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I smiled goofily.
I loved being called adorable.
“Sorrynotsorry.” I threw myself next to him and kept my stuffie close.
He sighed and turned to face me, and yikes, this was baaad. I should not be lying so close to Sloan that we shared the same pillow.
I hadn’t noticed it before, but he had super-faint freckles in some places. You could barely see them. The copper tint in his sort-of dark hair was more noticeable.
He was fucking gorgeous.
“Okay.” And his smile reached his eyes. I liked that. “Two hours with Buddy and Beast. What else? Maybe set the table for breakfast and dinner?”
I nodded. “Done.” It would give me more time with Archie in the kitchen too. “I only have a few hours of work, which I can do anywhere, so I can take on more chores.”
“I was going to ask you about that,” he murmured. “I’m not surprised you work from home. So many illustrators are freelancers. But it’s vital we give you time to really relax. I think those chores are a good start.”
“Fiiine,” I whispered and stuck out my tongue.
He rumbled a warm chuckle. “Watch out so I don’t take it from you.”
Welp. I immediately withdrew my tongue again and giggled. “Any more rules?”
He hummed and rolled onto his back, and he threaded his fingers across his stomach. “The main goal is your comfort. We want you to be able to come to us day or night, just to talk or to cuddle, and know that we won’t take advantage of you.” He tilted his head to face me. “Allow yourself to breathe out and let go. We’ll make sure you never feel like you’re in the way or you’re too much.”
I frowned a little and traced a tattoo on his shoulder with my finger. “That sounds like you’re gonna hide it when I become—”
“Uh-uh.” He shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. Do you know what makes me happy as a Daddy Dom?”
It was my turn to shake my head.
“This right here,” he answered. “Helping a Little in need. Being there for him, guiding him, protecting him… And, of course, in a relationship, being in charge and playing with him. But this is for me too, Corey. No matter how platonic and temporary this is between us, it’s still real to me—and it’s precisely what I need in my life.”
“It is?”
“Yes.” He brushed some green lint off Chuck’s eye. “Aside from being passively-aggressively in love with Greer for several years—” he grinned when I laughed “—I’ve stuck to physical arrangements since my divorce three years ago. I didn’t want to get attached to anyone, so the Daddy Dom in me was put on a tight leash.” He paused. “I’ve been part of one dynamic that managed to scratch an itch somewhat. I think you know them, actually. Cam and Noa?”
My gaze flashed to his before I could make the conscious decision to make eye contact. “You had a playtime thing with Cam and Noa from Mclean?”
“I did. Before they got together with KC and Lucian.”
Huh.
“Amazing boys,” he said with a smile. “But it was a placeholder for everyone involved. They were pining after their current partners, and I was just… I wasn’t really living.”
That made me sad. “You should live, Sir.” I scratched my fingertip against his jaw. “You’re too awesome and wonderful, you know? You can’t waste that.”
Amusement and affection lit up his eyes, and he turned onto his side again and touched my cheek. “Same goes for you, sweetheart. So I say we both make an effort to be who we really are, and we navigate this together.”
Unnngghh, I kinda wanted him now. And skip the “kinda.”
“Platonically and temporarily.” I crossed my eyes.
He turned playfully rueful again. “For your sake. The last thing you need now is more confusion.”
I pursed my lips, puzzled. “What’s confusing about sexual play?”
“Not the play itself… Attachments.” He cleared his throat and pushed himself up on his elbow again, as if he needed a bit of distance. “I suppose it’s for my sake too. You have a head full of conflicting thoughts, and you’re still in a relationship. Even if he’s a fucking scumbag, your feelings have been tied to him. And I care about those. You should get attached to your next Dom because of who he is as a person—and your chemistry together—not because he played a part in dragging you away from an abusive boyfriend.”
Oh.
“That’s not me saying you’ll automatically fall for any of us out here,” he added with a smirk. “I’m only saying there’s a risk of getting attached to a savior. And we wanna be careful around misplaced affection.”
That was a piece of hard truth, I guessed. I couldn’t deny he had a point, but that sucked.
“I understand. I do.” I just hated it, and I had to avoid eye contact for more than one reason. Discomfort and a bite of rejection made me wanna hide under the covers. But yeah…yeah. Not forty-eight hours had passed since my fight with Lane. Despite the doubts I’d had, despite the clues my brain had tried to give me for months, I’d defended Marcus to the whole world up until yesterday. “I can’t trust myself,” I whispered. “I guess that includes attraction.”
