Love Lessons (Love Language Book 2)

by Reese Morrison

  Thank goodness. If you wanted to snuggle with him, too, I’m sure he’d be delighted. It was always the first thing he said, whenever anyone mentioned his relationship with Zhong. But now that it was Landon… He wasn’t sure if he wanted Landon all to himself, or if he wanted Landon to share everything that he had.

  He kind of pathetically wanted Landon near him all the time, even when he wasn’t doing anything. Or just hanging around. Like when he was cuddling with Zhong. But only if Landon was his. Wasn’t that a confusing mess of emotions.

  He started putting dishes away to give himself a moment. Landon pushed in beside him, putting away a bowl and bumping him intentionally on the shoulder.

  Watch it, brat. He gave Landon a soft swat on the ass.

  Make me.

  It was a good thing Zhong and Ash weren’t waiting for them.

  Chapter 11

  Lena

  The vibrating buzz on Lena’s dresser almost made her hand shake, but she pulled the eyeliner back just in time. She looked down at her phone.

  It wasn’t a text, but a Facetime call from her sister. Or more likely, Maggie’s kids.

  She was sure that she looked a fright like this, but Maggie and the kids wouldn’t care. She accepted the call to find, as expected, two grinning faces crowding into the small screen, one of them bouncing up and down.

  Hey! I think I caught a Pokémon! She mimed snapping them up into a giant ball. Two Pokémon!

  They giggled and Matt disappeared from the frame, probably running away from the concept of an imaginary ball dispensed from the other side of town through a video screen.

  Matt crashed back into his sister. I escaped!

  I’ll have to try harder next time. What are you guys doing tonight?

  Watching Frozen. Meaning that Maggie wanted the kids out of her hair for a few hours so she could relax at the end of the week. Friday night their screen time restrictions were lifted. Lola’s mouth started moving in the shapes of what was undoubtedly “Let it Go.”

  The kids were both fluent in ASL, something all of Lena’s siblings made sure of with their children. Because they were responsible like that. Her whole family was pretty good at doing the right thing and she was lucky to have them.

  The cute part was that sometimes the kiddos still forgot that she couldn’t hear.

  Lola paused mid-phrase, turned her head to ask something, and then turned back. Mommy says to ask you if you’re coming over tomorrow.

  I think so. Maybe in the afternoon.

  Then Lena was subjected to a nausea-inducing tour of the ceiling and underside of Matt’s chin as he took off with the phone. She turned back the mirror and finished up her eyeliner.

  Maggie’s face appeared, looking a little tired but still beaming her perpetual smile. That was the way it was in their family. You just smiled and made the best of it, no matter how hard it was.

  Maggie certainly didn’t have it easy raising two kids as a single parent. She made it look easy, though. Fun and effortless. It’s just how it was in their family. Lena reminded herself that she should really hang out with the kids more often. Give Maggie a few more evenings to herself. She could surely fit that into her schedule.

  Hey Lena, Maggie greeted her. It was weird to address people by name in ASL, a layer that was unnecessary since you could only communicate if you already had somebody’s attention. But Maggie always made a point of doing it. Letting her know that she saw her gender and identity, no matter who she was.

  Hey, what’s going on tomorrow?

  Not much. Shopping. Figuring out where to take the monkeys to get them out of the house. I just wanted to know if you were coming so I could figure out our day.

  I have a lot of work this weekend, but if you need me, I can always make time.

  Thank you, Lena. The kids have been asking about the science center, but no pressure.

  She was such a sucker. But she had just said that she’d spend more time with them. I’ll be there. You can have some time to take care of yourself.

  Self-care? What’s that?

  Hell if I know. Lena laughed.

  Do you ever realize that our family is a bunch of workaholics and, like, everyone else knows how to relax and have fun?

  I relax and have fun. I’m going to have fun at the science center tomorrow.

