8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Hermie

“The term Daddy, in this instance, does not infer any pedophilic or incestuous tendencies. It's simply a unique form of relationship exchange.” (Paraphrased from Exploring DDLG: A comprehensive Guide to Understanding the DDLG Lifestyle and Its Elements, Binh Le, June 5, 2023.)

It took a minute for me to wrap my head around the meaning of that statement as I read through the articles Bare had on his laptop. I realized to many people who had no knowledge of the kink, they might think we were acting out some father-son relationship fantasy. I didn’t see Bare as a father figure. He was so much more to me.

Another article mentioned a sexual relationship might be involved, which was something I wanted with the man, so I read on. There was information about littles , but I didn’t believe it was anything I’d find interesting. Maybe if I was exposed to it beyond reading about it, but at first glance, I didn’t think so.

I glanced back to see Bare was staring at the screen over my shoulder. “You doing okay?”

He was watching a movie about someone robbing a bank—no, he had it on the television. He was watching me , but it didn’t make me uncomfortable. I felt safe in his arms as I scrolled through the many articles he had regarding Daddy-boy relationships.

My eyes were tired, so I closed the laptop and placed it on the empty side of the bed. I snuggled into Bare’s large warm body, and his arms wrapped around me. It was the best feeling in the world, and I drifted off to dreamland with a smile on my face.

Saturday morning, I woke from a dreamless sleep, warm and nestled in strong arms with a soft tickle of warm breath on my neck. Bare!

I opened my eyes and saw the bay window, realizing I’d slept in Bare’s powerful arms—which were still wrapped around me—instead of waking up alone in the room downstairs. For the first time, it felt as if someone gave a damn about me. I knew it wasn’t true, but his touch was comforting. His soft snores were like music to my heart.

“Mmmm. You smell beautiful,” Bare whispered in my ear.

I giggled. “What does beautiful smell like?”

Bare turned me in his arms and kissed the tip of my nose. “Like fresh snow and a warm fire with pinecones. Like spring flowers and warm breezes. Like the Gulf of Mexico in the summer.”

I gazed into Bare’s beautiful golden eyes. “That’s what you think beautiful smells like?”

He chuckled. “What do you think it smells like?”

I sighed. “A stack of fresh hot cakes with warm maple syrup. A good steak and baked potato with melting butter and horseradish sauce. A gorgeous man who uses coconut bodywash and sandalwood beard oil.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere... and now I’m hungry.” We both laughed.

“I thought you were going to carry me down to my bed if I fell asleep here?” I was joking, though as I looked at the bear of a man, I had no doubt he could easily carry my scrawny body wherever he wanted.

“You were too tempting. I couldn’t bring myself to carry you anywhere when you were snuggled up to me.” He winked at me, making my belly do that fluttery thing.

I glanced at the clock on Bare’s nightstand to see it was just six. “Doesn’t the big bad rancher need to get up and do ranch work?”

Bare started tickling me, laughing as I squirmed. “Stop! Stop! I’ll pee the bed!” When he wrestled me under his large body, I sighed like a fanboy. Being with the man made me happy.

After the two of us rolled around the bed laughing, Bare stopped us and held me on top of him. “I do need to get to the barn. What’s for breakfast?”

That Texas twang really did a number on me. “What do you want Daddy ?”

Bare sat up and pulled me with him, staring into my eyes. “Do you mean it? Are you willing to try me as your Daddy?”

I took a deep breath before releasing it. “I’d like to explore it, if we could. Would you be willing to try it with me? You might have to be patient because it takes me a little time to get used to things.”

Bare leaned forward. “I’d be happy to try, but I want you to know that you have all the power here, Baby boy. Pick a safeword.”

“A safeword?” I had no idea what that meant.

Bare pulled me into his lap. “I want you to know you have all the control here, Hermie. You pick a safeword and use it, and everything stops. No matter what we’re doing, we stop.”

That was surprising. “No matter what?”

“No matter what.” Bare grinned and nodded before he leaned forward and kissed my jaw.

“How about radish? I don’t like radishes, though I use them sometimes in dishes. They taste a lot like dirt.”

“Dirt?” Bare cracked up.

I moved onto my knees, straddling his hips. “Have you tasted radishes?”

We stared at each other for a moment before we both grinned. “What would you like for breakfast, Daddy?”

