by Golden Angel
Kawan wouldn’t let her put things in storage either, not when he had a perfectly good basement with plenty of space. The men took charge of getting her furniture—her bed and dresser and things—down to the basement along with most of the boxes they’d packed up. It was a little depressing to look at the clock and realize it had only taken them a few hours to completely remove her presence from Peggy’s apartment.
But since it had been Peggy’s apartment first and she’d already been set up to live there, Melody had kept all of her own stuff confined to her room.
“So, how long have you and Kawan known each other?” Ella asked curiously. She and Sienna had followed Melody into the kitchen to help get lunch together. Afterwards, everyone except Kawan and Melody were planning to return to work. Melody had taken the whole day off, assuming it would take her much longer to pack everything up, and Kawan had told her he’d done the same.
“Um… a couple weeks,” Melody said with a blush. She looked at the other two women a little helplessly. “I didn’t… he didn’t…” She took a deep breath. “I didn’t ask him if I could move in here, he pretty much insisted.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not blaming you if Kawan’s moving fast,” Ella said. She exchanged a meaningful glance with Sienna. “We both know what it’s like with these men. Once they get an idea in their head, it’s impossible to get it out.”
“Did you and Conner get together really quickly too?” Melody pulled the deli meats and cheeses out of the fridge, along with a head of lettuce and a tomato. Sienna held her hands out for the veggies, taking charge of those.
Laughing, Ella moved over to the cupboard to get out some glasses. “Sort of. We knew each other for a long time before we got together, and we did not get along, but once he decided he wanted me...” She shrugged, her eyes sparkling. “Well, it happened really fast.”
“Alexander and I happened really fast too, although we took our time about getting engaged,” Sienna said, glancing over her shoulder and grinning. Placing the rinsed veggies down on the cutting board Melody had pulled out for them, she grabbed a knife from the block to start cutting. “But once a Daddy knows what he wants, he goes for it, and we’re just along for the ride.”
Melody froze. “A… a…. Alexander is…”
“My Daddy.” Sienna said it matter-of-factly, like it was the most normal thing in the world. Filling up the water glasses, Ella didn’t even blink at what Sienna was saying. “Although, really, I was always more of a service sub, but he’s a total Daddy Dom and I have to admit, it’s grown on me.” She gave Melody a sidelong glance. “You were at Black Light so you know what I’m talking about, right?”
“I hope so, because Kawan is a total Daddy Dom,” Ella interjected, grinning. “Conner likes to be my Daddy sometimes, but not all the time. I don’t think Kawan ever does anything else.”
It felt like the air had been knocked right out of Melody. This whole conversation felt surreal. Especially after yesterday, when Peggy had been so awful, and now these two women were talking about Daddy Doms like they were no big deal. Totally normal. Even though she knew Sienna was kinky, for some reason Melody hadn’t quite expected that.
“Yeah, I know what you’re talking about,” Melody said, blushing furiously.
Sienna laughed. “Just didn’t expect us to be so open about it, I guess? You’ll get used to it, if you’re going to hang around us.”
She winked at Melody, as if to say that she was looking forward to having Melody hang around with them.
And that was when Melody started to suspect that breaking up with Peggy—because that’s what it felt like right now—might have been the best decision she’d ever made.
The last time Kawan had lived with a woman, it hadn’t gone well.
Krissy had played at submission, but mostly she’d wanted to take. She rarely gave. There had been times when Kawan had dreaded going home, because he was so tired and all he’d wanted to do was relax. Something she’d made impossible.
A good baby girl should take care of her Daddy too. Caring for her should feed his soul, make him feel replenished, not leave him drained and exhausted.
Living with Melody, even though they hadn’t added the Daddy and baby girl dynamic yet, was already more fulfilling during the first week than living with Krissy had ever been. They woke up at the same time and he made sure she had breakfast, after he realized she was liable to skip food in favor of coffee if he didn’t make sure she ate something. In return, she always had his cup of coffee ready, with just the right amount of milk, as soon as he was done putting together something for them to eat.
And she ate whatever he put in front of her. If they were both rushing, she downed cereal as happily as she’d eaten the Mickey Mouse pancakes he’d made her over the weekend. Then she thanked him with gratitude in her eyes. Shivered when he kissed her.
Sent him off to work with a smile on his face.
She worked even later than he did, so he made dinner for them too, and then she insisted on cleaning up so that he could relax. Instead, he helped her so they could both sit on the couch and relax. Rub each other’s feet. Talk about their day. Decompress.
It was almost everything he wanted out of a relationship with her, except that the first night she’d chosen to sleep in the guest bedroom and things had remained that way the rest of the week. Other than kisses and a little bit of groping—as well as five hard swats on her bottom after she spanked him while he was bending over and then ran away—they didn’t do anything sexual at all.
Kawan didn’t want to push her while she was reliant on him for housing and Melody didn’t bring it up.
The only time he said anything about it at all was to ask her if she still wanted to go to Black Light on Saturday, or if she’d be interested in exploring some of the different aspects of being a baby girl throughout the whole weekend. Blushing, she said she’d like to stay home and try being a baby girl.
