Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 166103 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 831(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 166103 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 831(@200wpm)___ 664(@250wpm)___ 554(@300wpm)
“I don’t think we will.”
“But I just have a small stomach,” she protested.
“Take a proper bite, Freckles,” Beck warned.
Fine. She took a bigger bite.
“That’s a good girl. You did so well. Didn’t she, Judd?” Beck asked.
“She certainly did.” Judd gave her an approving look that had happiness filling her.
Did she like making them happy?
It seemed so.
Her Little side was rising fast to the surface. And for once, she didn’t try to push her back, to hide her.
Owen tickled her under the chin.
She started giggling, turning her head away. “Daddy Owen! That tickles!”
Beck tensed underneath her while Judd stared at her intently.
Whoops.
She turned to Owen, feeling stricken. “I’m sorry.”
“Why would you be sorry?”
“Was I . . . was I not supposed to call you that in front of other people?”
“Course you can,” Owen said. “Call me that all the time. I don’t give a fuck. New rule. Only call me that.”
“What?” she squeaked. He was insane.
“Whoa. Not a rule,” Beck said, holding his hands up.
“Why not? She’s my Little. I can make rules as her Daddy.”
“You never had a Dom/sub relationship with Ester,” Judd said.
“I was never anything with Ester. I didn’t like her. I only tolerated her.”
Ester? That must have been their ex.
“I’ve never felt anything for any woman. Just you, my baby girl.”
Her breath caught in her throat. Was he for real right now? What happened when she had to leave? Why had she agreed to this?
Because you’re weak.
“Okay, let’s rewind a bit,” Beck said. He turned her so he could place his finger under her chin, tilting her face back.
Carefully, he extracted her lip from her teeth. “Stop worrying. This is meant to be fun. It’s not meant to stress you out. And if you want to call Owen Daddy, then there is nothing wrong with that. Obviously, he prefers it. However, it isn’t going to be a rule that you have to call him that all the time.”
Owen huffed. “Don’t see why not.”
Judd was staring at her strangely. “When I first met you, I didn’t even see a glimpse of you being a Little. You hid it well.”
She thought there was a question in there, but it wasn’t one she was going to answer. Not now.
Maybe not ever.
“It’s a privilege to meet your Little,” Judd said gruffly. “That you feel safe enough with us to let us see her . . . that’s something we shouldn’t take lightly.”
That wasn’t something she’d expected Judd to say, and she couldn’t help but blush. “Thank you.”
“No, little one. Thank you. Right, now where is the grape this time?”
After playing the game ten times, she’d only managed to guess where the grape was once, and she was well and truly full.
“No more,” she complained, patting her tummy. “I’ll get a sore tummy if I have to eat any more.”
“It wasn’t very much,” Judd said with a frown.
“She can eat some more later,” Beck said.
She wiggled in his lap, and he grunted. She froze. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”
“In the best way possible, I’m guessing,” Judd muttered as he packed up the food and put it away. “Lucky bastard.”
Was he saying what she thought he was? She could feel herself growing red.
“I am feeling very lucky,” Beck murmured in her ear.
She shivered.
Holy. Heck.
She climbed off his lap, hoping that she didn’t insult him. But when she glanced back, he was just staring at her in hunger.
“Come on, let’s go wash our hands.” Beck stood and brushed off his shorts, then he held his hand out to her.
“Uh, okay.” She gave him a shy look, but let him pull her up. He tugged a bit too hard, and she fell into him.
“Sorry,” she said.
“I’m not,” he told her, helping to right her. He kept hold of her hand as he led her slowly down to the water.
She paused at the edge as the water lapped at her feet.
“Come on, Freckles.”
“Oh. Okay.” She took a few steps in before pausing again. “I’ll just wash them here.”
He eyed her. “Not fond of the water?”
“I love the beach. I love looking at the water. It makes it seem like all your problems are so small, you know? But no, I’m not a great swimmer. I can doggy paddle, but that’s about it.”
“You weren’t taught to swim as a child?” Beck asked. “Didn’t you grow up in Florida? Surrounded by water?”
“Ah, yeah, I did.” Had she told one of them that?
“We run background checks on everyone who visits the palace,” he explained.
“Oh, right.” She wondered what else was on there.
“Hey, there wasn’t much on yours. You okay?” He eyed her strangely.
He was probably wondering why she was freaking out. But of course all the bad bits weren’t on there. Because there had never been any authorities involved.
“Um, there wasn’t any money to spare for swimming lessons and while we did some swimming at school, it didn’t teach much more than how to float or doggy paddle.”