17. Milo

Chapter 17

Milo

"We have a little problem, but I'm sure it'll be fine." I thought I sounded optimistic as Daddy opened the door, but he frowned.

"What did I say about the door?"

Oops.

"Um, to stop ringing the bell because I'm not a deliveryman who's bringing smiles and naughty ideas?" Well, that was what he'd said last time, but when giggles started behind him and he rolled his eyes, I realized he'd meant the time before that. "Oh, um, not to ring the bell because I'm always welcome."

Somehow I'd ended up arriving before Grace had left.

Shoot.

I'd thought I'd timed it better than that. I wasn't Grace-ready. He liked her better than he liked his family and that always made me nervous. She'd say hi. I'd stutter and look stupid. Daddy would try to smooth things over.

It was a vicious cycle.

Daddy was trying to look stern and not laugh, but he was doing a terrible job of it. "I need to work on how I explain things to you if I'm going to have to hear my words come back at me."

Yes!

It wasn't my fault—it was his.

"I always try to remember what you say because you're important to me." I managed not to say Daddy and I was glad I'd gone to the effort when more snickers came from deeper in the house.

She was just as nosy as Dally and Victor.

How did Daddy attract such gossipy people?

His huff made me fight off a smile. "Thank you."

He was so cute.

"You're welcome." I gave him a cheek kiss and whispered as softly as I could. "Daddy."

And his smile was back.

"Come here." Pulling me into the house, Daddy gave me a quick kiss before snuggling me against him and trying to look serious. "Now, what has Dally done? Why do we have a little problem?"

"Well, Dally told his family about you and now they want to meet you." As Daddy's eyes widened, I nodded. "You're supposed to come to dinner on Sunday night. I missed last week to be with you and that scandalized everyone and now I'm really sure his dad did something ridiculous because he specifically asked Dally for you to come."

"What did he buy?" Daddy cocked his head. "I can't think of anything dumber than a timeshare unless he got talked into some kind of pyramid scheme. Has he been trying to sell everyone weird vitamins?"

"No, but his mother did a few years ago. She didn't bribe us to be the distraction, though. She hasn't figured that out yet." She was nice but not as devious.

Shaking his head, Daddy finally sighed. "I think I'm too curious to turn it down now. So yes, even if I wasn't a wonderfully supportive partner, I would still want to go with you."

"I can't decide if I need to praise you or pout." My honest answer got a snicker from him and more laughter from Grace, wherever she was.

Daddy gave me a kiss, still grinning and barely holding back more laughter.

"Both." Leaning closer, he brought his lips to my ear. "Because if you pout then I'll have a reason to spank you."

I sucked in a breath, making him grin even wider, but I remembered to whisper back. "Not when Grace is here, Daddy."

He gave me a dejected sigh and pouted. "I know."

Well, at least we were on the same page with that. I was so relieved I was confused when he straightened and seemed to jump topics. "We've got some workmen coming and she's going to stay late to handle a few things. The locksmith should be here soon, and I've got a surprise I'm working on, so how about we go out for dinner and you can prep me for Dally's family."

That might take a while.

"I can definitely hit the highlights." Oh, and speaking of family. "Um, one of your cousins showed up at my work. I think they were a cousin? Maybe some other relative but they were close in age to you and very nosy."

So definitely related somehow.

Daddy rolled his eyes. "For fuck's sake. I told everyone you're not some kind of escort."

I wasn't sure anyone believed him.

"I'm very patient and I was polite but they're going to get me fired." That was not something I could handle. "So I need you to come pick me up at work on Saturday and show my boss I'm dating someone real and not for sale, and I need you to tell me that I can be rude."

It was kind of getting out of hand.

"Please be rude." Daddy didn't seem like he had to think about that. "I don't know what to do."

Put his foot down to start…but we'd figure out the rest. Daddy was very smart about most things, but he needed help when it came to his family. But I could do that.