  Maggie shook her head. No, I’m serious. I’m, like, really trying to figure out how everyone else does it. To just, like, not take on as many projects and maybe not be such a perfect parent every second and have a moment to stop.

  You’re my hero Maggie.

  She had a point. And Lena couldn’t help but think of Dustin. He was coming over soon and… he really did make her relax. Forced her to, sometimes.

  Hey! What are you thinking about?

  Lena felt herself blushing. Which, like, never happened. She and Maggie were close, even if they didn’t spend a lot of time together that wasn’t playing Chutes and Ladders or talking about the kids. But it wasn’t like they had a lot of secrets. She even texted Maggie when she was going home with people, not that it happened that often since the club was easier.

  Nothing. Just… a guy. Right? They’d met up six times now. Six. He would get over her and move on soon. Or maybe she’d get bored, though she couldn’t quite imagine that happening.

  There was just something about his determined honesty, the way he could be so dominant and so vulnerable at the same time. The way he really seemed to care about her. She shook it all off.

  Maggie looked thrilled. A guy?

  Yeah. We hook up sometimes. She put on a smirk. I’m giving him lessons.

  Kinky lessons?

  You know me well.

  Well, invite him over sometime. I’d like to meet him.

  I don’t think it’s that kind of thing. He’s learning how to be a Dom. Which kind of sucked, because he’d probably get along great with Maggie and love the kids. But that wasn’t what this was about.

  Well, he’s always welcome here. Let me know what time you’re stopping by tomorrow.

  Lena agreed, and then with several more rounds of goodbyes and some virtual tickles, got off the phone.

  She was thinking too much now, though. Thinking like she’d promised herself not to do.

  She’d pathetically thrown herself into too many relationships before, and it had never worked out. People got too busy. Or they wanted different things. Or didn’t have time for her. It always came down to Lena sobbing on the couch for a few days and throwing herself back into work. It was just easier to skip the angsty parts and move on.

  She had plenty of things that she loved to do, and her life was full. And maybe one day she’d try some self-care like Maggie suggested. Did running count? That was relaxing.

  And scenes at the club were relaxing, too. Even if they’d been feeling empty for a while and she hadn’t felt like going recently.

  They never did with Dustin, though, which was why she was so excited for tonight.

  She finished up the last touch of lip gloss and rubbed her lips together. Then she pulled her hair out of the soft band and gave it a quick brush. She smiled at herself, and then tried out a frown.

  Everything was more intense when she was Lena. When she was strong, which was most of the time, she was fiercer and braver. When she was sad or angry, it blew through her like a hurricane. And when she was worried it shook her like waves.

  Tonight she wasn’t sure how she felt. She rubbed the silky fabric of her dress between her fingers, comforted by the texture. Comforted that it was there. That she could be Lena and just feel.

  Dustin would be here in a few minutes, and she felt nervous and euphoric in equal measure.

  This was only the second time she’d be seeing Dustin since game night at his place. Part of it was that she’d legitimately been busier the past few weeks than she expected. Work for her committees had piled up, and getting her National Board Certification for teaching was much harder than she’d expected. One of her chronically ill s
tudents was in the hospital again, so she’d visited a few times with homework and support. On top of all of her regular activities, it left her with little extra time.

  But honestly, she still felt tentative about spending too much time with Dustin.

  The evening after game night, he’d set up a Skype call and made her jerk off, edging herself for nearly an hour, before he let her come. And the next time they’d met up, he’d taken her out to dinner at this amazing Mexican place, just like a real date. Then he’d had her brace her arms on her closet door, the full-length mirror in front of her, so that they could both see her face when he spanked her.

  So, basically, the sex was fucking phenomenal. Maybe better than with anyone else she’d ever been with.

  Which was weird because Dustin was still clearly a newbie, and his nervousness was just as apparent as his innate dominance. That mirror thing had been hot, but she was pretty sure he was also using it to assuage his mysterious fears about hurting her during impact play.

