Page 49 of Daddy P.I. 3.0

“Why doesshe keep staring at me?” Cappa asks me.

I glance over at Livvy, who is sitting in a rocking seat on the counter as Cappa and I cook. She’s well back from the potential splash-zone in the semi-reclined seat, probably two feet from Cappa. She is staring at him with those cloudy-blue eyes very fixedly.

“You’re just so handsome she can’t take her eyes off you,” I tease.

That’s probably not the reason. He’s standing just on the edge of her range of vision as he slices carrots for crudités and she’s trying to bring him into focus. He also keeps swaying from foot to foot. That could be because of the music Daddy’s got on, which is pretty good Eighties dance music, I’ll admit. Or it could be because of the butt-plug Daddy put in him, evidently on Mr. De Leon’s order, before we started cooking, which I swear was bigger than my fist.Myeyes started watering when Daddy produced that thing and ordered Cappa into the bathroom.

To my surprise, Cappa’s cheeks flush pink from that little bit of teasing.

“Shut up,” he mutters.

“Pretty, pretty boy,” Bren teases, walking past us to get beers for everyone. Daddy, Mac, Warrin, Javier, Faolan, Jack, and Bravo are all in the great room, watching college football, while Max supervises the extremely competitive Chutes and Ladders game that’s being played at the dining room table.

Cappa turns bright red. I don’t understand why. Heisa pretty boy. Handsome. Almost beautiful with his deep-set, sexy-sleepy eyes. Maybe it’s a masculinity thing. Or maybe it’s because he switches, although I can’t see him trying to top Mr. De Leon. That man screams dominant from a distance.

“Bitchy, bitchy girl,” he mocks her back.

Bren tosses her dreadlocks. “That’s Queen Bitch to you, pretty boy.”

Cappa snarls at her back as she walks back into the great room with her double-handful of beers.

“There’s nothing wrong with being pretty,” I say softly to Cappa.

He sighs. “I know. I just don’t want it to beallI am. Playing with De Leon’s made me realize that some of the Blunts Doms think I’m shallow.”

I put down my knife and turn to look him in the eye. “No one who has spent more than five minutes with you would think you’re shallow. And if anyone who has known you as long as they have thinks that, that’s on them, not on you.”

Cappa lowers his beautiful eyes to the carrots on the chopping board. “It’s on me if that’s all I’ve let them see.”

“Why would you hide what you are?”

He chews on his lower lip. “Because what I am is pathetic.”

I take his knife and put it down on the counter before I hug him. “If what you are is pathetic then everyone in this room is pathetic. We all need to give up control. We all wantpunishment to enforce arbitrary boundaries. We’ll be the Pathos Crew together.”

Cappa chuckles weakly. “You’re not pathetic. You’re great. Logan’s crazy about you.”

“You’re great, too.” I hold him at arm’s length. “Daddy’s taught me I’m the only one who gets to decide my own worth.”

“That’s right,” Daddy says, walking around the counter and putting his arms around Cappa from behind. OMG, Batman Daddy hearing. “Your partner’s investment doesn’t determine who you are inside. You are the only person who determines your own value, Cap.”

Usually when Daddy touches Cappa, Cappa melts. Not today. He holds himself apart. Not rigidly. Not rejecting Daddy’s touch. But not seeking it, either. That’s new.

“Have you seen me as weak?” Cappa asks Daddy.

“Submissives are the strongest people I know,” Master Mac says, leaning into the conversation from the other side of the counter. I hope he followed Daddy into the kitchen and doesn’t share Daddy’s ridiculous radar, otherwise Bren is screwed. “And I’ve known some hard-cases.”

Cappa nods but he doesn’t look at either Dom.

Daddy releases Cappa with a squeeze of his shoulder. He tips his head at Mac and they meander back toward the couches in front of the television.

Once the Doms are gone, I pick up my knife and get going on my peppers again. “What about playing with Mr. De Leon makes you feel pathetic?” I ask.

“No, it’s the other way around,” Cappa says. “I feelseenwith him. Like he’s trying to worm inside my brain and pick it apart. Really break me down so he understands how deep my submission goes. I don’t think ... well, IknowI haven’t been tested like that, not in a long time. Maybe the Blunts Domsare just too comfortable with me? What’s the saying, familiarity breeds contempt?”

That is the saying. Not a very nice one.

Since Cappa seems to be giving me his truths, I give him one of mine. “When Daddy’s ex was here over the summer, she warned me that Daddy would get bored with me. That he needs constant stimulation—newness—to keep him engaged. Because my ex-husband cheated on me, that’s something I’ve feared. I wasn’t enough to keep Ash faithful, so why would I think I could hold the attention of someone as awesome as Daddy?” I swallow. Admitting this stuff is hard. “But after she left and I thought about it more, I realized that I can’t control what my partners do. Ash straying washisdecision. If he’d been honest with me and talked about the reasons he felt tempted and if my behavior was feeding into that, maybe we could have fixed things. But he didn’t. That’s on him. I am worth more than a partner who isn’t honest, who doesn’t talk to me about their feelings. Daddy’s always honest with me and I’m always honest with him. That’s why we’ll go the distance and she’s wrong about us.”

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