Page 3 of Daddy on Tap

That meant I wasn’t going to be able to use my bottle again without a decent scrubbing. In hindsight, I should’ve gotten up and at least rinsed it before I fell asleep. Chocolate milk was the worst, and I knew better. For now, I set it beside the sink, put my teddy in the drawer, and padded into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

There was a time when I would have been embarrassed by my unicorn pull-ups and I would have done everything I could to try to hide them. I didn’t bother anymore. Hotels were hotels, and the housekeepers saw much more unusual things than a random pull-up in the trash. I hadn’t even used it. It was more of a comfort item for me. And really, what was the worst they would think? That I was incontinent? Have at it. It wasn’t like I’d ever run into them again, and even if I did, there was zero shame in having a medical condition.

The shower felt great for about five minutes, and then the water pressure dropped. It wasn’t awful, but it took extra long to rinse off, and it wasn’t quite as hot as I liked.Please, don’t let this be a sign of what’s to come.I had to be on my A-game today. Big smiles, all professional, doing my thing. Being exhausted, grumpy, or whiny—none of that was gonna fly.

Before long, I was dressed and heading downstairs with enough time to stop at the coffee bar for a bagel and something that had extra shots of espresso because I was gonna need it in order to stay awake.

My phone buzzed in my pocket as I walked off the elevator. The app for the event sent a notification that the room for the opening talks had been switched.Great.

“Need any help?” The security guard at the kiosk probably sensed my confusion.

“Yeah, I’m looking for...” I turned the phone around to show him the location.

“Oh, that’s easy.” He gave me directions that included going past specific slot machines and gaming tables. I got lost early on but kept nodding my head as if I understood. I knew the general direction he indicated and crossed my fingers it was good enough to get me there.

The coffee place was out of bagels already, but I did manage to get my $18 cup of coffee. They really liked to take everything you had at these places, but it had extra shots, so I was optimistic it would be worth it.

I got lost more than once trying to find the new room, but eventually, I did. I even had a couple minutes to spare. I jogged inside and found a seat—one of the very few left—just as the doors were being closed.

Keynotes were always boring and didn’t really matter. Usually just a rah-rah session to start off the event. Instead of paying attention, I focused on my coffee as they introduced the first speaker. I wasn’t sure who he was or what he was doing when his voice first filled the room over the speakers.

“It is my honor to be here today...” Those words were the beginning of every speech ever given, but there was something different about this time. This time, they were silky, sexy, and pretty freakin’ Daddy. I looked up to see that the face speaking was just as Daddy.

Maybe work wasn’t going to be so bad.

Only three sentences in, I realized I was in the wrong room. This wasn’t work. This wasn’t even close to work. This was a meeting for men who lactated.

I’d heard of them, of course. It wasn’t an unusual condition. It wasn’t overly common, but it wasn’t ultra rare like one of those no-one-would-have-heard-of-it kind of conditions. It wasn’t a condition I’d ever really given much thought to.

Personally, I didn’t lactate, so why would I?

But the more he spoke, the more I realized that I really wanted to know about this. Like, did they lactate and then just sell their milk? I’d heard that was a thing. Bodybuilders talked about it on different news outlets to add some shock value when ratings were low. I assumed some of the guys just pumped and dumped, too. But did they sometimes have people drink their milk? Adults even? Adults like me, who were Little. Was that a thing? I hoped it was a thing. And if it wasn’t, could it be?

Not that I knew any men who lactated to dip my toes into this. Or maybe I did. It probably wasn’t exactly something they’d advertise. I leaned back in my chair and watched the Daddy up front as he went through his speech. My head filled with far more questions than he was answering, and my pants got a little too tight for a polite conference attendee.

Chapter 4

Adam

“And for so many, the contributions we…” I scanned the crowd, glancing in every direction to make sure the audience knew I was engaged with them. I cared about them. Was there for them. All of that was true until I caught the eye of a guy in the front and couldn’t look away. “Um, the contributions.”

He just stared up at me with his full attention and the biggest eyes I’d ever seen. Like he was hanging on my every word, even though mine suddenly were lost in my mind.

I cleared my throat and tried to focus on what I was being paid to do. “They make a difference in so many lives.” When I finally pulled my gaze away, the speech I’d given a hundred times came back to me. The words began to flow as I spoke on autopilot, pausing when I needed to pause, chuckling when it was right for the moment, and progressing through the few slides I was projecting on several screens behind me.

Although the words came easily, my eyes kept darting to that cute guy up front. I’d never seen him in any previous conferences, and the way he hung on my every word made mewonder if he was hearing some of this information for the first time.

That was an exciting thought. I loved sharing the joy and satisfaction that came with helping others learn about and teach lactation. Whether he was a lactator, a support consultant, or a client, I hoped he decided to stick around and ask any questions he had.

My favorite part of in-person events was meeting new people and shedding light on any of the fears or concerns they had been grappling with, especially if he was new to this world.

As my speech wrapped up, I went off-script and decided to speak to any of the newcomers personally. “With this journey comes a lot of challenges, but in almost every situation I’ve encountered, those challenges were worth the immense gratitude that our clients feel when we can help them fulfill the needs of their body. If you're brand-new to lactating or supporting others in their lactation journey, please feel free to stay behind and ask any questions you have. I’ve got this room for the next hour, so don’t be shy.” I looked right at the boy and smiled. “I love to meet new people, and I’m here to help.”

I ended the talk by inviting everybody to grab samples of some of the products I couldn’t live without from the back of the room. Then I stayed up front as most people filed out. A small group migrated toward the front of the room with questions and to share stories, but the guy in the front didn’t move. He stayed rooted in place, peeking up at me now and then, but pretending to be looking at his phone.

A man who was new to lactation had a million questions about being both a consultant and a wet nurse, so I spent several minutes pulling up resources for him and pointing him to TheLactin Brotherhood for some of the workshops they hosted, but my attention was shifting from curious to concerned when the guy in the front still hadn’t moved at all.

Once I cleared the room of everyone with questions, I grabbed a bottle of water from my bag and went to go check on the guy. “Hey there.” I kneeled down in front of him so I was closer to his eye level, not wanting to intimidate or frighten him. “Do you have any questions I can answer?”