Page 124 of Daddy, Sir

You’re an asshole, I tell myself. The only reason I can’t picture Naomi at a BDSM club is because if she’s going to dabble in kink, it should be with me. No one else.

I shake my head, trying to knock some sense into myself. What the fuck is wrong with me? Naomi is off limits. She’sRicardo’s daughter, not some Little girl I can claim and mold as my own. Ricardo would have my head if he knew the kinds of things I lie awake thinking about Naomi.

Which is why I can’t go to Indiana to visit my best friend now or any time in the near future. I don’t think I’d have the willpower to keep away from Naomi, especially not if she’s decided to openly practice ageplay at home. My knees would buckle if I saw her like that.

Fuck me sideways. I’m stuck, and there’s not a thing I can do but lie to my best friend in the world. “Shit, man. That’s a lot to swallow.”

“You ain’t kidding. I haven’t slept well since she told me. She lives under my roof, but it’s not like I can tell her what she can and can’t do. She’s twenty-two years old. If she wants to explore ageplay, who am I to stop her? I don’t want to be some asshole father who forbids his kid from doing something. What would I say? ‘Do as I say, not as I do?’ And the worst part is I’m worried about her. There are so many fake Daddies out there. She’s such a kind soul. Someone could easily hurt her if they got their hands on her. Physically and emotionally.”

I grit my teeth. He’s right, but what the fuck am I supposed to do from Seattle? Nothing. There’s not a damn thing I can do. I absolutely can’t show up and pretend I don’t have feelings for her. I’m not capable of hiding that.

The woman visits my dreams most nights. I suspect, with this new information, my dreams are about to get a whole lot wilder. Now, I’ll be visualizing Naomi as a Little. The fodder has endless possibilities.

I squeeze my eyes closed and rub my temple. “Shit. I see your problem. I’d be concerned if I were you, too, man. All you can do is keep the lines of communication open. Make sure she understands the risks and support her.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s hard. I didn’t expect my parenting to be quite so difficult now that my kid is all grown-up. Suddenly, it’s worse than when she was a baby.” Ricardo blows out a breath.

I force myself to chuckle and keep it light. “I guess even adult kids are still kids to any parent. You’re a great father. I know you’ll make the right decisions. Trust yourself.”

“Thanks, man. Please try to come out soon. I miss you.”

“Miss you, too. I’ll see what I can do.” I end the call. My hands are shaking as I lower the phone. I stare blindly out the window. I think I did a pretty fucking good job of saying the right things to support Ricardo, considering how inappropriate my thoughts were the entire time.

Naomi… Little. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around, and yet my cock is harder than ever. I’ll forever be visualizing her in a new light now, and it really sucks that I can’t possibly visit my friend.

Chapter One

One year later…

Dagger

I’m standing in the airport just outside the terminal, waiting for Naomi. She’ll come around the corner at any moment, and I’ve never been more nervous.

The last month has been one of the most stressful of my life. I still can’t believe my best friend is gone. It’s unimaginable. And I hate myself for not being there for him. I didn’t visit Ricardo for three years because I couldn’t find the will to tamp down my feelings for his daughter and fucking visit.

I’m an asshole, and now one motorcycle on one slick road on a rainy day has taken Ricardo from us, leaving Naomi alone in the world.

Twenty-four years ago, when Ricardo and I were young and stupid twenty-one-year-olds on leave from the Army, he got his girlfriend pregnant. Unfortunately, Lena wasn’t interested in keeping the baby. But Ricardo couldn’t stand the idea of Naomi being put up for adoption, so he became Naomi’s only parent on the day she was born. Lena left town and never looked back.

Ricardo really stepped up to the plate for his daughter. He moved in with his parents, who took care of Naomi every time he was deployed. Unfortunately, both of them passed away only a few months apart when Naomi was seventeen. That was when Ricardo retired from the Army and moved back to their small farm in Indiana for good.

And now he’s gone, too. I can’t wrap my head around it. When Naomi called me sobbing, it took me a long time to figure out what she was saying. My heart broke that day. I’m not sure it will ever be fully whole again. I’m a dick of a friend.

I offered to fly out to Indiana immediately, but Naomi insisted she didn’t want me to come. She said she wanted to be alone and sort through her feelings. What she did was sell the farm.

I’m not surprised. It was filled with memories of the people she loved, and now they’re all gone. She went to college to get an English degree. As far as I know, she’s been writing a book for the past year. She never had any interest in farming. When she called me last week and told me she was ready to see me, I was both elated and concerned.

This woman has no idea that I started lusting after her three years ago and never stopped. She also has no idea I was secretly relieved that she didn’t want me to come to Indiana. She had no interest in having a formal funeral, and she had her father cremated and buried near his parents.

Now she’s about to step into my line of sight, and I have no fucking clue what to do about my damn attraction to her.

Yes, her father named me as her guardian and the executor of his will in the event anything ever happened to him, but that was twenty-three years ago. She’s a grown adult. She doesn’t need a guardian, nor does she need an executor.

I’m not positive either of those things is exactly true, though. Naomi sounded fairly put together the first few times I talked toher. She was all business, taking care of every detail. But now that her father’s ashes are buried and the farm is sold, it’s like she’s run out of strength and has been falling apart.

Every time I’ve spoken to her for the last week, she’s sounded distraught and lost. It was her idea to come here, and there was no way in hell I could tell her no.

I have no idea how we’re going to navigate this world together, but we are. I’ve spent the last week deep-cleaning my bachelor pad and fixing up the guest room for her. It was a boring room with white walls and a queen bed. I had all of that hauled away, painted the four walls of the room soft pastel colors—pink, blue, yellow, and green—and replaced the furniture with a white bedframe, dresser, and desk. I added pastel pillows and rugs.

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