  And that led to the other part of it. The things they were doing together weren’t even that kinky. Spankings. Edging. Handcuffs. His presence was total Dom, but the stuff they were doing was pretty much what vanilla people did when they thought they were walking on the wild side.

  So why the fuck was she so nervous now?

  A bright light flickered twice in from the corner over her bedroom door. He was here.

  She looked herself over again in the mirror, putting on a confident, seductive smile that she didn’t quite feel. She knew from experience, though, that fake it ‘til you make it worked. If she decided to look unfazed and sexy, she could make herself feel that way, too.

  With that thought in mind, she went to buzz the door, feeling the soft folds of her dress brushing her thighs as she let her hips give in to a natural sway.

  She’d thought about putting on something sexier, but she’d learned that it would only mean sitting around in her lingerie while they ate dinner and chatted. Though that definitely pulled at some fantasies, too.

  A few moments later, Dustin was at the door. He smiled when he saw her, giving her first a kiss on the lips and then a kiss on the forehead. It made her feel all shivery inside.

  You look gorgeous today, he signed once he’d released her.

  She couldn’t help but appreciate that his face always held that same glow of delight whenever he saw her, whether she was Lena or Landon, or even in her frumpier work clothes.

  It helped that she clearly wasn’t the first person he’d met who identified under the trans umbrella, so she didn’t have to go through the exhausting explanations. Dustin had asked her a few questions about her experiences when they came up in conversation, but it always felt like they were about her, not her gender identity. Things like how her parents felt about it or whether she was out at school. He was just kind of awesome that way.

  I brought over Thai food, he mentioned, gesturing toward the white plastic bag in his other hand. Yeah, doubly awesome. Shall we go eat?

  Now that he was here, she could feel all of the stress draining out of her. When he was looking at her like that, like he’d been waiting all week just to have dinner with her, it was like everything was going to be alright.

  Dustin just had that magic around him.

  She walked toward the kitchen and grabbed plates and forks. She assumed that he’d unpack the food, so she felt herself blushing when she turned around to find him watching her. Was he actually that interested in her? With her narrow hips and straight waist in her clingy dress? She didn’t often feel insecure about her body, but sometimes it caught up with her.

  I’m a lucky man, he signed with no pretense. It was almost like it wasn’t a compliment, just a simple statement of fact.

  Wow. Just wow. If this was what it was like having a boyfriend, maybe she ought to consider it. She had so many things to think about, so many fears, but maybe just for tonight, she could say fuck it to all of them and just enjoy it.

  She brought the plates to the table and he brushed a kiss to her shoulder before pulling out her chair. Because he was basically the perfect boyfriend.

  Then he asked about the budget she was putting together and her progress on the bullshit with the Deaf ed program. No, now he was the perfect boyfriend.

  God, she was going to be fucked when he left. Or could she… no, that was getting ahead of things.

  She concentrated instead on the delicious smells of the food, which he was placing on her plate without asking for her input. Was it weird that she liked that? Not that it was a weird thing for people to like, but was it a weird thing for her to like?

  It felt kind of good right now. Like he was taking care of her, maybe, a little bit. Like he was real.

  So, he said casually when they had their plates filled and their feet tangled together under the table, tell me about age play.

  She blinked. That was a big jump from what she’d just been thinking about. And she wasn’t buying his casual affect at all. There was a chance he’d just read about it and wanted to know a few facts, but she was pretty sure he was thinking about it a bit more personally. It made sense to ask her, since these were supposed to be lessons. A way to test things out.

  She certainly knew enough to orient newcomers, but it wasn’t something she’d tried herself. She wasn’t quite sure why not, since she liked hanging out with the littles at Escape. Pups, too. They were always so relaxed and cute, and when they did public scenes with their caregivers it was hot.

