Chapter 13

Tyson

"I knew you had a big tub, Daddy." Dessie was wiggling and wearing bubbles and a beaming smile as he scrubbed shampoo through my hair. "And you had bubbles and toys."

I wasn't sure measuring cups and silly party favors from a Halloween event a few years ago counted, but Dessie did, so that was all that mattered. "We're going to have to pick out some new bubbles and more toys, though. I want you to have your favorite smells and to have lots of fun in the tub."

Fun that didn't involve sinking Daddy's submarine.

"I like vanilla and strawberries and bubble gum." Dessie scrunched his face up and looked around. "I lost the cup."

It'd disappeared under the bubbles somewhere, so we went fishing for it. "I think you just like bubbles that smell like food."

He giggled and nearly dived under the water, proving that the tub was entirely too big. "Found it."

"Good boy." He was a good boy who was going to drown his Daddy judging by the wicked grin on his face. I closed my eyes in time for the water to flood over my head, rinsing off the shampoo and dousing me. "Hmm, are you trying to drown Daddy?"

That got more giggles from him, but he sounded slightly bigger and a towel gently wiped over my eyes, giving me the impression that he wasn't quite as little somehow. "Nooo…you're just cute when you look like a drowned puppy."

And he was big.

Snorting, I opened my eyes and frowned at him, which just got more laughter. "Would you like to say that again?"

Grabbing him in my arms, I pulled him onto my lap. The water sloshed in the tub sending waves of bubbles back and forth, but he curled against me instead of fighting the way the water pushed us around. "Now, are you going to be cheeky or sweet?"

He made a soft hum and shrugged. "Um, curious?"

Oh, was there an actual reason he was big?

"What are you curious about?" I was pretty sure with Dessie it could be about anything. "My favorite color? Oh, about dinner?"

I was fucking with him to get him to stop worrying about whatever was on his mind, but even though I got another quiet snicker, I wasn't sure it worked. So I just held him and played with the bubbles a bit.

"Daddy?" Even after I nodded, he was quiet for several long moments. "You don't have to tell me if it's too early for this question, but grown-up me realizes there isn't a Daddy school."

Ah.

I'd been wondering if we'd come back to that.

"You are correct. But knowing Austin, you shouldn't give him any ideas." My attempt at humor got an actual laugh that time. "He might put me in charge of it somehow."

That was one bossy omega.

Snickering, Dessie nodded. "Yep, but I'm not sure if it would be a punishment or a reward."

I groaned.

"Both then?"

Laughing, I nodded and did my best to ignore what having his ass on my dick was doing to me. "Yes."

Dessie shifted and rested his head on my shoulder, sinking deeper into the water but not moving away from me. "Daddy?"

"Yes." He clearly wasn't going to let the question go, so I kissed his head. "Ask away, just understand that I'm going to answer your question honestly."

His response was to huff. "That sounds rude."

"Stop channeling Austin." Groaning dramatically to prove my point, he took another few moments before he started petting my chest.

"Where did you learn to spank? You said you'd never been a Daddy, and I don't think you've been a Dom, but I'm missing something." As he stroked his fingers over my chest, it felt like he was thinking about asking for dessert just to chase away his nerves.

"I have not been a Dom, but yes, I learned some skills I thought I would need to use in the club." Not sure how much to say, I inched us deeper into the part I thought he wouldn't like. "I'd heard bits and pieces about BDSM, but the parts I was exposed to didn't do anything for me."

Dessie let out a giggle. "Some of the stuff online or that people talk about is hard to understand."

Oh yes.

"I won't say it was weird because that would be rude." It'd been weird, though. "Let's just say it wasn't for me. I prefer the lighter side of BDSM that I'm getting to know from you."

If I'd found age play first, my perception of BDSM might've been completely different.

"I like helping you get to know it." There was a smile in his voice but it slowly faded as his fingers shifted to just petting me back and forth. "But…but where did you learn about the other parts? You know, I was looking you up online because you're clearly magic, but that wasn't online education stuff."

"Are you saying I was such an amazing spanker that it couldn't have been just theoretical knowledge?" I wasn't surprised when he nodded. "Well, you are very smart for picking that up so quickly."

My slip of the tongue earlier hadn't helped.

"You didn't seem to date anyone and there was no one around you that I know from the club who could've shown you." Fingers went back to dancing as he got the words out. "You know a few people from there but no one you would've been that personal with."

He was very smart.

"Did Silas and Austin show you?" He sat up, frowning at me. "I don't know how I would feel about that."

"Oh fuck no." My immediate response had him sagging against me. "There is no situation where Austin would end up being my teacher or the person I practiced on."

