by Allysa Hart
Pulling into his sister’s driveway, he spotted the rose bush in full bloom near the front porch. “Hey, bud, do you think your mom would notice if I snagged one of those?”
“How should I know?” Nate shrugged, rolling his eyes as they got out of the truck.
“You’re no help,” Jeff lamented with an exaggerated sigh. “Get in the house and remember our deal.” He snagged a side hug from the boy before flipping open his pocket knife and cutting off the prettiest rose. Using the blade, he trimmed off all of the thorns. As he hopped back in the truck, he sent a wave to his sister who watched out her window. The raised eyebrow said she had questions. He made a mental note to ignore her call later.
Katie fidgeted at the bistro-sized table. It had been a long time since she had been on a date. Was this a date? No, just two friends meeting for coffee. Dating wasn’t an option for her. She was a widow and a new mom. No one wanted to deal with that kind of baggage, no matter how nice they seemed. For the tenth time since she had texted the address, she berated herself for being such an idiot. This is a huge mistake. Just as she gathered her purse and stood to leave, a rose appeared on the table in front of her. Raising her eyes in surprise, she came face-to-face with dreamy chocolate-brown eyes, and her insides melted. He was as gorgeous as she remembered. Dammit, she’d been half hoping he was an ogre whose handsomeness was a mere figment of her imagination.
She watched, frozen in place, with her heart in her throat, as he took the seat across from hers, and regarded her cautiously. “Are you all right? You look like you’re ready to run.”
Still standing, clutching her purse to her chest, she shook her head. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I can’t date you. I can’t date anyone right now. It’s not fair.” She fought back tears of panic as she spoke.
Jeff’s eyes narrowed as he reached across the table and took her cold, shaking hands in his own. The comforting squeeze and concerned expression made her stop, her breath hitched in her throat. Why did he have to go and touch her? And then he spoke, and she was a goner.
His quiet tone held an air of dominance that would quickly entice obedience. “Katelyn, stop. Take a breath and listen to my voice.” Nodding, she filled her burning lungs with much-needed oxygen.
“Good girl,” he purred, melting her further as she gave up her inner struggle and took her seat once more. “Now, I want you to stop worrying about the word ‘date.’ We are just getting to know one another. No stress, no pressure, okay?” Giving her hands another squeeze, he raised an eyebrow in question. “Can we just enjoy each other’s company?”
She nodded, her brain at war with her heart, and, if she were totally honest with herself, other parts of her as well. She wasn’t ready for dating. It terrified her to no end, because Jeff was the total package. Not only was he a freaking hottie, once you added in the way he spoke to her, his expressions, his tenderness, his protectiveness of her, and everything else…well, it all felt too right and scared the crap out of her. She wanted to crawl into his lap and seek the kind of comfort that spoke to her soul. The thought of climbing into his lap in the middle of the coffee shop made her giggle.
“Better. Thank you.” The laugh lines on his face deepened.
“Thank you for understanding.”
“No problem. Do you want coffee, or can I take you out to lunch?”
“I am kind of hungry,” she admitted, smiling as his eyes lit up at her response. It was the truth. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast, but her nerves had kept her focus off her stomach.
“Perfect. I’m starving.” He stood and pushed his chair in before extending his hand. “We can take my truck and come back for your car.”
Katie rose to her feet and took his hand as they headed out the door. “Oh wait!” she cried, grabbing her phone from the front pocket of her purse as she came to a dead stop in the middle of the sidewalk. “I need to text Rose to check on the baby.”
She watched out of the corner of her eye as he leaned against his beat-up Ford truck. His arms folded over one another on his chest showcased defined muscles, and his shirt stretched across his pecs in a way that had her body humming. Staring at her phone, she forgot what she was supposed to be doing. Oh yeah, the baby, she reminded herself, shooting off a quick text to Rose before dropping her phone in her purse and striding toward the truck.
“Is everything okay? You were looking at your phone like you’ve never seen it before,” Jeff asked with a chuckle.
Darn, he noticed. If she didn’t want this man to realize the effect he had on her, she really needed to get herself under control. “Ha, ha. I’m fine.” Time to change the subject. “Didn’t you say you were going to feed me? Why are we just standing around?” She planted her hands on her hips.
“Oh, sassy. I like it.” He opened the passenger door and bowed like a chauffeur. “After you, princess.”
“That’s more like it. Don’t forget your place again.” She attempted to hide her smile, but when he laughed out loud, she joined him.
“Buckle up,” he ordered as he shut her door behind her. She kept up the facade and ignored his comment. He got in and followed his own advice before looking at her. His jaw clenched, and she instinctively reached for the belt while still holding his gaze.
“Good girl.”
“How do you do that?” she huffed as warmth spread through her belly at the praise.
“Do what?” he questioned with a smile.
“You know! Be all dominant and bossy and make me want to do what you ask.”