"You're going to take me out for dinner for one thing." Giving him a grin, I kissed his cheek again. "I want chicken strips."

He'd made me eat lots of veggies for lunch…he'd packed me a salad.

The smiley-faced cucumbers and the carrots he'd cut into spears were fun, but I deserved nuggets and something I could pretend were french fries even if they were fancy.

"Deal." Daddy kissed my nose. "I'm all set, so let's go."

He was definitely up to something if I couldn't see inside the house yet.

"I…I need to use the bathroom and…and I should grab my charger from upstairs." I did my best to wiggle around him quickly but he was fast. "Ugh. D?—"

Oh.

Caught myself.

He'd caught me too. "Use the powder room behind the door there."

"How many bathrooms do you have?" It was a fancy townhome, not a mansion. "How long has that one been there?"

"You're a nosy little thing." Daddy looked like he'd wanted to say something else but he'd stopped himself. "Let's go."

"Fine." I'd be better at being nosy later. He'd have to let his guard down at some point. "Thank you for taking me out to dinner."

"Being cute isn't going to get you any hints." Daddy's eyes sparkled as he frowned at me. "And I didn't even tell Victor my plan, so Dally doesn't even know."

He'd become very sneaky over the past couple of days.

I wasn't sure I approved, and I hadn't decided by the time we got to the fancy southern restaurant again.

"They have the best chicken, so I hope you don't mind coming here again?" Raising one eyebrow as he turned off the car, Daddy smiled as I bounced in my seat. "I think that's a no?"

"I'm excited." It was his you're special restaurant and they had good food. "And I'm important."

"And not that big." Daddy leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Should we have a bubble bath when we get home or play toys for a little while? You don't have to work tomorrow."

"But you do." Daddy had a very traditional schedule, not like mine. "I can be good and go to bed on time."

He kept saying that I worked harder than he did but he had to make a lot of important decisions and he didn't need to be tired either. I could drink lots of caffeine and pretend to be functional, but he actually had to be functional.

"How about we split the difference as long as you agree to sleep in as long as you can, even if that means you don't wake up until after I go to work." Daddy looked like he'd be patient all evening until he got his way. "I think that's very fair."

Ugh.

That was his I'm going to win and you're going to let me sentence.

He liked that one.

"Yes, it's fair." It was just kind of weird, though. "What…what if she's there?"

I'd never been in that kind of situation before and I was never sure what to say to her. She was nice, but I was just me and she was there doing stuff.

"She'll be there but only from about noon until I get home." Giving me a quick peck, Daddy released our seat belts and pulled me closer. "She's going to make sure you have lunch and she'll get a few things done around the house, and then she's going to spend the weekend with her grandchildren."

"She looks younger than a grandma." It probably wasn't the most logical response, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. "She's probably a very organized grandma."

Daddy was trying not to laugh and nodded a few times to get his terrible sense of humor under control. "She had her kids young. I think she said she was sixteen when she had her first, so she's not very old."

Oh.

"By the time I met her, she'd been working in housekeeping for a long time." Brushing his hand over my head, he ran his fingers through my hair. "I met her when I had to stay at one of those long-term hotels while the house was being built. She impressed me and she agreed to come work for me once the house was ready."

"She seems to like working for you." Nothing I'd seen or heard said otherwise.

"I think so." Looking thoughtful for a moment, Daddy shrugged. "She's very straightforward and has always told me if there's a problem. So I believe her when she says she liked meeting you and that she thinks you're good for me."

As my face heated up, I tried to hide against his hand. "She's nice."

"She is and she understands that sometimes life is hard." Daddy kissed my forehead, smiling as I sighed. "She thinks hard work is more important than being a pretentious asshole."

Grace had definitely met his family.

Giggling, I leaned over and curled into his chest as close as I could. "So that's your way of saying she doesn't think I'm a professional and she likes me?"

Laughing, he nodded. "Yes."

He was such a brat.

