Page 2 of Trained By His Little

“Yeah.” He immediately dragged me over to the race track he had set up in the middle of the family room. “Play cars, Uncle Tad.”

“Okay, let’s see who’s got the fastest car.”

“Me. Me. Me.”

Bruce patted my shoulder and gestured toward the table. “When you get hungry, the pizza is hot and the beer is cold.”

“Yucky pizza.” Joey pouts and gives his Daddy a cranky look as he holds out four cast-iron cars for me to select one.

I grabbed a red Corvette and raised my eyebrow at Joey. “It’s yucky?”

“It’s healthy.” Bruce chuckled beside me. “To him, they’re one and the same.” Then he looked at me. “You and I get meat lovers.”

“I like meat.” Joey stomped his foot in the most adorably bratty way.

“Veggies first, and then, if you’re still hungry, you can have some meat lovers… But don’t forget that Uncle Tad brought pie.”

As if he didn’t notice it when I walked in, his gaze locked on the pink box that was now on the table. “Pie first.”

I had to laugh as Bruce gave him a stern look. Maybe my boy wouldn’t be quite so much of a brat as Joey. Then again, he was so adorable that I guess it wouldn’t be so bad to have a bratty Little now and then. As long as he was up for cuddles and plenty of playtime. “All right, kiddo. Let’s see if I can win on this track of yours. It looks kinda slow.”

“Not slow, Uncle Tad. Fast, fast, fast!”

2

OLIVER

“Sorry, Josh, I'm not sure what went wrong. I always move receipts to the shared folder as soon as I receive them.” My reply was calm as I desperately tried to mask the irritation in my voice from the throbbing headache I had. “So if they aren’t there, I never received them.”

We had been going at it for over an hour. I didn't understand why he was so insistent that I was the reason behind the missing receipts. After working for him for almost a year, helping him keep his records neatly organized and easy to find, he was being unreasonable. I just wanted to be done so I could watch my favorite movie Stitch while I colored my pretty pictures.

“You must have forgotten this time because I know I emailed them to you last week.”

“If they were in my email, I’d be able to find them. Can you check your drafts folder to see if maybe they’re still in there?” My arm jerked up, but I placed my hand in my lap to make sure my thumb didn’t creep up toward my mouth. It wasn’t easy fighting the urge to suck. My oral fixation had always been quick to surface when I was tired or stressed.

Josh huffed, seemingly annoyed but trying to keep his cool. “I'll double-check, but I would never make such a simple—” His words were choked off as he groaned, and his face turned bright red. “Oh.” He smiled nervously. “I'm sorry, Oliver. I found them. You were right. I must have gotten distracted and never hit send.”

I wiggled in my chair, my muscles aching after sitting in my desk chair for so long. I heard my laptop ping, indicating new files had been added to our shared folder. Forcing a big smile, I nodded, hoping to hide how tired I was as pain radiated through my skull. “It's okay, Josh. I'm glad you found them. Is there anything else we need to discuss today?”

“No.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry again for the mixup. I’ll see you at our next meeting. Have a good night, Oliver.”

My leg started bouncing in anticipation of letting go of my adult thoughts and just being Little for the evening. “Bye, Josh. I'll see you next week.”

When we disconnected from the video call, I shut my laptop harder than was necessary.

“Ugh, finally!” My thumb quickly found its way to my mouth, and the first few comforting sucks had my body melting into my desk chair as I contemplated what to order for my movie night.

I didn't make a habit of ordering in food, but I was already running behind from my meeting with Josh, and Little Ollie was eager to come out and play.

After some thought, I pulled out my phone to order chicken tenders and mac and cheese. But right as I placed the order, I heard a knock at the door.

I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I stood up on my tippy toes to check the peephole before opening the door. “Yay! Just in time.”

Collin was standing at the door to deliver this week's milk supply. “Hey, Oliver. Sorry, I'm a little later than usual. I hit some bad traffic on the way over.”

I rocked back and forth on my heels with a big smile on my face. Seeing Collin always got me excited because it meant I had more yummy milk to drink before bed.

“It's okay, Collin. I'm glad you made it here safely.” My voice came out higher than usual. Just the thought of fresh, warm milk had my Little barreling toward the surface.

---