  She knew that diapers and bottles weren’t for her, so if that was what Dustin wanted to try it would be a definite no. Could she see herself as a preschooler? Maybe… but it sounded kind of boring. She’d rather play with circuit boards than blocks if she wanted to relax. On the other hand, she’d liked it when he put food on her plate, so this couldn’t be too different.

  For a quick scene… sure. She could try out some age play. It seemed relatively harmless.

  She managed to pull off a smirk, moving back into the role of educator. Been reading a lot?

  He gushed, not at all concerned about revealing his newness and excitement. Oh my god. I’ve been reading everything. Thank you for sending me all of those links, by the way. You really picked some good sites and they’ve helped me figure out a lot of things.

  Thanks. I mean, I didn’t write them, I just compiled them. Lena fought off another blush. She was used to compliments from other people. Why did it feel so different when Dustin was saying it?

  You still did a good job.

  OK, so maybe she was blushing a bit. She took a bite of curry to give herself a moment. Dustin ran his foot along her leg and that helped ground her, too.

  Alright, time to put herself back in control of things. Right. Age play. It can look a lot of different ways, which is pretty much the motto of BDSM. After risk-aware and consensual, of course. And it can really be about any age, like someone who’s twenty acting like their fifty counts too. Are you asking about caregiver/little play, though? CGL?

  Sure, he nodded. Tell me about that.

  The way I liked to think of it, she continued, is that in other D/s relationships the sub is usually serving the Dom in some way. But in CGL the caregiver is usually nurturing and taking care of the little. The caregivers usually set up structure, punishment, and rewards for their littles, too. The caregivers might be called Daddy, Mommy, or any other adult name like Teacher or Uncle or whatever. And the littles might regress to any age from infancy to the teen years. People can move between different roles, though, and might be different ages at different times.

  Thank you. That’s about as much as I’d figured out from the websites, but… how does someone know if they’re a Daddy?

  Lena was about to launch into an explanation, a combination of basic information from the newbie websites and a few things she’d picked up from other kinksters, but that wasn’t what Dustin was actually asking her for.

  In fact, this explained so much. She should have seen it sooner.
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br />   Being a Daddy was in everything he did. The laundry and homework last month had been about structure. The cuddling on the couch was about nurture. Game night with friends had been about helping her to realize her potential. And making her wait until the next day to come, a memory that still made her get embarrassingly hard, was all about control. He hadn’t given her a system of punishment and rewards, but he’d definitely let her feel the consequences of some of her decisions. Just thinking about it made that squirmy, needy feeling race through her.

  It explained all of the texts, too. The way that he kept up with all of her projects and remembered the things that were important to her. The way that he made her feel like she was important. He’d even reminded her to get enough sleep, which always made her feel sort of melty inside. Total Daddy.

  His amused but strict reactions to her rebellions and flirtation now made so much sense, too. He was looking for someone to guide and take care of. She wasn’t sure if what he really wanted was age play or if it was just a Daddy thing, but there was no doubt that it was there.

  Figuring out Dustin’s kinks, though, meant rethinking some of her own behaviors. She must have been responding to his signals without even realizing it. Which was why she was acting like such an inexplicable brat around him.

  But that meant… did she want a Daddy?

  Having a Daddy meant a lot of, well, dependence. You had to really know that your Daddy would always be there for you to give up all that control. But wasn’t that, maybe, what she’d been testing all this time?

  She’d called guys Daddy before in a scene. It was, like, one of those kinky things that she’d always thought was for other people, but she didn’t mind doing if it made someone happy. It didn’t really do anything for her personally.

  But that was entirely different from having a Daddy.

  She looked Dustin over. His features were unremarkable, but he shone to Lena, tinted by her need and affection and submission. He was gorgeous because of the dominance that he carried inside him.

  His piercing, dark eyes that could pin her in place or soften when she pleased him. His coiled body, with those strong arms that always held her so tightly. His hands that could tease her into ecstasy or tell her to finish her dinner before eating dessert.