“It has nothing to do with being bossy. I was looking out for you. As far as being dominant? It’s part of who I am, sweetheart.”
“You have the eyebrow, and the good girl, and the protectiveness, just like Keith.”
“Is that a bad thing?” He smirked.
Katie shrugged. “Not particularly.”
“Keith and I have a lot in common. I call it like I see it, and I protect what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours,” she protested.
“Yet.” He winked, and her stomach did somersaults.
Overcome with shyness, Katie wrung her hands in her lap. She wanted to protest his declaration and tell him it was too fast, too soon, but she also kind of liked it. So, she said nothing.
“Hey, are you okay?” Jeff reached across the bench seat to place a hand on her knee.
“Yeah, I was just thinking.” She looked at him and forced a smile, trying to mask her out-of-control thoughts.
“About?” He arched a brow.
She wasn’t ready to talk about anything serious with him. “Nothing. Where are we going to eat?”
“Steakhouse. Don’t try to change the subject.” He squeezed her knee, and she squirmed.
“Bossy.” Katie giggled, bit her lip, and went back to focusing on her hands. What the heck. Might as well go for it. “I kind of like it,” she admitted, cheeks heating, unable to so much as glance in his direction.
“Like what?” Stopping at a red light, he turned and gave her his full attention.
“The bossy, dominant thing. I don’t know. I’m weird. Can we talk about something else, please?” She was so out of her comfort zone. She hoped he would see and understand her cues the way he had been able to thus far. He was perfect, nearly too much so.
Jeff shook his head. “You aren’t weird. Please, don’t demean yourself.”
Katie rolled her eyes. This was too much. She had to be dreaming.
“I did say please,” he added with a wink.
“I noticed.” She shook her head and laughed.
They settled into a comfortable silence as they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. Jeff jumped down and came to her side of the truck before she had picked up her purse. Opening the door, he offered his hand, helping her down from the raised cab. They settled into a nice rhythm, talking about likes and dislikes, passions and hobbies, as they got to their table and perused the menus. No subject seemed to be off-limits, but under the surface, Katie bubbled
with queries. She wanted to tell him about how his dominance made her tummy squirm in all the best ways, that she needed a dominant man in order to feel safe, secure, and loved. Not talking about those things felt like lying, except they weren’t dating. This wasn’t a date. She didn’t have to tell him everything the first time they hung out. They were friends. No pressure.
Katie tried to tone down her smile as she walked into the kitchen where Rose stood at the stove, stirring a large pot with a wooden spoon.
“So, how was your day?” Rose asked, not looking away from the pot of spaghetti sauce.
Katie scooped up Noah from the playpen in the corner of the dining room and nuzzled his cheek, inhaling his clean, sweet baby scent. She had missed him more than she realized.. “My day was good. It was really good. Thank you for forcing me out of the house.”
Her day had been way more than good, but she wasn’t ready to go into detail with Rose at the moment. Even as happy as she was, she was confused and frustrated by the constant tug of war between her heart and her head. Her heart still ached for Mark, but her head lived in the present. A present full of possibilities. Mark would always and forever be her husband and her Daddy. No one else could fill that role, but he was gone, and her needs niggled at the forefront of her mind. She craved the closeness of a man; strong arms wrapped around her in sleep, someone to quench her thirst for intimacy. Even though she was obviously not a virgin, she had always vowed to herself she would abstain from sexual intimacy outside of wedlock, and just because Jeff seemed to be the man who could quench her every thirst, marriage was so far out of her realm of thinking, she might as well join a convent.
“What are you smiling at over there?” A curious voice interrupted her musings and she looked up to see Rose’s smirk. The heat of a blush spread across her face, giving away her wayward thoughts.
“Spill girl!” Rose’s eyebrows rose so high up, they almost touched her hairline as she leaned in conspiratorially. “I have never seen that look before. What exactly did you do today?” Rose covered the sauce and pulled up a chair across the table from her and Noah.
She sighed, realizing she couldn’t keep any secrets from her best friend. “I called Jeff.”
Rose’s eyes appeared to triple in size. “What? When?”
“I was getting my hair done, and Cherie has a way of getting you to talk, you know? So I told her about him, and she put things into perspective a bit. I also had another dream.” She nuzzled Noah again, holding back tears. “Mark came to say goodbye. He said he loved me and wanted me to be happy.” She blinked the tears away. Crying over him only gave her a headache, and feeling guilty for enjoying time with a friend was silly. “So, when I left the salon I...I called him. I didn’t even think he would pick up.”
Rose wiped her eyes and reached over to grasp Katie’s hand. “Mark’s right, you know? You do need to move on, but don’t feel like you need to rush. You have time. You are young and beautiful. You are also a new mom, and you need to make sure you are comfortable with all of these life changes.”
She nodded. “I know, but I like him, and I can’t be the third wheel here forever.”
