Fear lumped in my gut and I bit on my bottom lip to stop myself from crying in frustration. “I’ll do it perfect the first time so I don’t have to take it out.”
He smiled sadly. “You’re missing the point, boy.”
“I can’t go to a psychologist. I just can’t.”
He sighed and I hated feeling like I’d disappointed him already. “They’re discreet.”
I snorted. “New Gothenburg might be a city, but when it comes to gossip, it’s just a little town. My name means something around here, and my family already hates me. I can’t have them disown me, too.” I trembled at the thought. “I’ve always been Maxwell Kalinski, but if they take that away from me, I’d be a nobody.”
“That’s not true,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against mine. “You will always be Max.”
“You don’t understand. You’ll never understand.”
“Boy….” His voice went deeper, and I straightened from the mere change of tone. His Daddy voice left no room to argue. “Come sit down. Come on.” He led me back to the couch and we both fell onto the soft cushions. Pulling me closer again, he curled his arms around me. “I need you to comprehend that your family doesn’t define you.That’swhy Jaxson was so angry at you when you were interns. You acted like you were someone important because of who you were related to, but that’s not how it should work in this world. You’re an intelligent man, Max. It was you who came up with the Home for the Heart campaign.Youare meant to work in city hall, not because of who your mother or father is, but because you know what the people want.”
“Oh.” I ducked my head, burying my face into his neck as embarrassment washed through me. I’d never received compliments before, not until I’d spent the first night here with JP.
“I won’t force you, but I’m asking you as your Daddy to consider seeing a psychologist. Think of your own health and well-being, okay?”
I nodded. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good. Now, I want you to choose a safeword. You know what they are used for?”
“It’s for when I’m uncomfortable with something we’re doing,” I whispered, kissing a sliver of his neck near my lips.
“Exactly. In any kind of Dom-and-sub relationship, there should be a safeword. Mine has always been ‘gothic.’ I want you to think about one—”
“Yellow poppies,” I blurted out.
He shifted me back, staring at me with a raised eyebrow. “You didn’t need to think about that for long.”
I chuckled. “I hate yellow poppies. They’re Mom’s favorite, but they make me sneeze. So my safeword is yellow poppies. I’d onlyeversay that as a safeword.” I shivered in disgust at the thought.
He laughed and his dark irises glowed with happiness. “Yellow poppies it is.”
“Can we have sex now?” I attempted to bury my face back into the groove of his neck, but he grabbed my arms to stop me from hiding away from his strong gaze.
“Soon.”
“We talked about limits and safewords. I really….” I rubbed my hand over my half-hard cock, flushing even hotter in my cheeks and down to my chest. “I really want to have sex. Or play. I liked you spanking me. Or maybe we could douche together again.” I should have been mortified at the idea, but instead warmth spread inside of me at the thought of how he’d taken care of me. He didn’t laugh at my offbeat tendencies but instead helped me feel like I was perfectly normal, making him the first person in my life to do that.
He grinned, sliding his hands lower until they were on my thighs. His thumb was so close to my cock, but when I attempted to shift so he’d touch me, he gripped me hard to make me stay still. “Not yet, boy.”
“Please, Daddy.” I lowered my voice and licked my parched lips. “I really want to….”
“What?” His eyes turned lustful and his fingernails dug into the material of my pants so deeply I felt them on the skin of my thighs. “What do you want?”
“Maybe we could flip-fuck?” I refused to look away, even as my cheeks felt like they were on fire. “That’s what they call it when we fuck each other, right?”
He didn’t chuckle like I’d expected. Instead, his mouth curled in delight and he shot his hand to the back of my neck, dragging me into a deep kiss. I groaned against him, rutting forward, but I wasn’t getting the friction I was searching for.
He tasted so good, like mint and the coffee he’d consumed before the conference took place. When he broke off the kiss, I whimpered, “Please, Daddy.”
“First I’m going to teach you a few things, boy. Go to my playroom. Now.”
I didn’t argue. Stumbling over my own feet in an attempt to stand, I raced up the stairs. I could have walked there with my eyes closed with how many times I’d imagined this moment.
I gasped when I opened the wooden door. JP had kept my organization exactly the way it was when I left. My chest squeezed and I felt something warm take over my body. Affection, probably, but I didn’t know exactly because I’d never felt this way about anyone.
