Chapter Seven

I wasn't sure what compelled me to open the door. I knew better than to even acknowledge a door knock when I was in my little clothes. I'd barely put them on, sure I had the night to myself, when the knock came. Who does repair visits that late in the day? Apparently, my hottie of a landlord.

And maybe that's why I opened it, on some unconscious level. I'd already messed things up with him. There was no harm in letting him see me this way. In hindsight, it was probably nothing but my curiosity about his reaction. A not-so-small part of me wanted him to instantly recognize what he was seeing and be happy about it.

My pajamas didn't shout little. Not the clothing itself anyway. The attached paci and holder? That, on the other hand, was pretty much shouting what I was. Despite that, I opened the door. I didn't have to, either. It would've been so easy for me just to message him back and say, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm indisposed. Give me ten minutes."

I hadn't thought of that at the time. I saw him through the peephole and just opened the door wide. I honestly figured he was here for the sink, and then I felt bad when he came back with his tools to actually fix the sink after he'd only stopped by to give my fur baby a toy.

There weren't very many people I would've allowed to see me like that, not even in the pajamas. Some things were meant to be private. It didn't surprise me at all that not once did he look at me like I was a freak or gross or even a weirdo. He noticed my paci; of that, I was sure. I could pinpoint the second his eyes caught it. What shocked me wasn't that he was polite about it. I'd have been shocked had he not been. What did surprise me was how it didn't seem to faze him—at all.

He was such a nice guy. There was no denying that. Heck, he was there to bring my cat a present. Who did that? Who randomly picked up a surprise gift for another person's pet? Elio. That's who.

Best of all? That weird wall I felt between us the night before—gone. I wasn't sure if I'd been imagining it in the first place or if being willing to show this side of myself to him had it falling away. Honestly, I didn't care which. I was thrilled to have things feeling more natural.

Ha! Imagine needing a paci to make tension disappear. Life sure was good at being confusing.

I stayed with him as he worked on the sink. I told myself it was in case he needed me to answer any questions, but that was only partially true. I wouldn't have stayed to be there for a QA. I was there just as much to be near him as anything else.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked while fixing the sink, his voice muffled by being in the cabinet.

It took me a few seconds for the question to process. I'd been actively trying not to stare at his delicious ass clad in very lucky denim. In this position, it was right there, begging me to, but Elio deserved more respect than that. Also, I didn't need him to turn around and see a growing erection which would 100 percent have been the result of that.

"Yeah, go ahead." I wasn't sure what I was expecting him to ask, but I sort of assumed it was something about the sink. I assumed wrong. "Is there something really gross in there that I did?"

"No, nothing like that—nothing about the sink, and this mess wasn't your fault. This looks like maybe I should have taken care of this before you moved in. I should've paid more attention." As if he could've seen this coming. And if he could, it wasn't like there weren't a thousand small things that could go wrong with each rental unit on a given day. He needed to cut himself some slack.

"No worries." And then I remembered there was a question, one he let me lead him from quickly, which had me doubly curious. "What did want to ask me?"

I might not have asked if I'd remembered what I was currently wearing.

"Your outfit. I feel like there's more to the story than just pajamas." It was so refreshing to have him ask like that. I wasn't looking forward to the pretending neither of us noticed game I'd been sure was in my future.

"What gave me away?" I chuckled. "Was it the pacifier dangling from it?"

My words must've surprised him. He went to sit up and bumped his head on the cabinet or possibly the pipe. It was hard to see from my angle. Instead of pushing back and coming out from under the sink, he went back to work. It was better this way—probably. The conversation was already treading in the realm of uncomfortable. No sense jumping into that territory with both feet.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I know better," he said. This time, he pulled his head out from under the sink before sitting on his knees.

I waited for the discomfort to set in. But it didn't.

"So yeah, I did notice that. Is it a sensory thing?"

I'd assumed he'd go straight to age play, and that told me something new about Elio. He was probably as vanilla as they come. That wasn't a bad thing or a good thing. In and of itself, it was neutral. Still fascinating.

"Yes. No. Both. I mean, I guess in a way it is." And suddenly I was stammering, but not because I wasn't wanting to talk about it. I did. I just didn't know where to start. From what I could tell, he knew nothing about being little, and I wanted his introduction to be a decent one. I opted to dive right in. "Have you ever heard of age play?"

"No, I don't think so."

It was no shock to me.

He tucked back under the sink and worked on the issue again.

"Maybe you could tell me about it." That was unexpected. And so I did. I told him how I got into age play, the first time I realized that I was little, the things I enjoyed including footie pajamas, and pacifiers and squishy pillows and macaroni and cheese with little shapes. Especially the ones that were unicorns. I told him it all, and it fell from my lips with ease. I loved how he would ask clarifying questions along the way. Not once for even a nanosecond did I feel judged.

"Your sink's all done. I think," he said, though it didn't sound too reassuring.

He stood up and turned on the water, and, sure enough, it went straight down. "Yep, it's all done."

"Thanks for coming by. You really didn't have to do it tonight." I was so glad that he did.

"I was happy to. It was nice learning more about you. Plus, I got to see Cat-terine. She really is adorable."

"Yeah, she is. Can I get you something to eat or drink?" I shouldn't be trying to foster a friendship. He was in charge of my housing, after all. But it was so nice to have someone to talk to about all of me, and not just the bits that were outward facing.

"I'd love that, but I really need to get cleaned up. You don't want to know what I found under the sink."

He was right about that. I did not want to know.

"Thank you for the cat toy," I said in a little kittycat voice and punctuated it with a meow, and he laughed.

"With cute thank-yous like that, it might happen more often—fair warning." This time, she reacted for real and purred.

He grabbed his tools and walked to the door. "That stuff you shared with me? Thank you for trusting me."

"Thank you for wanting to know."