Page 20 of A Daddy to Love

A long pause followed. Finally, the balloon window showed he was typing.

I think so. Yes. I can’t guarantee six o’clock. I’m sorry. It’s very important.

I laughed, then joke-typed.

More important than me?

Another pause. Then came one word that was like a shot of dopamine.

Never.

I was only joking, baby. You do what you need to do. But I’m glad to hear you think I’m important.

You are to me.

Text me when you know what time you can get to the restaurant.

Okay. Thank you for being so understanding. I have to go.

Sweetheart, you don’t need my permission to have a life.

After that, he stopped texting. I wondered if my last message was even the right thing to say. A lot of littles wanted permission. For everything. It was a kink. They were submissive in nature, even the misbehaved ones with strong personalities. They secretly craved rules and intimate caretaking that might or might not lead to hot naughty sex.

I hoped Kairo wanted the sex part as much as I did.

I looked around my small house. It looked a bit messy. I’d just finished work for the day and decided I should clean it up a bit. Just in case. If he indicated he might want to come home with me later, I wouldn’t say no.

Folded blankets, plumped pillows, fresh sheets, vacuumed floor. The kitchen sparkled, everything put away clean, the counters wiped down. It was a small space and didn’t take me as long as I thought it might to finish. With old sheets thumping about in my dryer, I sat down with a soda to relax. The time had gone by quickly. It was almost six and I hadn’t heard back from my baby boy.

I stared at my phone, not daring to text him. Interrupting someone who had said clearly they were busy was seen as trying too hard. I never had to do that, though it had been done to me. But with Kairo I wanted to try hard. I wanted to win him on levels I rarely accessed.

Love at first sight didn’t exist. At least, not for those who’d never felt it. But something about Kairo had reached out and pulled me from the first moment I’d seen him, not by the upstairs window at the bar, but the first time I’d walked by him and pretended to ignore him. A tight longing had churned through my stomach when I saw the wide-eyed beauty with his butterfly.

I had held back. Not because I forgot how to flirt. But because I’d already known he could never be just a conquest. My normal seductive techniques were thrown right out into the street. I didn’t know why he was special. I just knew. The universe had stumbled him into my path. A deeper longing had come over me with no answers as to why.

Did this happen to others? I figured it had. I knew about love. I even knew how to love. It just didn’t last. Not for me.

I set my phone on the coffee table within reach, then sat back and turned on the TV.

Waiting was harder than I ever remembered it being.

I leaned back against the pillows and tried to be patient.

9

Kairo

Heads moved, everyone looking up as I entered the glass and chrome boardroom. I was a baby compared to them all.

I was on time on the dot. 4:30. Not a minute to spare.

The president of the company, Richard, nodded toward me, relief in his eyes. I still hadn’t decided if I liked him or not. He’d never been rude; he simply talked too fast.

My usual seat at the other end of the table was filled, not waiting for me at the other head as usual. There were strangers all around that end of the table. Richard motioned at an empty space just around the corner from him.

Out of habit, I glanced at my phone. Still 4:30. Not even a minute had passed? I desperately wanted this to be over.

Everyone had a laptop in front of them but me. I recognized some of the company’s attorneys along with the usual board members. When the meeting came to order, Richard introduced the new company’s president who had his board with him. I should have been paying more attention. Everything was news to me. I had known there was to be a merger, but that was it.