Bare turned and kissed the top of my hand as it rested on his shoulder; a sexy smirk replaced his grin in an instant. “My first pick would be you, but we’ll get there. How about waffles?”

I nodded and moved my leg over his torso in a dismount, accidentally sliding over his sheet-covered erection to leave the comfortable bed. It felt like heaven.

I’d cook the man whatever he wanted. He had the potential to become the most important person to come my way in a long time.

How things would work with us going forward, I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to take the chance to find out. The big question in my mind: why would Bare want a fucked-up guy like me?

Until the man figured out that he was making a huge mistake by wanting to be with me, I was going to do everything I could to make him happy so when he finally decided I wasn’t worth his time, maybe he’d have mercy on me and let me down easily. I was going to be the best boy I could be. I’d learn how to do it if it killed me.

After making breakfast for Bare and the ranch hands, I cleaned up the mess, made a grocery list, and tossed in a load of my laundry. I didn’t have many clothes, so I had to do laundry more often, but that wasn’t a big deal. I’d been through worse.

There was a knock on the front door of the large house, so I went to answer it since everyone was at the barn finishing up the morning chores. A few of the hands were going to work at the tree lot while the others were checking fences and feeding cattle out in the pastures.

I opened the door to see Jane Cole standing in front of me with an angry snarl on her face. She held out a basket.

“Hi, Jane.”

She shook the basket, continuing to glower. “This is for you. It’s mixed berry coffee cake. My mother’s recipe. Luther isn’t a baker, and I plan to create a bakery case to sell muffins, cakes, and other baked goods for folks who can’t bake themselves. Do you bake?”

She wasn’t exactly friendly, but I didn’t want to be rude. “I c-can bake things. D-Do you w-want coffee?”

Jane shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

She put the basket on the porch because I hadn’t taken it from her and hurried back to her car, which was idling on the driveway. She got inside and drove away, leaving me baffled.

I picked up the basket and brought it inside, closing the door. I had no idea what the hell she meant, what with her mother’s recipe and her apology, but I was eager to try the baked goods she’d left.

I took the basket into the kitchen and put it on the counter as the back door opened. Bare hung his coat and slipped off his boots. “Did I see Jane Cole’s car here?” He sat at the island.

“Yes. She dropped off this basket with mixed berry coffee cake. Want to try it?” I reached into the cabinet and grabbed two plates before taking a knife from the block beside the stove.

“Yeah, I guess.” Bare poured each of us a cup of coffee and pulled out two forks before patting the bar stool next to his.

I sat next to him and pulled back the striped towel, finding a rectangular loaf of coffee cake. I removed the foil and plastic wrap, the scent of fresh berries hitting my nose.

“Smells good.” I cut a slice for each of us and handed a plate to Bare, who cut into it with a fork. He chewed for a second before frowning. “What did she do to this?”

I took a bite and let the cake sit on my tongue for a moment. That was something I could do—analyze food and point out irregularities. Too much salt. Too much sugar. Not enough flavoring, things of that sort.

“She didn’t use cake flour. She used an all-purpose flour, so the cake’s too heavy. The berries should have been macerated with sugar and lemon before she added them to the batter, and she used margarine instead of butter.”

Bare pushed the plate away and grimaced. “You can tell all of that by just having one bite? Damn, the texture is weird.”

“It’s my superpower?” Of course, it came out as a question because I didn’t know what to say.

I didn’t expect to be scooped into Bare’s arms and put on the counter in front of him. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. “I think you have a lot of superpowers that you haven’t realized yet, Baby boy. Did Jane say why she came by?”

“Not really. She mentioned that she was putting in a baked goods case at the diner. She said she was sorry, but she didn’t say why, and then she left.” I had no idea what was going on with the woman, but the grin on Bare’s handsome face suggested he did.

“Well, she did what I asked, so I can’t hold it against her. I told her she owed you an apology because of how she treated you the other day at the diner. You should know that while I’m sure her apology wasn’t friendly, Jane’s not one to ever admit she’s wrong about anything. For her to come here to apologize means she realized she’d made a mistake. I’m glad she finally did the right thing.”

One thing stuck… “ she did what I asked. ”

“You didn’t have to get her to apologize to me, Bare. She only did it for you, and there’s no need for you to call in favors on my behalf.” I picked up both dishes and tossed the bread in the garbage basket for the compost bin.