"Are you ready to have dinner and tell me all about Dally's family?" He couldn't seem to decide if he was nervous about that or excited, which just showed how smart he was. "I have a lot of questions if I'm going to be prepared."

Very smart.

"What everyone's names are to start." Daddy huffed when I snickered. "I need to make a chart of jobs, important information like marriages and divorces, topics I'm not supposed to bring up, and hobbies so I know what to bring up."

Smart people were kind of scary.

"We can start on that tomorrow, but I really might have to make a chart so I remember everything?" There were a lot of them. "Dally's mother didn't make a present chart one year and she forgot one of his brothers at Christmas. She didn't get him any presents. Luckily, he was old enough that he didn't believe in Santa any longer but it was terrible."

She'd felt so bad and she'd blamed Dally's dad for months.

Somehow he was at fault even though she never let him plan Christmas because he bought too much and always bought what she thought were the wrong things. No one had the heart to point out how unreasonable that logic was…for several reasons.

"Yes." Daddy nodded. "Lists are going to be important and if I'm supposed to contribute at Christmas, we're going to start making that list now."

It was April.

"Okay, Daddy." He didn't like waiting until the last minute. "I can do that."

"Wonderful." He actually looked relieved. "Once we have the list and information in place, we'll hand some of that off to Grace. She's very good at buying gifts unless you want to handle it."

Before I could respond or figure out what to ask about his family's stuff, his eyes went wide. "I didn't have her buy anything for you, though. I have done all your shopping and will continue to do so in the future."

Oh.

"Daddy? My toys are in the living room." How had I just realized that? "What does she know?"

Leaning back, Daddy was very quiet for a few moments before he nodded slowly. "Yes, we can talk about that."

He'd thought I'd already realized it.

"I…I'm not that big most of the time when we're together at the house." I was either little or we were naked. Neither of those times was a point when I used a lot of logic. "And the big times we're having sex."

Daddy frowned, clearly not having thought of it that way. "You're right."

It was fun watching him just figure something out, but he worked through problems fast.

"She doesn't open any packages unless I've specifically asked her to or she's ordered something for the house." Daddy started at a good place and my heart rate slowed. "She understands my condition. It's not something that I can always hide, especially when I'm home."

Oh, I hadn't thought about that either.

"I'm glad she understands." I was trying to be subtle but Daddy laughed. "I don't think. You always make me not think."

I wasn't stupid…he just turned my brain off.

"It's okay. We should've talked about this, but I don't know when it would've come up." Shaking his head, Daddy sat straighter. "Never mind, we're doing it now. Okay, she knows about my condition. She's probably guessed that I'm on the more interesting side of things because I have restraints in my closet that she has to have seen."

I wasn't sure if I was glad about that or not.

"Well, if…if restraints don't make her uncomfortable, then toys should be fine?" Hopefully, they'd be fine. "Um, has she said anything?"

"No." Daddy blinked a few times. "But we do have wipes all over the house, Milo. She'll notice eventually."

Ugh.

"And…and I'm not always that big." Wait. "I've been big around her so far, right?"

Daddy made my brain not work again. I just couldn't remember, so I was glad when he nodded. "Yes. A full grown-up and even when you're cute like you were earlier, you weren't little."

I could handle being cute.

Yes, that wasn't bad.

Daddy needed someone and Grace was nice.

"She likes you, baby." Daddy kissed my nose, chuckling when I scrunched it up. "Not done worrying yet?"

"No." I needed more time to obsess.

"Then I guess you're too distracted to try the apple pie? It's one of their specialties but if you're?—"

"I like apple pie." I wasn't too upset. "With ice cream?"

It had to have ice cream.

"With ice cream and some kind of caramel sauce with a fancy name." Daddy frowned and shrugged. "But if you're too worried, it's okay. We can have it another time."

They had ice cream too.

"You…you're not worried and you deserve dessert. You…you've been in a good mood today and you got a lot done and you…you helped me not worry." Yes, he deserved dessert…we both did.

Lots and lots of dessert.