“It’s pretty hard,” he conceded. “But if someone who knew their stuff tied me up, I’d be just as helpless as anyone else, right? And I’ll tell you a secret: I really, really hate being tickled. I don’t like how out of control I feel so it’s a hard limit. And it’s not always about being physically hurt. Sometimes I don’t feel safe about something a bottom has asked me to do so I’ll call it with my safeword.”
Hmm. She’d never thought of that, but it made sense. And if everyone had one, then it wasn’t like she had one because she was weak. It was just fair.
“Sassafras,” she announced. “That’s a silly word.”
“That’s a really good one,” Hudson agreed, and then held out a pinky that was almost twice the size of her thumb. “So those are our safewords. Pachyderm and sassafras. Or red and yellow always work if you forget your special word. I promise to always respect your safeword when you use it. Can you promise to respect mine? And no tickling.”
It was maybe a silly promise but she felt the gravity of it down to her bones. Her daddy trustedherand she would never betray that trust, not ever. She would never tickle him, and if he said his safeword she wouldn’t press.
As if he could read her mind, Hudson added, “I trust you to use your safeword whenever you need to. That’s part of how this works, okay? You’re my little girl and I want you to be a good girl for daddy but I also never want to hurt you. So you’ve got to help me out if you’re scared or in pain or something is too much. You’re not going to disappoint me or make me mad, promise. Any top who gets angry at you for using your safeword can eat rocks. Or my fist,” he finished in a silly voice.
She blinked at him, feeling a little fizz of humor in her belly but not trusting it enough to let it out in the form of a laugh or even a smile. But she did loop her pinky around Hudson’s and shook.
* * *
Hudson
What a sweet and serious little girl.
“I promise to respect your safeword, and to never ever tickle you,” she vowed, all earnestness, not a note of teasing anywhere. It made him sad, but at the same time he loved how seriously she took her promises to him, and his to her.
Before he could let her go, she put her bunny’s paw in their pinky lock too. Maybe there was a little levity in his babygirl after all.
“Her name is Hopscotch and she promises too.”
“Does she have a safeword?”
Cosima shot him a glance to see if he was making fun of her. While he might be teasing, he wasn’t laughing at her. He would never.
“Mmm, she’ll just share mine. Sassafras.”
“Okay, it’s a deal. We’ll have to tell Ian so he knows. Don’t want him to feel left out. He can tell you his safeword too.”
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, babygirl?”
“Does everyone have a safeword?”
“No. But I think they should. Sometimes it’s fun to say ‘no’ or ‘stop’ when you don’t really mean it but there should always be a way to say ‘No, seriously, stop.’”
She nodded thoughtfully and toyed with Hopscotch for a few minutes. There was no rush, no hurry, so he let them have these sweet, easy moments. It wouldn’t always be so simple because he’d have to go back to working more at some point, but he meant for Cosy to never feel as though he was too busy for her. He had the feeling that she hadn’t received much attention except for being tortured and abused and he loved that she was comfortable enough with him that she would take her time and just let him hold her without fear.
He hoped she would come to love Ian and he had no doubt his partner would come to love her. Ryker he was just as certain about but he knew it would take longer, be a harder road to hoe, but it would happen. He knew too that each of them would have different things to offer her. Hudson hoped she knew if she needed quiet cuddles that her teddybear daddy would always be there for her and would give her the time and space and comfort she needed.
“Are you ready for Daddy to give you your enema now?”
She bit her lip. “It’s not going to hurt?”
“No. There are such things as punishment enemas, but this one is to help your tummy. Also, I really like giving littles enemas, filling up their bellies, so I’d like to do this to you often and I want you to enjoy it. I want it to feel good. You might have a few mild cramps while you get used to it but I’ll rub your tummy until you feel better.”
“Okay, Daddy. I trust you.”
Music to his ears.
He carried her back to the changing table and only put the wide strap over her waist before handing her Hopscotch.
“Here we go, Cosy. Daddy’s going to open up your bottomhole with my finger and then I’m going to push a tube inside. It might feel a little funny and there will be some pressure but it’s not going to hurt. Can you relax for me?”