Bare chuckled. “Baby boy, I can tell you honestly that Jane Cole wouldn’t do anything for me, even if her life depended on it. She carries a grudge against me that she’ll never lose, and I can live with that. She did this because she realized, not easily I’m sure, that she’d made a mistake by lashing out at you.

“Now, do you have a grocery list? I’m going to town to pick up some barbed wire, and you can come along with me to shop. Monday, I’ll make a call and we’ll get your driver’s license straightened out. Meanwhile, I’ll happily take you wherever you need to go.”

No doubt that’s what Bare wanted me to believe—that Jane had decided she’d wrongly lashed out at me, but we both knew it was because of something Bare said to her. I’d let it go for now. I didn’t want him making enemies because of me.

The day would come when Bare asked me to leave Bare Ranch, but he’d still have those people in town to deal with. I wouldn’t let him suffer their judgment on my account.

“Sure. I’ll go put on a better shirt. Be right back.” I rushed to my room near the kitchen and changed into a long-sleeved T-shirt. I went into the bathroom and combed my wild hair before grabbing a beanie because the back was sticking up. I’d showered the previous evening, and I’d fallen asleep with wet hair. I wasn’t going to delay the trip to town because I was sure Bare had things he needed to do besides chauffeuring me around.

“Ready, Daddy.”

Bare glanced up and grinned. “Cute hat. Got your list?”

He stood and pushed the stools under the counter, took our mugs to the sink to rinse them, and then turned to me. I nodded. He led me out to his big truck, helping me inside. “Buckle in.” I nodded.

Bare climbed in and started the truck, staring at me for a moment. “Can you drive a stick? I know the small pickup is an automatic, but I can teach you to drive a stick so you could use this if you needed to.”

It was nice of him to offer his expensive truck to me, but I was afraid I’d break it. A clutch and gears were involved, and I wasn’t sure how I’d react if I had a panic attack behind the wheel.

“For you to teach me to drive a stick would be amazing, but I don’t want to wreck this truck. I don’t think I could handle the pressure.”

Bare leaned over the middle console and touched my cheek. “This truck is a thing. It doesn’t matter if you burn out the clutch or strip the gears or any of that. What matters is that you’re comfortable behind the wheel and you’re safe. Next time, we’ll take the old truck, and you can drive us to town. We’ll work up to this one, and maybe we’ll add the stock trailer so you can share the driving when we go on bull buying trips. Those are fun.” He put his left hand on my cheek and kissed me.

Bare was making plans and my head was spinning, not to mention how his gentle touch made me feel. So quickly, the kiss grew into more. I was ready to unbuckle my seatbelt and climb into his lap when there was a knock on my window.

“Goddammit, Chuck. Remember where we were, will you?”

I laughed and turned to roll down the window. “Hey, Chuck. You need anything from town?”

“Naw, but thanks. Jane Cole is at the tree lot, demanding two of the bigger trees. I wasn’t about to tangle with her, though Bridget won’t let her leave with them until we get your okay, Boss.”

Bare chuckled. “Give ’em to her. I’ll note it in the ledger, and I’ll take the charitable tax deduction. Thanks, Chuck.”

Bare then rolled up my window and pulled away. Chuck’s news brought a smirk to my face. “Daddy, why did Jane get free Christmas trees?”

“I plead the fifth, Baby boy.” Bare chuckled, and I joined him.

One thing I noticed about Bare was that he had a fantastic sense of humor. It was no wonder everyone liked and respected him. He was an easy person to get to know as I was finding out.

Bare turned into the parking lot of the local grocery. He stepped out of the truck and came around to my side, opening the door, helping me out, and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

“Will this be a big shop, or just picking up a few things? It doesn’t matter to me. I just need to stop by the farm supply store to get barbed wire before we go home. I like doing these errands with you.”

I wasn’t sure how to answer the man. “I-I’ll do whatever you want.”

“You can shop for whatever’s needed at home. The tree lot is in good hands with Tilda there today. She’ll keep the others in line.” He pulled a cart from the long line, and the two of us did the grocery shopping.

I shopped and Bare asked a lot of questions about the things I bought and how they’d be used. He also bought a lot of candy. “I’ve got a massive sweet tooth, so this will have to do until I can get to you.”

My cheeks heated at the thought of what he could do to me. I was thrilled to hear him say it. I couldn’t wait to get to him either.