Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 63601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
He really thought that was a reasonable place to start.
I could see it on his face.
I was starting to see how he’d walked past me so many times without actually seeing me. His level of tunnel vision was amazing.
“I’m going to propose we inch back from that a bit and we discuss what you think we’re doing.” When he blinked, I did my best to keep going. “I know little me agreed to ten…let’s call them play sessions to make up for being a meanie.”
That had Levi trying not to laugh, and I was glad it was a good memory for him.
“But what do you think you agreed to?” Was that the right question? “I’m not sure you remember you need limits too.”
I was glad he knew I needed them because little me was just throwing myself at him left and right, but his limits mattered too…because little me was throwing myself at him left and right.
“Don’t shrug.” My tone was probably sharper than it should’ve been but he grinned and closed his mouth before he could tell me something ridiculous. “I have to know you’re thinking about what you want too. It’s not fair to put all this on me.”
I wasn’t sure my stress or guilt levels could handle it.
And he got it.
The smirk faded and he looked more thoughtful as he finally picked up his fork. Part of me wondered if he’d race back into answering but he took his time and ate a few bites of his salad…if it could be called that…before he answered.
It was still a salad as long as lettuce and vegetables were the base, right?
“Okay, so stepping back a level is reasonable.” He didn’t seem too stressed about that, but his tone was more cautious than I was used to. “I hadn’t really thought about it, though.”
Yep, that was what I’d thought.
When I stayed silent, he raised one eyebrow. “No smart-ass response?”
“No.” I should’ve stopped there…but I was never smart. “I thought it was cute.”
That had the dork rolling his eyes, but he took it in stride. “You need better self-preservation instincts.”
Possibly.
It wasn’t something I was going to work on at the moment, though.
“Don’t think I missed you ignoring that.” The only response I could give him was to grin and it got a glare from him that was sexier than he seemed to realize. “Fine. We’ll come back to that.”
So he wasn’t going to take us off on some kind of conversational rabbit trail?
Nope.
It just took a bit more thinking time and a few more glares.
“You’re going to remember that you have limits too and that you need to do what’s right for you.” He didn’t bother with a long lecture that time. He simply rolled his eyes and kept going. “I started out just wanting to make up for being a dick.”
Because he was nicer than he realized and he knew he needed to make it up to the guy who’d gone into full little mode unexpectedly.
Not that I’d tried hard to fight it.
“But it changed fairly quickly.” I thought he should’ve been feeling more stressed about that, but Levi always did his own thing. “I liked hanging out with you and I had to keep reminding myself that we hadn’t talked about me actually being your Daddy or anything like that.”
“Let’s remember that I was really pushy and was not making that easy on you.” He couldn’t feel guilty about my being a brat. “I think you did very well with finding a good balance since we hadn’t talked about limits, and I remembered to tell you my safeword.”
His glare came back. “We’re supposed to have the conversation that green means good to go before we start the scene.”
Oops.
“Self-preservation.” He dragged out the word to make his point, but he didn’t get stuck on the ridiculous issue. “So yes, we’re going to use stoplight colors for safewords. But now you need to let me know how you feel about the idea of me being your Daddy.”
He was going to drive me insane.
“Let’s step back and have you explain what that means to you.” When his glare came back, I did my best not to adjust myself. “I don’t want an Olivia-level mess because we both have different understandings about what that means.”
“It means we don’t just go around randomly kissing and dating anyone else, to start with.” His grumbling said he was going to be possessive…and that just made my pants even tighter. “Stop squirming.”
“I can’t.” In for a penny, in for a pound. “Um, the possessive Dom tone is hot.”
He rolled his eyes again but I could see he wanted to smile and was barely holding it back. “Self-preservation, Chipmunk.”
Still not going to promise it.
“Let’s go back to what you think we’re doing. Then I’ll be able to give you limits because if you just want to hang out and be Daddy once in a while to give us both what we need, that’s different than if you want a more serious role and to…to do other stuff.”