“I’ll walk you in,” he said, when I went to say goodbye.
“Are you sure you want to leave a car this nice here?” I wasn’t in the worst neighborhood, but it wasn’t close to being the best, either.
“I’m sure. I’d rather leave it here than have you walking alone.”
I didn’t remind him that I walked alone here all the time. In my experience, when daddies were worried about safety, you did not bring up the fact that you were consistently doing the thing that made them worry.
“This is me,” I said, pointing to the building. “Technically, there’s an elevator, but it’s never worked since I’ve been here. Hope you want your exercise.”
“I do,” he said, tapping my nose, “but I suppose stairs will do too.”
We walked up, up, up, up, up, until we finally reached my floor. As we got to my door, I already knew he wasn’t impressed with the place that I called home. But that wasn’t going to stop me from what I wanted, which was to get Daddy inside my apartment.
“This is me,” I said, placing my hand on the door. “Do you want to come in for a minute?”
“I’d love that.”
Yes!
Chapter Ten
Memphis
As soon as I stepped inside the apartment, my suspicions were confirmed. Not that I’d had a lot of doubts about him being little. Hal and Ernie both knowing him made that pretty clear as did some things he’d said on our dates. And his knowing I was friends with Jovan and August pretty well pinned me as a daddy. But we hadn’t discussed those things yet. We were still getting to know one another’s big sides.
The building had seen better days, but knowing his position in the gig economy and his insistence we not go anywhere fancy had made his financial status clear already. It was a crime that some people had to do so many jobs just to make ends meet. All that work, and he lived in a building with peeling paint and a staircase of questionable solidity. The railing wobbled when I dared put my hand on it, climbing up.
But once inside, I could see the effort he’d put into making this small apartment a home. Somehow I doubted the landlord had painted the walls the nice soft gray with white trim. And he had a rug in the living room that covered a good part of the ancient carpeting. And that rug was printed with all sorts of adorable cartoon cats. The shower curtain I saw when I went in to use the restroom continued the cat theme, although this was more of the Cheshire variety. And hanging in the open door of his hall closet was a backpack that had little written all over it. I’d never seen him at Chained, I was certain. I’d have remembered. But I only managed one night a week, two if I was lucky, so for all I knew, he was there all the rest. Or in the little room when I was conversating with the other daddies on the couches.
Returning to the living room, I found Ridge waiting in the kitchenette. “Can I get you anything?” he asked. “I have, ummm, water and milk.”
“Water would be nice.”
“Then would you like to have a seat?” He came out from behind the counter carrying two bottles of generic water. “I don’t like to drink the tap here. Sometimes it’s a little cloudy.”
Oh, wasn’t that great? I wanted to rescue him, take him back to my place immediately. “Well the bottles are great.”
Handing me one, he sat down on the sofa next to me. “Thanks again for such a nice evening. I had a good time.”
“I did, too. And thank you for inviting me in. I wasn’t ready for it to end.” I leaned back, crossing my ankle over my knee. “Very comfortable couch.”
“That’s because I’m sitting on the sprung spring.” He shrugged. “I got it for free from a friend who was done with it. But most of it is comfortable.”
“Why don’t you scoot over a bit and get off the spring?” I suggested, not sure if it was a funny thing to say or if I really did need to kidnap him to my nice safe apartment.
“Okay.” For some reason, I expected him to move away from me, but instead, he scooted directly to my side, face tipped up toward mine. “That’s better.”
“Yes, it is.” I lifted a hand and stroked his cheek. “So much better.” And his lips, slightly parted, offered a temptation I didn’t care to resist. “Is this all right?” I kissed him lightly.
“Mm-hmm.”
“And this?” Cupping his chin, I kissed him more deeply, inhaling his scent of soap and woodsy aftershave. Most of the littles I knew wore sweeter, younger scents, but I liked that Ridge, when he was big, was all man.
Kisses moved on to touching, and clothing fell away, but when I laid him back, he winced. “The spring?”
“It’s not too bad.”
“Is there anywhere else we can continue this?” I eased him back to sitting up. “Somewhere more comfortable?” Brushing his lips with mine, I whispered, “If you’d like me to stay, that is.”
