Page 112 of Guardian Daddy

“My vocabulary is extensive, thank you very much.”

“Does it have the words, ‘yes, Sir’ in it?” he asked.

She sucked in a breath. “You want me to call you Sir?”

“Only if you want that too. Or you can call me Ethan. I also accept Daddy, but I don’t think you’re quite there yet.”

No, she wasn’t.

“Everything is negotiable, baby. Except health, safety, fidelity, and honesty. Those things I can’t budge on. But you can tell me where the limits are. All right?”

“All right.” The truth was, she was starting to feel overwhelmed.

Perhaps what she really needed was some time on her own to sort through all of this. But the thought of being alone had panic filling her.

“Talk to me. What’s going on in that smart head of yours?”

Should she tell him?

He said he wanted honesty and she had to believe that he was telling her the truth.

“I’m feeling overwhelmed. I have to be careful, I can get overstimulated easily.”

“Then we need to calm things down,” he said immediately. “We can revisit all of this later. A lot has happened today and I’m putting even more on you. Would you like me to leave you alone?”

“No!” She wrapped herself around him as best she could.

“Hey, it’s all right. If you want me to stay, I’m here. Truth is, I’d have tried, but I don’t think I would have been able to leave you. I told you I need to take care of you. But tell me what you need.”

Her breathing was slightly erratic.

“Or do you not want to tell me? Do you want me to give you what I think you need?”

Is that what she desired? In her books, when one character surrendered control it was a freeing experience. They could just be, rather than thinking and overthinking. Sometimes, she got so tired trying to read people and situations. Worrying all the time.

“Yes, I want that.”

“Good girl for telling me what you need. I’m so proud of you.”

It was silly to feel so happy about that. It wasn’t like she’d done anything amazing. But her body filled with warmth.

“Now, while I’m I charge, I need you to promise to use your safeword if you have to.”

She stiffened.

“We talked about it before and you weren’t sure if you would remember when you’d regressed. But this is different. And if you don’t promise to use it if you need to, I’ll worry that I’m pushing too far.”

“All right. I will use red if I need to.”

“Good girl. Is there anything that’s a hard limit? We’re not playing tonight. I won’t be pushing you. But I still have to know if something will trigger you. All right?”

“Being called a brat.”

“I will never do that.”

“Being told I’m useless, an idiot, a weirdo.”

“Whoa. No. Nope. That will never happen. No name-calling. No degradation or humiliation, I’m guessing?”

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