Rose squeezed her hand almost to the point of pain. “And why not? You are not taking my Little girl or nephew away anytime soon. Do you hear me? This is and always will be your home. We love you, Katie.”
“And I love you guys, too, but I need to have a life.” Her voice cracked as she tried to hold back a whine.
Rose sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. “What exactly is stopping you from having a life?”
Katie averted her eyes and shrugged.
“Exactly. You have no answer because you are telling yourself stories, again. Keith and I will never stop you from living your life, and you know it. If that means meeting someone and moving away, then so be it. All I am saying is make sure it is on your time. Don’t force it. Don’t rush it. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
Katie bit back a laugh. Rose thought very highly of Jeff, but her protective side would always favor Katie and Noah.
“Okay, I get it. We just hung out as friends, anyway.” Maybe moving the conversation along would knock Rose off topic.
“You hung out? I thought you said you called him.”
“I did! Would you please let me finish? I called, and we met for coffee and went to lunch.”
Rose raised her eyebrows and nodded but stayed quiet.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m just listening.”
“No, you’re not. You have an expression like I have been naughty.”
“Have you? Do you have a guilty conscience?” A smile spread across Rose’s lips as Katie huffed in frustration. Her Little persona rose to the surface, but she didn’t want it to. When regressed, she had minimal control over what she said or how she expressed her emotions. It was frustrating and sometimes ended with her nose in the corner or facing the floor as she was thrown over a knee.
She stood and darted away from the table. “I’m going to lay him down and go read.”
Rose laughed. “Okay, go relax. We will talk later.”
Katie retreated to the safety of her room. After making sure Noah was safely lying in the center of her bed, she headed to the closet in search of a change of clothes.
“I need to do laundry,” she grumbled as she dug for something comfortable. Coming up empty-handed, she headed for her Little closet to find an outfit she could lounge and sleep in. It had been a while since she had touched most of the clothes. Sifting through a drawer, she caught a glimpse of a blue character and groaned. She hated the Smurf sleeper but could not bring herself to get rid of it. The gag gift from Mark caused an explosion of epic proportions and ended with her very sore, red bottom. The memory made her smile, and before she could stop herself, she stripped out of her clothes and climbed into the soft sleeper. Looking in the mirror, she saw past the woman to the Little girl inside. Since Noah’s birth, she had suppressed this side of her. Struggling to find the balance between mother and Little girl stressed her beyond belief. Even though Keith and Rose had forced her into Little mode on more than one occasion, she had not willingly allowed her Little side out to play in far too long. Wrapped in the sleeper, with millions of questions flying through her head, it seemed like the perfect time for an escape.
Grabbing her coloring book and crayons, she went back into her big-girl room, lay stomach-down on the floor next to her bed, and got lost in the pages. The feeling of the crayon gliding against the paper soothed her conflicted heart. Watching the colors appear and blend took her imagination on a journey through a magical forest where the animals could talk to her and no one ever got hurt, physically or emotionally. She hummed the tune to her favorite TV show as she continued in her momentary escape. The sound of Noah stirring snapped her back to mom mode, and she sat up to peer over the side of the bed at him. Her eyes scanned his cherub-like face and her heart swelled.
“Hey, buddy, did my singing wake you up?” Crayons and coloring books abandoned, she scooped her little man into her arms and made herself comfortable to nurse as a soft knock landed on her door. “Come in. I’m nursing.”
Rose peeked in and smiled. “You kind of look like an oxymoron right now. Feeding your son in your sleeper. I thought you hated that thing.”
“I do, but I need to do laundry, and I just kinda wanted to slip away for a bit.”
Rose nodded. “I know the feeling. We should sneak away for a weekend. Just you and I.”
Excitement washed over her, quickly replacing itself with reality. She didn’t have only herself to think of anymore.
“That would be fun, but what about this guy?”
“He and Keith can have some man time. It would be a good bonding experience.”
Her heart screamed at her to say no, that it was too soon, and she hugged Noah tighter to her chest for a minute before relaxing. Keith could handle it. Smiling shyly, she nodded. “I could really use some Auntie time, I think.”
>
Rose beamed at her. “It’s settled, then. Leave all the planning to me and don’t you worry your pretty little head about a single detail. We will have so much fun.”
“You think Keith will go for it?”
“I have my ways of getting what I want from that man. Don’t you know that by now?” Rose winked.
A loud crack filled the air, and Rose grabbed the doorframe as she lurched onto her tiptoes. “Holy shit!”
Katie could hear Keith’s deep voice, but his body stayed hidden in the hallway. “You have your ways of getting what you want, huh?”
Rose pouted and rubbed her butt. “Ouch! I didn’t even mean it like that.”
“Why don’t you go to our room, then, and we can discuss exactly what you did mean?” His tone brooked no argument, but sexual tension permeated the air.
Rose tried to hide her excitement as she scurried to obey, but Katie knew she looked forward to some attention from her Dom.
“Hi, Keith!” Katie called out in a singsong voice.