“Mac, is this a bad time?” Marco asked.

“No, it’s perfectly fine. What can I help you with?”

Marco looked down at Rainey as she slept peacefully. He wondered how long she had been worrying about this. How had he not noticed she was worried about it?

“Marco?”

“Sorry. I’ve got a couple of questions.”

“Shoot.”

“How have you dealt with Janie being a Little and having Eleanor?”

“It’s been harder as Eleanor has gotten older, but we make it work. We have date nights twice a week. One day is for us to be grown-ups and the other is for her to be Little. We can sprinkle it in throughout the week but if we can’t, those two days are reserved. And it doesn’t have to be one grown-up and one Little time. Sometimes it’s just Little time if the week has been stressful.”

“And how do you guys schedule it throughout the week when Eleanor is there?”

“Simple things. They both like to color, play with dolls, be fed by Daddy. Once Eleanor gets a little older it will be harder when she doesn’t want to do those things anymore. But I think if we keep them up, it’ll be just fine, and she’ll think it’s normal. But it’s going to change again.”

“How?”

“Eleanor will be going to preschool in the mornings and then daycare in the afternoons. Janie will then be able to have more Little time during the day. It’s always going to be morphing. You just have to figure it out as you go. But we’re here if you need it.”

“Thanks.”

“Once Janie has the baby, I’ll be giving her Little time while I watch over the baby and her. It won’t be exactly the same since my attention will be divided, but it’s going to work out. We also may have other people come over to watch overthe baby and Eleanor so Janie can be Little. I think we’ve talked, or at least the girls have, about doing the same for you and Rainey.”

“They have. I’ve told Rainey that, but—” he took a deep breath as Rainey started to suck on him—“But she is still worried about it. Broke down in front of me.”

“Just reassure her. You know what to do. And if she wants to talk to Janie and me, we can. Janie actually mentioned talking to her about things so she doesn’t feel alone. It must be hard being a new mom and also a Little.”

“I bet Rainey will love that. I’ll mention it to her when she wakes up in a bit.”

“Bring her to the club. The girls will be here for another several hours.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.”

“And don’t hesitate to call. If we don’t pick up, we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

“Thanks. We’ll see you in a while.”

Marco hung up the phone and clenched his jaw. Rainey was starting to wake up, and she was sucking more consistently. How was he going to last? He didn’t want to shoot his load into her mouth while she was asleep.

He ran his hands through her hair as she continued to wake up slowly.

“Such a good girl,” he whispered. “My good girl.”

Marco was trying to think about things to help him get back from the edge. Right now wasn’t the time to come. He thought about dead animals, but it didn’t do anything.

“Rainey,” he gently cooed at her. “Wakey, wakey.”

Part of him felt wrong for wanting to wake her up, but he wasn’t going to last long. He didn’t know how much time had passed since she started, but he knew it had been a while. This was testing his control, all the control he had.

Her suckling got faster and more forceful as her eyes blinked open.

“Baby, I’m going to need you to stop unless you want me to come in your mouth.”

He clenched his jaw and took several deep breaths in through his nose. His control was slowly slipping.