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Only when he saw the entire table of men were looking at him expectantly did he realize he’d been ignoring them.
“Sorry? I missed the question.”
Marc piped in. “We were just talking about who’s wedding might be next,” he said motioning to Caleb and the others.
Before yesterday, he would have been tempted to say he and Presley might be next, but today… he wasn’t nearly as sure.
Deflecting, he nodded in the direction of the man across from him. “Steve and Teresa are engaged. I’m pretty sure he’s up next.”
Steve looked like a good stiff wind might knock him over and when he spoke, Caleb had to strain to hear his soft answer. “My baby girl wants a long engagement, so we are going to wait.”
Those words piqued his interest. Did they have a domestic discipline relationship as well?
Before he could figure out a way to politely ask, Marc piped up, “Steph wants to wait until we get moved into the new house and get her car replaced before we even think about marriage. Not to mention, we’ve gone ring shopping a few times and it may take me a year or two to be able to afford the ring she wants.”
“You’re letting her pick out her own ring?” Caleb blurted before realizing it had come out kinda rude.
The three men looked at him like he’d spoken in Greek.
“I’d never pick out something that important without Candice signing off on it. She’s super picky and I’d rather just let her pick it out than deal with her complaining,” John piped in.
Steve confirmed, “Teresa picked out her ring. She just put it on my Black Card.”
Caleb had to have heard wrong.
“So, you just let her go shopping and come home with a ring as your way of getting engaged?”
Steve’s face turned bright red, and he stammered his nervous reply. “You know how our girls are. They want what they want, and we’re here to give it to them.”
Somewhere in the back of Caleb’s brain a lightbulb went off. Suddenly, the question he had for Steve earlier seemed more important than ever.
“I’m just curious. Since our women are such close friends, do your ladies call you Daddy too?”
It was Marc who answered. “Of course. Our baby girls all need to be pampered and taken care of. That’s why they’re all looking for a Daddy.”
Caleb knew it was an intrusive question but considering how the men’s women were the best of friends, he went out on a limb and asked. “Pampering is one thing. Are you also disciplinarians in your relationship?”
All it took was watching the three men glance back and forth with confused looks on their face to get his answer.
That lightbulb was getting brighter.
Steve finally asked quietly, “You mean like spanking?”
Caleb clarified, hoping he wasn’t about to disclose anything Presley would rather keep confidential.
“Maybe spankings, but more importantly setting down rules that have consequences if broken.” Again, the men looked like he had spoken in a foreign language, so he added. “You know, like setting a budget, limiting spending on frivolous things, holding down a job, rules around her safety…”
With each item on his list, the men’s mouths opened wider, each of them looking a bit green by the time he’d finished speaking.
John was finally brave enough to admit out loud, “Candice would not receive rules like that very well. She likes to be in control.”
Steve looked relieved he wasn’t the only one to dissent. “Teresa would be gone in a hot second if I tried to give her a budget. Luckily, she isn’t quite as crazy of a spender as Sydney. I honestly don’t know how Brian is going to keep up with her with his insurance agent income.”
Luckily the three other men took the conversation off on a tangent, leaving Caleb to piece together a big part of the puzzle of why he and Presley had been on such different wavelengths. She’d obviously gotten her expectations of what having a Daddy meant from her friend’s relationships.
Wasn’t she going to be in for a rude awakening when he made it clear to her that he had absolutely no interest in being her Sugar Daddy, but he wanted to be her Discipline Daddy instead?
* * *
