Chapter 5

Tyson

So far. So good.

No glaring red flags.

No confusing answers to questions like what do you do for a living.

No unexplainable eating habits or confusing hobbies.

He hadn't even screamed at me that I'd glared at him.

Or that I'd smiled at him wrong.

"You look confused." One glass of wine was all it had taken to help Dessie forget that he'd been nervous when we'd first met. "Is there something wrong?"

"No. I'm sorry." Confessing I was being ridiculous seemed like a better idea than making him think he was the problem.

Because that was where his mind went every time there was a hiccup.

"I was actually thinking that everything had been going so smoothly that I was pleasantly surprised…and kind of wondering when things would explode?" Before I could apologize for that, he had his lips pressed together and was trying not to smile.

"You haven't told me that I'm not aiming high enough in my career or told me that I'm not supposed to like little food when I'm big, oh, and you haven't told me that my limits are inappropriate for a first date." Dessie laughed when I nodded. "Yeah, I had the same thoughts a few minutes ago."

Looking down at his glass, he sighed. "I wouldn't have said it before the wine, though."

Dinner had been wonderful, but yes, the wine had been the best idea when it came to actually getting to know him without his worries getting in the way.

"I'm glad it's not just me." He was a nice guy and a sweet omega, so I was honestly surprised at how hard it'd been for him to meet someone. "Dating has been a struggle."

Dessie blinked, clearly thinking about the main issue, but he kept it to himself. "Yeah, people have just been…they haven't had a lot of patience or common sense lately."

"I would have to agree with you there." Holding up my glass to toast him with the last of my wine, I winked. "To sane dates, no matter what happens next."

He mirrored my toast but gave me a rueful grin. "I'm not the one who's going to be difficult. I'm cute when I'm little, and I'll only whine about desserts and attention."

Dessie pointed to the last of his cheesecake before nodding in my direction. "You, on the other hand…"

Wine had definitely loosened his tongue and given his confidence a boost.

"I know." Shrugging, I refused to back down from the conversation we needed to have if we were going to move forward. "If it helps to ignore how much of a pain in the ass I'm going to be, I think you're sexy as hell when you smile and I've been trying to imagine how you'll react when I spank you for the first time."

The adorable brat sighed like I'd spouted off poetry. "It does. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Not sure what to say next, I nodded toward the mostly empty wineglass he was currently playing with and rolling between his fingers. "Would you like another glass?"

I expected him to say no, but he frowned at his glass for a moment before shrugging. "I don't know. One makes me chatty, which you can tell. I'm pretending I'm not going to be embarrassed about this in the morning. But two, it…well, it might make me little or naughty. It could go either way. Or both ways."

Groaning out something about regretting life choices once he sobered up, Dessie took a deep breath before I could decide how to respond…or if I'd heard him correctly. "As my date, what would you like me to do? If you were my Daddy, what would you have me do?"

Going right to giving him another glass would probably make me a bad person.

Right?

"I'm not sure I'm a good enough alpha or just man in general to answer that question honestly." Starting at that point so Austin couldn't kill me later, I finished off the last of my wine. "The options don't scare me nearly as much as you think they do. My biggest concern is making sure Austin doesn't kill me."

Trying to hide a smile, Dessie nodded seriously. "Yes, that would be a bigger issue. But if I promise to tell him we were both making poor decisions? Then he can't blame you."

"I'm not so sure he'd agree with that logic." He might regret killing me down the road, but not right off the bat.

Dessie giggled, wine definitely coloring how funny he thought my death would be. "He likes you too. He made sure I knew to go slow and not…oops."

Clamping his lips together, he looked around like a startled cartoon character and quickly drank down the rest of his wine. "Did you want more dessert?"

He was terrible at hiding things.

That would come in handy if we made it through our first date, but for the time being, I had to tell myself he was a drunk little. He was not trying to throw up red flags or sound alarm bells. "Not in the way you mean, but I would like to know what Austin said."

Sighing dramatically, he pouted. "But I don't want you to be mad at me."

That was not the response I'd expected, so I shifted the conversation around in my head and tried again. Raising one eyebrow, I did my best to channel the Daddies I'd seen online. "I won't be mad, but you need to tell me the truth. Good boys don't lie."

Right?

Dessie's huff and the way he slouched back in his seat said he didn't agree with me, but eventually he gave in.

So I was correct?

"Austin said I had to go slow and not rush you into doing anything naughty because you might not be ready for me to be excited." Letting out another adorable sigh, Dessie crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not going to rush but it's hard."

I was pretty sure laughing or even smiling would not have been the right response, but he was making that very difficult.

"I might not be ready for you to be excited because you're interested in exploring…what I've been concerned about?" Eventually I was going to have to say it but Austin's backyard did not seem like the place to do it.

Dessie nodded, but it was the way he licked his lips and wiggled that told me I needed to be looking at every definition for the word excited. "But I'm a good boy and I won't make you nervous on purpose. You're just…we could just…I'm sorry. I'm naughty."

In the most interesting way possible, yes, he was naughty.

"You don't have to apologize for not being turned off by me or my uniqueness." That would be stupid considering I'd been trying to find someone who wouldn't mind it and would understand my need for privacy.

Blinking, Dessie frowned. "But I think I'm supposed to be sorry for being turned on by it. Right?"

I'd never actually been in that situation, so I wasn't sure.

"I don't think so?" Swallowing back the nervousness that made me feel like a teenager first trying to date, I tried to reframe it so it sounded more confident. "I don't want you to be sorry for it. I've just never been in this situation before."

Yep, back to feeling like a teenager.

