Well, except for Edward.
“You definitely shouldn’t have,” he said. “I told you, you lookfine, and besides, Daddies like to spoil their Littles, so don’t steal their fun!”
“Ew,” I said, cringing at the thought. “Shopping isn’t fun.”
Besides, I’d never expect a Daddy to spoil me. That just seemed greedy and… and unnecessary. All I wanted was one who would hold me when it was dark out, like Edward had, and take charge of things the way Edward did.
Sam giggled. “Not as fun as that bouncy house is going to be!” he exclaimed happily. “Come on! You can’t worry about anything if we’replaying.”
I could. I really, really could.
Sam didn’t give me a chance to say so, though. Just grabbed my hand and dragged me toward what I assumed was the Cuffd group. There were so many. Way more than had been at The Plazerra. Everyone was mingling and laughing and giggling near a row of grills with delicious smells coming from them, even though we’d all just come from breakfast. And Sam was right, there was a big, brightly colored bouncy house, too.
My eyes widened as I watched excited Littles tumble around in it, and then my palms started to sweat, my hand almost slipping out of Sam’s grip.
“Um, I don’t think I’m dressed right to do that,” I whispered, which I knew sounded dumb but was all I could think of.
“Stop worrying so much about your clothes,” Sam said bossily, heading right for it no matter how much I tried to drag my feet.
I’d never been inside a bouncy house, and it looked really… bouncy.Toobouncy. The idea of trying to stay upright in it was already making me anxious, and even though the other Littles already squealing inside giggled like crazy when they fell over and bumped into each other, I… I didn’t think I’d like that.
“You don’t need new clothes, Rene,” Sam said, using his free hand to wave enthusiastically at a couple of Littles balancing paper plates piled with hot dogs and chips on their laps. “You just need a Daddy who will do all that for you. Do you see any you like?”
“A Daddy to do all what for me?” I asked, ignoring the second part of what he’d asked, because Daryl was already expecting me, so that didn’t matter.
Sam grinned. “Everything!” he said, throwing his hands up in the air. Then he stopped walking and patted my chest, plucking at my T-shirt. “But I think for sure you need the kind who wants to tell you what to wear and pick it out for you, so you don’t have to worry about that stuff anymore. And the kind who will help you get dressed, too.”
Sam’s cheerful, innocent-looking face turned wicked on the word “help,” letting me know he meant a lot more than just help put the clothes on.
I blushed hard, my mind instantly going back to the erection I’d had under the robe Edward had told me to wear this morning.
No, the one he’d picked out for me and dressed me in… but unfortunately, not the way Sam was implying.
“That… that would be nice,” I stammered, hoping my parts weren’t going to get too excited again from thinking about it.
“See?” Sam said, sounding triumphant… and thankfully not commenting when I shifted my hands in front of me to hide what thoughts of Edward were doing to me. “I’m right! That’s exactly the kind of Daddy you need!”
Daryl had never talked about doing stuff like that, even though some of the blogs did. But maybe that was just because Daryl only liked being a Daddy part time, for things like setting rules and doling out punishments and, well, and a lot of sex stuff.
I liked rules, though. I didn’t think I’d make a Daddy have to punish me very often. Or hopefully ever. And maybe—or at least hopefully—the sex stuff would work out, too, as long as there was a Daddy to be in charge of it.
Still, it was picturing things like what Sam had said that made me want a Daddy so much. And sure, deciding what to wear didn’t seem like it should be a big deal, but having one less decision to be responsible for each day—or just knowing I didn’t need to worry about whether I was dressed right at all, since Daddy had already decided—that would be…
Well, it would be perfect.
But then I realized that the reason it sounded so perfect was that I was still imaginingEdwardbeing the one to do all that for me, and my eyes started to sting.
Thankfully, the two Littles who’d given us a ride to the park came up and stole Sam’s attention for a moment, so he didn’t notice. I was pretty sure I’d hid it from him earlier, too, when I’d gotten a little down about the way Edward had left this morning. I’d lingered longer than I should have over the breakfast I’d lost my appetite for, hoping Edward would come back, at least to say a proper goodbye… but he hadn’t.
Should I have left him a note in the hotel room, since he’d never come back for me?
But no, that was dumb. It wouldn’t matter to Edward what I did this weekend. He hadn’t come to The Plazerra forme. I still wasn’t sure why he’d been nice enough to come down to breakfast with me since he wasn’t even supposed to be part of the Cuffd event in the first place, but since he obviously had plenty of actual work to do while he was here in Asheville, repaying all his kindness by getting too clingy was the last thing I should do.
“Oh my God, Rene.Stopalready,” Sam said as the other Littles ran ahead to the bouncy house, grabbing my hand again and dragging me after them.
“Stop what?” I asked, stumbling after him.
He rolled his eyes, but didn’t stop walking. “You’re thinking about Stockholm Daddy again, I can tell by the look on your face. But thankfully, since we escaped without him, you can pick a real Daddy to play with now.” He stopped so fast that I almost ran into him. Then he grinned again, bouncing on the balls of his feet, and pointed. “There! That looks like a good one! Look at his yummy beard! What do you think, Rene?”
