He attaches a bar across the middle in front of me that has a variety of toys hanging from it. “You should start working on your fine motor skills while you talk, Baby girl.” He sets my hands on two different spots, and I manage to grip a squishy ball and a ring.
Livy sits on her bottom cross-legged in front of me as Papi rises. He bends down to kiss my forehead and lifts my chin so I look at him again. “If you want to get strong as fast as possible, you’ll need the use of your arms to do so. If I catch you playing with your naughty little titties instead of the toys, I’ll restrain your hands to your sides.” He lifts a brow.
I flush deeply. “Yes, Sir,” I murmur, embarrassed and aroused at the same time.
Livy has her hand over her mouth, and she’s giggling as Papi and Chadka head for the kitchen area. They can still see and hear us, but they grab drinks and sit at the table.
Livy drops her hand. “I can’t believe it.” She’s bouncing on her butt. “And you’ve been here two days, and I didn’t know.”
“I couldn’t talk until I woke up this time,” I tell her.
“Right. Of course.” She points at the toys. “My advice is to start working your fingers. I was super stubborn when I arrived, and it took me weeks to hold my head up, roll over, and crawl.”
I draw in a breath. “I’m an overachiever.” I squeeze the ball with one hand and pull on the ring with the other.
She laughs. “You always were. Tell me everything. It’s been a year and a half. Well, really just a year for each of us. We slept through six months.”
I smile. “True.”
“So? How was the job at the hospital?”
“It was good but really hard work. They were understaffed, and I worked long hours and rarely had a day off. And then I got sick.”
Her eyebrows lift. “Sick? With what?”
“No one knows. They couldn’t figure it out. I kept running a fever. Some mysterious virus.”
“What happened? You look well now.”
“Thabo happened.”
She rolls her eyes. “Of course.”
“I’d been sick for over a week when he arrived, looking for me to give me your letter.”
“I wasn’t sure he would give it to you,” she admitted. “I was worried I’d said too much.”
“I don’t think he would have if he hadn’t claimed me. You did reveal a bit too much. It took several days for him to heal me, and by then, I was totally his, and it no longer mattered that the letter held Eleadian secrets.” I giggle.
She can’t stop grinning. “You’re here…” She sighs. “We’re going to have so much fun together.”
One of the men clears his throat, and I glance toward the table to find both have lifted a brow.
Chadka smirks and then grins. “You talk as if you think you two are going to take the duocruiser and run off to the mall together.”
“Ooh,” Livy declares. “That would be fun.” Then she narrowed her gaze. “If we had any freedom or autonomy.” She turns back to me. “Papi won’t teach me how to drive, nor will he let me sit anywhere but in a car seat strapped in so tight I can’t budge.”
Thabo chuckles. “Olivia has certainly changed a lot since I last saw her.”
Chadka groans. “If you mean she’s become sassy and likes her bottom spanked often, yes.”
I squirm. It’s hard for me to imagine Livy intentionally getting her butt spanked, but I’m thinking it’s an intriguing idea I might like to entertain for myself. Although, I am concerned. Papi already warned me he might do far more annoying things to discipline me than spank me because he knows I enjoyed it.
Livy humphs and crosses her arms. “That’s not true. I don’t like getting spanked.”
Chadka lifts both brows now and glances down at her chest. “Really? Is that where your arms are supposed to be?”
Livy lowers her arms away from her chest and sighs. “No, Sir.” Her nipple rings sway and sparkle. They’re gorgeous, but it’s very weird to see my best friend sitting in front of me with no shirt on.