Page 106 of Plaything

That was the best news I’d heard all day. Granted, my day hadn’t quite begun yet. Nonetheless, it was still news that made me smile.

Sleep was coming easily to me these days. It was no longer a struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep—even without the magic of melatonin supplements. I wasn’t ignorant enough to ignore the only variable that had changed. It was because I wasn’t sleeping alone anymore. I was in one of their beds almost every night, and when I wasn’t, I had Cat. I hated to admit it, but I didn’t like sleeping alone—it was impossible.

Aiden pressed his lips to my forehead in a tender kiss before he knocked on Dominic’s door.

“I’m awake,” Dominic called from the other end. The exhaustion was evident in his rasped voice. Had he been up all night?

When Aiden pushed the door open, I saw Dominic sitting upright in his bed, with a laptop and hundreds of papers sprawled around him. Since living with them, I’d gained a new insight and respect for educators. Their students took up all their time, grading never ended, and they constantly checked emails.

“Special delivery,” Aiden muttered quietly as if trying not to disturb the comfortable silence in the room.

It may have been my drowsiness or the dim lighting, but I could have sworn Dominic began to smile. He collected some of the papers, clearing off a large section of the bed for me. He pulled the black silk comforter back, and Aiden placed me in bed with him. Soft footsteps and the closing door were his only farewells as he left.

To recover from my exposure to the cold outside world, I clung to Dominic’s side.

“Cold?” He whispered the question.

In response, I pressed my hands against his bare chest. “Put your laptop away and warm me up?” I insisted gently. It wasn’t my place, but I didn’t like that he hadn’t slept. No amount of coffee would replace sleep, although I was sure he would try. Hoping to steal more of his warmth, I wrapped my icy leg around his middle.

Surprisingly, he finished typing moments later and closed the laptop. He collected the paperwork into a neat pile and placed them on the bedside table. Shifting his body, he laid on his back and pulled me onto him.

“Come here, Darling,” he whispered. I was fully laying on his body, absorbing all of his heat. His hands traveled under my shirt, up my back, over my ass, and down my thighs before he repeated the pattern again. “Is this better?”

The touch reminded me of how I’d felt when he first held me. I loved it then, and I loved it now. I loved any touch, kiss, smile, or gesture they gave me. Something about someone as seemingly unaffectionate as Dominic holding me in such a tender manner made me swoon.

Relaxing, I practically sunk into him as my limbs became jelly. Cramps and lower back pain had been slowly killing me. His gentle makeshift massage did wonders to soothe my womanly aches. Pressing my lips against his bare chest, I kissed him before returning to my cheek. I hummed in an approving tone. “It’s like a lullaby.”

Selfishly, I didn’t want his pattern to stop. However, I cared more about the man’s lack of sleep than my affection deprivation. There was plenty of time to make up for my years without caring, purposeful touch. For now, I wanted him to rest. “When you close your eyes, what do you see?” I asked. Part of me wanted him to close his eyes, allowing exhaustion to hit him so he’d pass out. Another part of me was genuinely curious.

There was a long silence for a few minutes as his pattern continued. Unlike Aiden, Wyatt, and Niko, when Dominic spoke, his words were well thought out, and his intent was never lost. When there were gaps in our conversations, I used to get anxious, assuming he thought the topic was dumb or he wasn’t interested enough to have a conversation with me. Now, I knew that he just took a little longer to respond to any questions that had any depth, emotion, or personality to them. His walls were higher than mine, and I respected it.

“Mostly black,” he finally answered. “There’s a purple square from the light of my screen in the middle.” His hands moved over my back again, and I smiled. “Are you trying to manipulate me into sleeping, Baby?”

“That depends on if you fall asleep.”

“It’d be impossible not to sleep with the world’s best weighted blanket on me.” He hugged me tighter, stopping his pattern. “Sleep, Darling. I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”

Grinning, I cuddled further into him, trying to make myself seem heavier. “Goodnight, Daddy.”

The name that had been lingering on my mind for weeks. I didn’t have an explanation for my compulsion to call him that. It just felt right. Even now, after I mindlessly said the word, I didn’t feel embarrassed, ashamed, or flustered like I thought I would. At that moment, I understood what Reesia was talking about. Dominic (and all my professors, for that matter) made me feel everything synonymous with worthy, protected, and peaceful. Never in my life had I felt that way—as much as my inner feminist hated to give credit to men (of all creatures), it was because of them.

The mood in the room was calm, given my quiet outbursts of one-worded emotion. Dominic’s reaction matched mine. There was no pause in his hand movements; he didn’t hold me any tighter or looser than he had been, no dramatic gasp, and his breathing didn’t change. The only tell that the word had any effect on him whatsoever was his heartbeat. I would have never known if my ear wasn’t pressed against his chest. A slight change in rhythm gave me all the validation I needed that I hadn’t made a fool of myself (albeit I had already known).

“Are we done pretending you didn’t hear me now?” he asked. I could somehow hear the smile in his voice. Surprisingly, he actually sounded relieved that I called him Daddy.

“Mhm,” I hummed. “I just needed a couple of weeks to recover.” I hoped my truth would come off as a joke, but I doubt I had him fooled.

A sigh of contentment and exhaustion left his lips as he started drifting to sleep. I wasn’t far behind as I slipped into a dreamland of my own.

“Odette, wake up!” Dominic yelled.

I groggily snapped my eyes open, stopping the screams and unknown ramblings I was making. My heart was hammering, although I didn’t know why I was panicked.

“You’re okay, Honey,” Dominic hushed from behind me. Still snapping out of sleep, I took a few moments to take in the world around me. We were downstairs, in a room I’d only been in once, when Niko gave me a tour of the manor. It was used for storage and had miscellaneous furniture items everywhere.

His arms were tightly wrapped around me, his chin resting against my shoulder as he soothed me. “I’m sorry,” I apologized after taking several deep breaths.

“That’s alright, Honey. We know you’re only sleeping,” he said gruffly. His hold began tightening on me, and I started to feel suffocated.

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