is too straightforward for you.”
Leon said nothing, only raised his brows but she felt the shift in him — the tension easing, the way he angled himself closer.She was right, he had a specific plan, and he was relieved that she’d figured that out.
“Littles are a very specific type of power exchange, and I think we’d enjoy that level of submission, but you’re too much of a sadist to limit yourself to spankings and softer toys.”
“Says the masochist.”
Cessie hooked her feet around the legs of her chair, bare toes braced on the floor. “Who me? Now excuse me I was trying to figure out your diabolical plan.”
He grinned at her. “Are you trying to run a differential diagnosis on our time at a BDSM club?”
She grinned back, and this felt so damn good. This is what it should be like all the time—them together, smiling, laughing.
