Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

" I should do the dishes," Aspen repeated for the third time as she looked at the colored pencils and the coloring book that Jerico had placed in front of her after dinner. She didn't feel right having him wait on her.

"I only have a few things to stick in the dishwasher. It will take me five minutes max," he promised.

When she didn't open the coloring book, he asked, "Do you like to color?"

"Only with crayons," she admitted.

"Then I'll pick some of those up tomorrow. How about some word puzzles for tonight?"

"I haven't done those for years," Aspen answered truthfully.

"I should have given you a choice, little girl. Here, try one of these," Jerico reopened the kitchen cabinet drawer by the table and pulled out a book of different types of games. "If you don't like that, check out the other things here. Anything in here is for you."

She opened the book and flipped through the pages. There were dot-to-dots, crosswords, sudoku, logic puzzles, and more. Stopping at one page with a word search, Aspen dived in. This was fun. She'd always been good at these.

Still aware that Jerico was working while she played, Aspen asked, "Are you always going to do everything?"

"Yes. It's not a chore, Aspen. I enjoy taking care of you."

He walked over to kiss the top of her head before reaching for her cup. "You haven't finished your milk, little one. Drink the last sip and I'll put the cute puppies in the dishwasher to get clean."

"I need to give Rexy a bath," Aspen said, looking at the time before tilting up the cup to enjoy the last of her chocolate milk.

"Not tonight. We'll do that soon." Jerico took the cute sippy cup when she handed it to him. "Good job."

"Do you always get to decide what we do and when?"

Jerico took a minute to rinse out the cup before grabbing a pen and pad of paper from the counter. "That's a great transition to our conversation. Let's start with responsibilities. I'll list mine first: provide food and a home, take care of his little girl emotionally and physically, keep Aspen safe and healthy, spend time together, and love his little girl."

"You can't love me. We haven't known each other for long enough," she protested.

"What's the amount of time it takes?" he asked with a smile.

"I don't know, but more than just a few days."

"Sometimes a daddy knows. But you get to choose your own timeline. Now, what are your responsibilities?"

"Be lazy?" she asked.

"No definition of the word lazy describes you," he decreed before adding, "How about… Allow Daddy to take away life's chores?"

"I have to do something. I can't just be a leech."

"You could never be a leech. What do you imagine I just thought about as I did the dishes?"

"That bitch should help me?" Aspen suggested, trying to be funny.

"First off, no. And that goes on the rules section." Jerico divided the paper in half and wrote, No cursing.

When she opened her mouth to protest, he shook his head. "That's not negotiable. Now what I really thought was how happy I was to have found you and what an incredibly lucky man I was."

"Really?"

"I'm never going to lie to you. Let's add that to both our rules."

"You're serious about this, aren't you? There has to be something else I'm supposed to be responsible for…" she protested, allowing her voice to trail off at the end.

"I would like to know where you are."

A flashback of sitting in the dark car, lost and scared, burst into her mind. Thank goodness he'd found her. "I could text you I'm going somewhere other than work or here."

"Thank you, little girl."

"Could I ask you to talk to me? I can't tell what's going on in your mind. You know, if I'm doing something wrong. I've never been a little girl before," she confessed.

"I will try my best. You can ask me almost anything."

"Almost anything?"

"I can't tell you some information about my missions or my teammates. That's for everyone's safety."

She nodded. That made total sense. When he made a new section and labeled consequences, Aspen sat up straighter. "I don't think I'm going to like this section."

"All Littles need consequences to help them make good decisions."

"So, all I need to do is not cuss and let you know where I am?" she asked, pointing at the section that listed her rules.

"Let's add a few more rules."

Picking up a pen, he added: Follow Daddy's instructions. Allow Daddy's care. Stay away from dangerous situations .

"I always have to do what you say?" she asked hesitantly.

"If something doesn't make sense to you, we can discuss it. But my decision will be final."

"Like my bedtime?" she asked, glancing over at the clock.

"Exactly."

"Can I renegotiate later if something changes, and I can't follow those?" she asked.

"Yes, and no. We can discuss these any time. Unless you've already earned a consequence. Then it's too late."

"So, if I stub my toe and cuss, you won't listen to me? You'll just spank my bottom?" she said, not liking how this was going.

"I would check first to see how your toe was. Then I would spank your bottom. Think of something else to have pop out of your mouth if you need something to say. You don't ever have to cuss."

"It's not like you don't."

"I don't. My mother was a first-grade teacher. If I'd yelled or whispered something off-color where she could hear it, I would have lost one of my privileges for a week. I use ‘zoot' as my swearword. It's not really one, but I can use it in the place of something that would have gotten me into trouble as a kid."

"She had to know that in your mind, that was the same as a cuss word."

"She did. But I started watching other people's reaction to someone cursing. Some are totally used to hearing expletives streaming out. Others shy away from interacting with the person using foul language. When I said ‘zoot,' people laughed. I liked that reaction better."

"I rarely cuss much anyway, so I don't think that will be hard to do," Aspen admitted.

"Perfect. I'm going to add one more rule and then I think we have a good start on our rules."

She watched him write, Daddy is in charge of my pleasure.

"What does that mean?"

"Exactly what it says. Your sexual play and satisfaction will be with me and no one else," he explained.

She wanted to ask if he meant she couldn't pleasure herself. Like that wasn't going to happen. Aspen loved her vibrator. How would he ever know?

"So, what happens if I break a rule?" she asked, choosing to not address that one.

"I'll choose a consequence to allow you to reflect and make better choices next time. Corner time, spanking, writing sentences, loss of pleasure could all be consequences."

"Loss of pleasure? What's that?"

"Daddy will stimulate you until you're eager to come and then stop. Being pleasured is a privilege," he explained.

Aspen glared at him. All this talk about rules and consequences made her mad. "I can take care of that myself."

"Of course you can, but then you're not following your daddy's instructions. Think about those books you've read. Are they so different from what we've discussed? There was some reason they resonated with you. Why did you like them?"

Instantly, her anger vanished. "Because he loved her more than I can imagine."

"You don't have to have a daddy to have someone love you, Aspen."

"I know."

"Let's set this all aside for the night and go watch a short movie or play in the nursery. What would you like to do?"

"Could we watch a movie? I haven't done that in forever."

"Let's do it."

Aspen watched Jerico pick up the paper and pen. He set them on a corner of the island before whistling for Rexy. "Come on, big boy. Everyone pile on the couch."

She followed him into the family room and sat near him on the couch. He didn't seem to be mad at her for not agreeing to everything immediately. After starting the movie, he hauled her close and wrapped an arm around her. "Come here, little girl."

"Are you angry?"

"Because you need to think about how much control you can give me? No. That just tells me you need more time. I'm willing to give you that if you need to take a step back. I know you're my little girl. Hopefully, you'll be sure you're my little girl."

"I want to be your little girl," she rushed to assure him and pointed to her chest. "In here."

"Then we give your brain time to catch up with your heart." He kissed her forehead before pointing to the screen where frolicking, animated characters were dangerously close to a freeway. "That won't end up well."

Aspen sat cuddled next to him with Rexy stretched out beside her. She felt all the tension from the first day at a new job drift away as she laughed at the movie antics. It was the perfect way to relax.

As the movie got toward the end, she struggled to keep her eyes open. This spot was so warm and snuggly. Eventually, she let her eyelids close and simply listened to the sound. Aspen felt the corners of her mouth tilt up when Jerico kissed her temple. If only time would freeze.