“Yeah.” She rolled out of bed and held her hand out. “Sex always makes me hungry. Shirt.”
It wasn’t so much the request as it was the bossy tone in her voice that had him raising an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
As he’d expected, her cheeks flushed at the implied reprimand. But unlike earlier, there were no tears filling her eyes, which he figured was a definite improvement. “Can I wear your shirt, sir?”
God, she really was too adorable for his own good. “If you ask me correctly.”
Her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “MayI wear your shirt, sir?”
“That’s not what I meant, jellybean. Try again.”
The color in her cheeks deepened. “Can I wear your shirt, Daddy?”
“Much better.” Sitting up, he shrugged out of the button down and handed it over to her. “Looks better on you, anyway,” he said with a grin when she pushed her arms into the sleeves.
“No, it looks cute on me.” She did a little twirl and struck a pose. “It looks hot as hell on you, though.”
“You do look adorable.”
“Hmmm.” Rounding the bed, she slipped her arms around his middle and looked up at him. “If I’m adorable, then you’re hot. That was the deal.”
“You’re a bossy little thing, you know that?”
“I’m not, usually.” Tilting her head, she smiled up at him. “You seem to bring it out in me.”
He gave her ponytail a hard tug. “I obviously didn’t spank you hard enough this morning.”
Her laugh was filled with delight. “You made your point, very thoroughly. But now it’s dessert time. You promised.”
“That I did. Go clean up and I’ll put it together.”
Pulling away from him, she bounced on her toes and clapped her hands in excitement. “Yay!”
It was refreshing and reassuring to see her relaxing into her Little space. Connor generally didn’t consider himself the violent type but knowing some asshole had decided to squash that side of her instead of finding a way to nurture it made him want to rip the man apart. Even if he hadn’t been a Daddy, he still could have indulged those bratty, sassy, childlike moments.
But she was here now, and she was surrounded by people who encouraged her to be herself and really embrace those parts of herself she’d been forced to hide for so long. Hell, even her participating in Sadie’s prank yesterday was evidence of how far she’d come.
“Can I ask you something?” she asked as he pulled the dessert from the fridge.
“Anything, jellybean.”
“What do you like about being a Daddy? Instead of just like, a regular Dom?”
“That’s an interesting question. I enjoy taking care of people. That’s part of how I got into being a chef. Feeding people is one of the most basic and universal ways to show them you love them. My grandmother used to make these huge dinners, every holiday.” He carried two bowls of mousse to the table and placed one in front of her and handed her a spoon. “This is her recipe.”
“My granny wanted to teach me to cook, but I’m hopeless. What was it like growing up with such a huge family?”
“It was fun. We all lived pretty close to each other, so most of my friends growing up were actually my cousins. I was the first one to move away when I came to the Ranch.”
“Was it noisy? Family holidays and all that?”
“God yes,” he said with a laugh. “My family is ridiculously loud. The first girl I brought home dumped me the day after Christmas because she was so intimidated by them.”
Across the table, she scooped up a huge spoonful of mousse. Her eyes rolled back in her head and his cock twitched at her low moan of pleasure. It was exactly the same moan he’d heard as she’d come while riding his cock, and obviously his body was eager to repeat the experience.
Trying to distract himself, he scooped up his own mousse. “So, ah, what’s your favorite holiday? I bet it’s Christmas.” He could just see her, in a pair of footie pajamas, surrounded by presents. Maybe he’d stay at the Ranch this year, keep her all to himself.
“Halloween, actually.”