Friday couldn’t come soon enough.
Chapter 17
The difference between living with Kawan and Peggy was night and day. Melody hadn’t even realized how much of the home burden she’d assumed while she was living with Peggy until it was no longer there. The past week had been a revelation, in more ways than one.
She was so much more relaxed. She was no longer the only one keeping the living spaces clean, no longer making all the meals, no longer walking on eggshells to keep someone else happy. Of course, she didn’t want Kawan to regret offering a place to stay while she searched for a new apartment, but she didn’t feel like she was on edge just because of that. Yes, she wanted him to be happy with her, but she wasn’t full of anxiety and worrying that he wasn’t.
Peggy had always made it very clear when she was unhappy with something, which she was on a regular basis.
She doubted that Kawan would hesitate to make it clear if he was unhappy, and so far he hadn't done so. It was a whole week without having to listen to any negativity. No daily list of complaints that she had to tune out, no snide gossip about people she didn't know, interspersed with cutting judgments on those people, and not a single statement that she had to brush off or feel bad about.
The difference made her entire day better, from the moment she woke up to the moment she went to sleep.
Without having to expend energy on placating Peggy, on smoothing Peggy's blunt edges, and on taking care of the food at the apartment, Melody felt more alert and energetic than ever. She was getting a ton of work done during the day, getting more sleep at night, and still had plenty of time to daydream about Kawan.
Daydream was about all she was doing, because other than some seriously panty-melting kisses and heavy petting, he wasn't doing much more than that. Something gentlemanly about not taking advantage of her situation, blah blah blah. Even after she indicated that she would really be one hundred percent okay with him taking advantage of the situation.
There was also something kind of hot about being denied though.
Yeah, she was a bit of a headcase.
But she was also happy.
Mostly.
A very small part of her still felt a little guilty about the fallout with Peggy for some reason. Or maybe she was just feeling guilty about how relieved she was to be away from Peggy. It was hard to sort out her feelings toward the other woman.
She'd been there when Melody had needed her. Had been one of Melody's main sources of support for so long and even now there were times when Melody unthinkingly pulled out her phone to text her or would see something and think 'Oh, I need to tell Peggy about that later!'
But at the same time, Melody was happier than she'd been in a long time.
Thankfully, she had Kawan to distract her. Not just him, either; she was spending more time with other women. Katherine had come into the lab on Wednesday and ended up going out to happy hour at the end of the day with Melody and Lisa—just the ladies of the lab. Ella and Sienna had been texting her all week. She'd told them that she and Kawan wouldn't be coming to Black Light that weekend, but she’d made plans to go out with Sienna next week. Ella would be in California with Connor for a few weeks, but they’d see each other again when she got home.
Melody knew very well that if she was still living with Peggy, she wouldn't have made those plans. She would have had to hurry home to make dinner for Peggy on Wednesday, and she wouldn't have wanted to tell her friend that she'd gone out with other friends. She wouldn't have felt okay making plans with new friends without inviting Peggy along, and she would not have felt comfortable introducing Peggy to Sienna and Ella.
In some ways it felt like she'd gone through a breakup and was on the rebound.
Except that Kawan was definitely not a rebound.
And it was finally Friday.
Which meant she was a bundle of nerves. Packages had been showing up to his house all week, but he wouldn't tell her what was in them. He just whisked them away to the second guest room, which had also been locked all week, and told her that she'd find out 'soon enough'. Melody had a feeling that 'soon enough' was today and her imagination was running wild.
After all, they were going to be 'exploring' this weekend. She wasn't entirely sure what that would entail, but she knew she was looking forward to it. All week long, in the very little free time she had, she'd been reading all her favorite books and then daydreaming about what 'exploring' they might do.
"Earth to Melody, come in Mel..." Lisa's sing-song voice knocked her out of the daydreaming she was currently doing. The blonde laughed when she saw Melody's expression. Grinning, she pointed at the slide in Melody's hand. "I know the day is almost over, but I thought you might want to do something with that."
"I do," Melody said, giving herself an all body shake. "Thanks. I'm just... super distracted right now."
"Everything okay?" The slight look of concern on Lisa's face touched Melody. While they'd been working together in the lab for a while, this was the first week that Melody had really tried to bond with her outside of it since that first dinner she'd invited Lisa to hadn't really worked out. That Lisa hadn't written her off completely was kind of a miracle, when she thought about it.
"Yeah, just looking forward to the weekend." Even as she said the words, she felt a blush spread across her face.
Lisa laughed and winked at her. "Hot date? I'm jealous."
"Please," Melody said, snorting a little. "Like you couldn't have a hot date if you wanted." Lisa was gorgeous, in the girl-next-door kind of way that drove men nuts. She was also smart, funny, and friendly. There was no doubt in Melody's mind that if she wanted a guy, she merely needed to indicate her interest.
"Well, thank you," Lisa said easily. That was another thing—Lisa was confident. She didn't try to downplay anything about herself or fish for compliments. Melody wished she had half the other woman's self-assurance. "And you're right, I probably could, but I don't just want a hot date, I want a hot date with the right guy. So far I haven't met him yet." She said it matter-of-factly, not sadly, which made Melody smile.
