Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58977 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58977 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Okay, so he did know what I wanted.
This kept getting weirder and weirder.
“Good.” Now what? Oh, he’d asked if I wanted to sit down. “Yes, I’d like to sit down and get to know you.”
It couldn’t hurt, right?
He seemed nice and they were all super rule followers. He understood I was a little and I’d made sure he knew I wasn’t straight. Oh, did he know what that meant? He’d said he’d be a Daddy in a relationship with a little. Had he actually said he liked men?
I was starting to wish my notecard's worth of information had been a bit bigger.
One tentacle loosely looped around my back to lead me over to the sitting area, but he was careful to keep his touch light. It was all very old-school polite and kind of cute. He even studied me carefully as I sat down on the beanbag like he was making sure I couldn’t hurt myself.
Very gentlemanly.
However, watching him curl his tentacles around the base of his torso as he lowered himself to the floor made it clear he wasn’t human, not that I was sure it mattered in this case. But that would probably depend on what he wanted from me.
“Does the arrangement of my body bother you?” Before I could answer, he kept going. “Human reactions to our physiology have been…curious.”
Oh, I bet they had been.
“We’re weird and rude sometimes. Sorry.” It took my brain a second to jump back to the original question. “No, your tentacles don’t bother me. Was that the question?”
He was so distracting it was hard to keep track of what he’d asked.
“Yes, that was the question I felt was of the utmost importance to clarify first.” He lifted a smaller one and held it out toward me with what I thought was a touch it gesture. “Have you interacted socially with a member of my species before?”
It seemed to be a have you dated someone like me kind of question, so I shook my head. “No, I own a small craft store down the block. You guys aren’t big on crafting, so it’s mostly just been saying hi in places like the grocery store.”
One of my neighbors around the block might’ve been his species, but the guy seemed to work crazy hours or only came around once in a while because I hadn’t seen him more than a few times.
“Humans have fascinating hobbies.” That seemed to be some kind of approval and I found myself smiling as he inched his limb closer. “Making sure you don’t find my touch…troubling will be the next step in discovering compatibility. Please do not worry, I am not slimy.”
Something about the way he said it made it clear there was a story behind it.
“You look soft, not slimy.” I wasn’t sure I should be randomly touching him.
That was…rude, maybe?
Weird, definitely.
It wasn’t the tentacles, though. I wasn’t sure I would’ve been stroking a human Daddy’s hand the first time he introduced himself either. But he did look soft. And he wanted to make sure I didn’t find him slimy or yucky.
Before I could decide what to do, because this had never happened to me before, he smiled and changed tactics. He was silly. He reached out and grabbed a big stuffed octopus off the shelf. “This looks very soft as well.”
He wasn’t sneaky at all, but I found myself reaching out and taking the toy from his limb. Accidentally touching him as I took the toy, my fingers caressed over the tip. Oops. But I wasn’t testing him out like he was some sort of sea monster. It was an accident.
And I’d accidentally found out he really was soft.
“Amy has lots of toys all over. I like coming in here on my lunch break sometimes.” It was fun and she was nice. She’d been nice even before she’d figured out I was little too. “I have crayons and stuff like that, but not toys.”
I’d end up getting too distracted.
“Do you enjoy coloring, little human?” His question had me wondering if he thought I was short or if it was because I technically was a human who was a little.
“Yes.” The way he was giving me his undivided attention made telling him more about what I liked easier. “I have the special grown-up coloring books at work and I use the fancy colored pencils to help people see how much fun it is. But at home, I have fun ones.”
Holding out my shirt with my free hand and tucking the octopus against my side, I smiled. “Like He-Man.”
My new friend was nodding and looking very serious as he studied my shirt. “The character on your clothing looks as if it would be very fun to apply color to.”
He was so cute.
“Thank you.” Was that the right response? I wasn’t sure, but it made him smile again, so I didn’t worry about it. “What do you do?”