Was that what he'd been worried about?

"It might be mean but I'm glad. I don't know if I could share with Austin. He's…and I'm…" Sighing, Dessie shrugged. "I'm just glad I don't have to deal with that."

"Me too." That would not have been an easy experience. "My teacher is no one you will ever have to meet and you have not met them. They're not in my social circle, and in fact, they'd laugh at the idea of being involved in the club or anything like this. They like their privacy."

Shifting slightly, Dessie nodded against me. "Okay, so they're…they're someone you don't know here? A friend from somewhere else?"

I really should've planned the conversation out better.

However, in my defense, I'd thought I'd have more time to prepare.

"I would say we're more business acquaintances." Dessie went very still but he didn't move away from me. "They were someone I met when I was at my lowest and needed a situation where I felt I was in control."

He was breathing, but he was completely silent otherwise.

After the longest moments of my life, he sat up and his expression was bouncing between confused and thoughtful. "Daddy…I…"

He paused, taking a breath before trying again. "I…shoot."

I agreed completely.

"I know all the wrong words for what I think you're talking about but not the polite ones." Dessie frowned, clearly not liking his limited vocabulary, but I wasn't much help because I was an asshole who wanted to laugh.

"Um, Daddy, are you…are you trying to tell me that you have a friend that does friendly stuff in exchange for the ability to pay their bills?" Dessie blinked then nodded to himself like he thought that was polite enough that he wasn't going to feel guilty. "Well, that might not be the right way to say it but that's polite."

"Yes. That's polite and I think it's a good way to say it too." At the very least it was adorable and a wonderful way to describe someone who was at the top of their field. "I do have someone I had a business relationship with who provided company and physical relief."

They weren't cheap but they were incredibly discreet and one of the top professionals in the entire world. Anyone on the outside looking in thought they were a slightly nerdy scientist in the right circles of New York society, but it was their hobby that really paid the bills.

When Dessie simply stared at me, I eased a bit further into the explanation. "They signed a strict nondisclosure agreement and helped me come to terms with a few things. They never…we never…"

Damn it all.

I should've practiced this.

"They didn't do what we do." Dessie interrupted, nodding confidently. "I understand that part."

Good. That meant I didn't have to say it.

"Thank you. But yes, you're correct." Getting over that stumbling block had my heartbeat slowing down to normal again. "They weren't offended by it and understood it was just a fact of life for me. But eventually, they pointed out that the BDSM world might have a potential partner for me."

It'd been an interesting conversation to say the least.

Dessie's face scrunched up but his head bobbed slowly and he stayed close. "That was smart. Even if you hadn't been open to having a little, there are a lot of people with interesting fetishes or who are just nice and wouldn't care."

He was taking it a lot better than I'd expected.

"I wasn't sure at first, but you're right. I think no matter what, I'd have found someone who could deal with it." As the words came out, I realized that'd sounded harsher than I'd intended. "You aren't just someone who can deal with it and this isn't settling."

This was clearly the point where I'd fuck up the conversation.

But Dessie surprised me and started laughing, pressing his face into my shoulder. "Daddy. You don't have to worry. I know I'm not just anyone in the lifestyle to you."

Relief rushed through me and I didn't even bother trying to hide the sigh that escaped. "I'm glad. I realized after I said it that it hadn't come out quite right."

His giggles said he understood how much of an understatement that had been.

"You were just being honest. Even if your interests and mine didn't have any overlap, you'd have found someone at the club." Dessie went back to snuggling and petting my chest, giving me the impression that the hard part of the discussion was over.

I kept my fingers crossed but let him think for a moment.

"I'm glad we have overlap, though." Kissing my cheek, he settled back in to feeling happy and content against me. "But just so we're clear. You like male omegas. You like me. You like exploring the Daddy stuff with me. You like it when we have…dessert time."

He managed not to giggle at that last line, but I could appreciate how hard the conversation was from his perspective.

Not that I was ready to not be a pain in the ass about some things.

Being a Daddy hadn't magically fixed all my issues but it had brought them down to a simmer rather than leaving them at a raging boil.

"Yes." Knowing that wasn't enough, I kissed his head and went back to running my hands over him instead of just holding him carefully. "My physical preferences are a bit flexible when it comes to the private bits, but I do like you. I like how you look. I'm really enjoying exploring what it means to be your Daddy, and I've liked everything we've done so far."

I might've been too polite when it came to the private bits line because he giggled. It got even worse when I huffed. "What? Was I supposed to say I think your penis is cute and I like your tight, wet hole? That's rude."

He was never going to stop giggling.