"Not like it's easy to find time right now either," Melody commiserated.
"Truth. I'm going to be here late tonight. Speaking of, I'm going to go grab a snack from the vending machine, do you want anything?"
"I'm good thanks. Just trying to get out of here."
Lisa flashed her an understanding grin before picking up her purse and leaving the room. Shaking her head at herself, Melody put the slide on the microscope. She was almost done with checking this batch of cultures for the proteins they had isolated and then she could go home.
Home. Kawan. Daddy.
A pleasurable flush of anticipation swept through her.
Focus Melody. Work first.
She was bending over the microscope when she heard the door open behind her. "That was fast."
The vending machine was on a different floor and down several halls. She frowned, turning to look because either Lisa had forgotten something or it wasn't Lisa.
"Fast?" The overly smooth tone of Professor McCready's voice made her wince. Ugh. Of all the people she thought it might be, he was the least welcome.
"Professor McCready," she said politely, a mask of civility falling over her expression. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else."
"Did you?" He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, and Melody straightened as wariness made her anxiety spike. The guy creeped her out way too much for her to try and ignore him when he was alone in the room with her.
Please hurry back, Lisa.
Although he was fairly certain he was in the correct building, Kawan was otherwise lost. Apparently whoever had designed the building just assumed that everyone would know where to go, with no need for signs. Because it was late in the day, so far he hadn't found anyone he could ask for directions either.
Hearing a strange clunking sound, he moved toward it, hoping that the sound belonged to a person.
He almost felt like cheering when he turned the corner and saw a blonde standing at a vending machine, bending over to pick up whatever she'd just bought. The sound he'd heard must have been her food dropping into the tray below.
"Excuse me," he said, swiftly walking up behind her.
The blonde screamed and jumped, whirling around with her hand on her chest. Brown eyes glared at him. "Oh my goodness, you nearly made me pee myself!"
Kawan managed not to laugh at the blunt statement, but it was a close thing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
"Well, I hope not; that would be really mean if you did." She peered up at him, a slight look of suspicion on her face. "What do you need?"
"I'm looking for this lab," he said, holding out the piece of paper he'd copied Melody's information onto. "But I'm not sure I'm even in the right building."
One glance had her frowning. "Why that lab?"
"My girlfriend, Melody Williams, is there. Well, hopefully. She should be finishing up soon. I wanted to surprise her."
Immediately, the blonde's expression cleared, and she gave him a sunny smile. "Ah ha! You're Melody's weekend plans, huh? Well no wonder she's been distracted today. Come on, I'm headed back there right now."
She started walking and Kawan hastily moved to keep up with her.
The blonde hair and her apparent familiarity with Melody gave Kawan the clues he needed. "Are you Lisa?"
She brightened, nodding. "Melody mentioned me? That's awesome. I like her a lot, although we haven't really hung out much until this week." That was said with a sidelong glance as she stopped in front of an elevator and punched the up button. Well, that explained it; he was on the wrong floor. Lisa looked at him curiously. "Melody has no idea you're coming?"
The elevator arrived and they got in. He was only two floors off apparently.
"No, I wanted to surprise her, although I'll wait for her to finish whatever she needs to do."
"That's so sweet." Lisa grinned, putting her hand over her heart again, but for an entirely different reason this time. "I know she's almo
st done. She keeps getting all day-dreamy for some reason though." She winked at him. "I bet your actual presence will give her the motivation to focus on finishing up."
So Melody was a little distracted today? Good to know. Kawan grinned. He'd been distracted today too, hence the cutting out of his own job early to come and surprise Melody. He'd worked through lunch to get everything done and be able to leave faster.
"That's good to hear," he said.
The elevator doors opened and Lisa moved forward. "Right down here. I'll go in first and then you can follow me. I want to see her face!"
She practically skipped down the hall in front of him with infectious enthusiasm. Kawan had already been looking forward to surprising Melody; now he found himself grinning widely as he watched her friend come to a stop at one of the doors. Then, as she looked through the door's window into the room, her body stilled.
"That bastard," she muttered under her breath, jerking the door open.
Sensing something was wrong, Kawan immediately picked up his pace, coming through the door to see Melody standing stiffly with an older man next to her. The blank expression on her face combined with how closely the man was standing to her, invading her personal space, whipped up a fury inside of him although he didn't let it show. First he needed to know what was going on.
Then, if he needed to, he'd tear the man apart.
"Professor McCready, did you need help with something?" Lisa asked, her tone challenging.
"Just stopping by to say hello," McCready said, smiling without any hint of discomfort. Obviously he felt perfectly fine with the situation, even when he looked past Lisa and saw Kawan standing there. "And who is this?"
"Melody's boyfriend," Kawan said. A flicker of relief crossed her expression as he moved further into the room, coming up behind her. The professor stepped back, a small furrow appearing between his eyebrows when Kawan pulled Melody in for a quick kiss. Wrapping his arm around her, he maneuvered them so that she was slightly behind him and he stood between her and the professor. "Hello, sweetheart."