"I don't like the not knowing feeling. I'm not used to that either. I've built a life around knowing information and what's happening around me." I was aware of the understatement even if I wasn't sure Dessie was. "This is…this just isn't comfortable and I know that's a stumbling block I need to get over."

Nodding slowly, Dessie surprised me again. "It's like first figuring out you're kinky or into something unexpected. There are all these mental roadblocks that get thrown up because of what other people have said or what we've seen around us."

He wasn't wrong but I hadn't seen it that way. "It's always been a problem to me, not something that just made me feel different. But yes, I think that's a good way to describe it."

Blinking, Dessie nibbled his lower lip. "I'm probably going to need another drink if we keep this conversation going, but Austin says that sometimes you have to rip off the bandage and try something to get over your fears. Like trying a diaper for the first time. It was scary."

"But you wanted it enough to be brave and push past that fear." I wasn't going to acknowledge Austin being right because that was just horrific, but Dessie wasn't wrong about the comparison.

The big question was if I wanted it enough to push past my fear.

I wasn't delusional…I knew I was afraid.

But I'd already told Austin and I was on a date with an adorable omega who was clearly not turned off by the situation. I just wasn't sure how it would feel to be able to see that he was turned on by it.

"Are you sober enough to understand why I want you to tell Austin that we're going into the pool house for another glass of wine and some privacy?" If he didn't understand why that was important, he was definitely not sober enough to do anything else.

One long blink said his brain was processing, but it quickly caught up to the situation. "Because you need to make sure I know what I'm doing and you want Austin to understand that too. So he won't get nuts."

"Yes." I wasn't planning on doing scenes unless we were both startlingly sober, but kissing and other things didn't necessarily need that level of clearheadedness.

At least, I really hoped they didn't.

Again, it was another situation I'd never found myself in.

"Austin." Dessie only had to look over his shoulder and call out to have the troublemaking omega appear like magic, nearly falling out the back door he was there so quickly. "There you are."

Austin couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to panic or not, but he didn't immediately start threatening to kill me again. It was progress. But the way he was taking in the scene said he was still skeptical. "Yes?"

Dessie gave him a naughty grin. "We're going to go in the pool house to continue our conversation in private."

Raising one eyebrow, Austin glared at him. "You've already had one glass of wine."

Clearly, they'd had the wine discussion before.

"Yes." Giggling, Dessie glanced over at the bottle on the table. "And I'm going to bring another into the pool house, but you just need to talk to both of us and make sure you know we're both willing to do naughty things."

Austin snorted. "I know you're ready to do naughty things."

Dessie's response was another giggle, so Austin turned to me. "Are you ready to do naughty things?"

That was the million-dollar question at the very least.

Maybe billion dollar.

"I'm nearly completely sober. One glass of wine has very little impact on me." My nonanswer had him rolling his eyes.

"Try again." Crossing his arms over his chest, Austin glared at me. "I'm not going to let my dirty boy here push you into anything you're not ready for just because he's turned on."

He was?

I must've given that away somehow because Austin gave me a look like he thought I was stupid before glancing down at Dessie's lap. "Yep. Turned on."

He was so uncouth sometimes.

Dessie was tipsy enough to giggle again, though, so he didn't mind. "He's so sweet and so big, Austin. He's nice and he flirts so good. He didn't even tell me I was weird."

If he and I didn't work out, we were going to have a talk about his standards being too low.

But only if we didn't work out…because I liked his standards the way they were for the time being.

By the time he turned back to Dessie, Austin's expression hadn't brightened. "What if he panics and safewords?"

Oh yes. I was supposed to do that too.

Dessie looked like he wanted to pout but he took the crazy conversation seriously. "Then we stop and I tell him he did a good job for safewording. I ask if he needs some physical space and then we talk about what happened."

Fascinating.

"That's right." Narrowing his gaze again and bouncing it between the two of us, he didn't look pleased with the situation. "And if something goes wrong the first time, neither of you are allowed to get dramatic about it forever and think it's your fault the world ended."

The look on Austin's face said he didn't have a lot of faith in either of us. "I'm hoping hormones override worries, but don't make me hold your hand about this forever. If shit goes wrong, we deal with it and you try again later."

He gave the strangest pep talks.

"Yes, Austin." Dessie answered him in the sweetest tone that almost made me forget what we'd been talking about. "I'll remember and I'll be good."

Littles were very interesting.

I'd never dated anyone who could sound that sweet over very adult topics.

But when Austin aimed his glare at me again, I just snorted. "I'm not going to promise to be good or to remember. We all know I'm going to be the problem here."

There was no point in lying about that.

"I'm starting to think you're too sober for this." Throwing his arms up, Austin gave in quickly, though. "Fine. I will approve the move to privacy, but both of you need to remember that honesty is the only way this is going to work."

Pointing his finger and gesturing between us, Austin looked fed up with both of us. "If you lie about shit, there won't end up being orgasms or a second date."

As he whirled around and stalked back into the main house, Dessie turned to me. "I think he's just a little bit worried."

Oh yes.

"There's nothing for him to be this worked up about." I was hoping that if I said it enough, it would end up being true, but Dessie's skeptical expression said he wasn't going to agree with me.

"Okay." Nodding slowly, he paused and blinked. "If I call you Daddy, are you going to worry?"

"No, but I might get turned on." My answer made him giggle and his gaze dropped lower, but my lap was still hidden by the table. "I'm going to take Austin's honesty lecture to heart."

Barely holding back another laugh, Dessie hopped up from the table and held out his hand. "Yes, that's a wonderful idea. Let's go…let's go have privacy."

I wasn't sure if he was still worried about being careful with me or if he just didn't know what we were going to do, but either way, I took his hand. "Yes, let's go have privacy."

This was going to be interesting.