"Humph. Someone isn't going to get another spanking anytime soon if they can't behave." My threat had him sitting up and magically being able to control his laugher.

He didn't seem to be taking any chances on losing out on more spankings because he straddled my lap, sloshing water around as he gave me wide eyes. "I wasn't laughing at you, Daddy."

Dessie added a tiny bit of little to his voice, definitely using his cuteness to his advantage. "I thought it was sweet and I like how polite you are to me."

Hmm.

He could sense my weakness and gave me a cheek kiss as he kept up his innocent expression. "And I liked the way you spanked me, Daddy. You were confident and sexy and you made it perfect."

He was a manipulative little brat.

"You need to make sure you tell Austin that you passed his class on flirting and manipulation with flying colors." My dry response had him pressing his lips together. "Fine. I won't take away spankings."

Especially because he'd thoroughly enjoyed his.

"Thank you, Daddy." He managed not to laugh or gloat at his win, but he quickly hid his face against me and I could feel him taking a deep breath.

My naughty boy managed not to let his giggles escape, though, and quickly settled back against me. But with his legs straddling my thighs and his cock rubbing against mine, our bath wasn't as innocent as it'd started out.

So I let my hands stroke along his back, dipping lower each time until I was caressing the top of his ass and teasing right above his tight hole. "I think I forgot to mention that I'm liking our bubble bath as well."

His laughter finally escaped, but he nodded and rocked against me. "Me too, Daddy. Especially this part. Although I have to admit to not realizing how it could go when I was dragging you around the house looking for the best tub."

He'd been adorably insane about the whole idea.

"You have very strong opinions about things when you're little." Daddy classes and bubbles just to name a few. "But I have to admit to being very pleased that you approved of this one."

He'd declared my bathtub as 'mazing and had hopped right in, fully clothed and ready to swim. I'd only managed to talk him out of it by pointing out that we needed to go through the house and look for toys.

I was a genius but it'd taken more effort than I'd expected to get us clean.

"I knew you'd have a perfect one." Slowly rocking back and forth, he gently rubbed his half-hard dick against mine. "There are a lot of different ways we could enjoy the tub, though, Daddy."

As much as I wanted to explore that idea, and I let my wandering fingers prove that to him, his stomach had started growling when we'd gotten in the tub and it sounded like it was trying to eat its way out. "I am willing to add taking care of both your hungers to our to-do list, but you have to be starving."

His stomach gurgled, making my point and getting a huff from my dramatic cutie. "I don't want to eat."

His body disagreed with that statement.

"Not even mac and cheese?" I sighed, getting to be the dramatic one that time. "I guess we don't have to eat it."

Dessie went very still before sitting up slowly. "You got me mac and cheese?"

I snorted. "I made you mac and cheese."

I wasn't going to point out that my housekeeper had walked me through it, but I'd done the heavy lifting. "The perk of owning your own company is that if you want to leave early to make sure you have dinner ready for your cutie, then that's what you do."

His rocking started again, making it nearly impossible to ignore what he was doing to me, but his expression had softened, so I knew his little side was trying to come out to play again. "I like mac and cheese."

Swallowing, Dessie took a deep breath and tried again. "It's…it's a good idea for dinner. Thank you."

Hmm.

"Do I need to remind you that you can be big or little on our date?" Obsessing over privacy wasn't the only reason I'd wanted us to have dinner at my place.

Pouting, Dessie sighed. "No, Daddy."

I wasn't happy with his dragged-out response, so I raised one eyebrow. It got more dramatic sounds and wiggles from him, but after a few seconds, he pulled everything back to just a pout. "But I wanted to be big so we could keep talking about grown-up stuff, but now I'm getting mac and cheese and I'm thinking about playing again."

For Dessie, playing could've referred to any number of activities, but I understood what he was trying to say. "How about you stay big while I'm finishing getting dinner ready and we'll talk while I do that? If you ask your most important questions right away, then it won't matter how big you are later."

Wiggling against me in a way that seemed more about thinking than getting me harder, Dessie pouted and looked slightly more thoughtful. "And…and it won't matter what I ask because you'll tell me the truth and won't get mad, and it won't matter if I'm big or little because you like playing with all of me."

"That's right." I sat up just enough to give him a quick peck. "And honestly, all of you is cute and naughty, so it's mostly the conversation that changes."

He tried to cross his arms and look offended but he started to giggle. "Naughty Daddy."

And we'd already started to slip closer to his little side.

"You did it. I was boring until I met you." Dessie did his best not to laugh but the giggles got him and he crashed into me. "See? You're laughing. I'm in a tub with bubbles. This is very much your fault."

And I was very grateful for that.