Did she just say that? Did she want a toy wombat? She hadn’t been interested in soft toys since. . .since the accident. She’d grown up that day in more ways than one. She couldn’t even remember playing much since that day.
“Did he just?” Zeke rumbled with a frown. What was the matter with him?
“What’s wrong with that? You don’t like wombats?” She scowled up at him.
He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I like wombats, baby. I’m not sure I’ll find you any clothes with wombats on them, though. I was kind of hoping you’d say a cat or dog.” He winked at her.
“Oh.” She found herself blushing for some reason.
He moved to the side then pulled her chair forward through the doorway. He reached down and plucked her out of the chair.
“Hey! You could ask a girl first before you go around picking her up.”
“Then you might say no.”
“But I might say yes,” she countered.
“You would have said yes?”
“Well. . .no,” she said, remembering his no lying rule.
“Then I was right not to ask.”
She sighed. “You’re exasperating.”
He shrugged. “I like getting my own way. Not going to apologize for that.”
“Would you just pick me up like that if I wasn’t in a wheelchair?” It was important for her to know.
He stared down at her for a beat. Then his eyebrows came together. “I’m gonna treat you differently than any Little I’ve been with before.”
Her breath caught and she stiffened in his arms as he sat on the couch in her room. She had a small living area set up with a huge comfy couch in front of a fireplace she rarely used and a TV which was attached to the wall above the mantelpiece.
“Because you’re more important to me than any others Littles I’ve played with. Like I told you, all my experience has been with subs that I had no attachment to. I didn’t see them beyond our play together.”
“Oh.” Warmth filled her.
“So yeah, I’ll treat you differently because of that. And there will be some circumstances where I’ll deal with things differently, because I want you safe at all times. But picking you up like that? Nope, that’s something I would have done if you were in a wheelchair or not. I like carrying you around. It makes me feel close to you, like we’re connected. But if it’s something that makes you feel awkward, if you’d rather I ask you first. . .”
She shook her head. “No, I mean, for tonight it’s . . .it’s fine.” Damn, was that a lame statement or what? Truth was, she’d have fought back if she hadn’t wanted him to touch her. Under normal circumstances.
But these weren’t normal circumstances. At all.
Still, she thought she owed him more truth than that pathetic attempt. Be brave. She took a deep breath. “Truth is, I enjoy it too.”
He brushed his lips over her forehead. “I like having you close to me, baby girl. Daddy likes carrying you in his arms. You’re his little girl and little girls need their daddy to take command sometimes. When they get tired, or when they feel insecure, they need daddy’s arms around them, don’t they?”
“Yes,” she whispered, shocked to hear the slightly breathy note in her voice.
He stared down into her eyes as he held her sideways on his lap. “Ah, there she is.”
There who was? Before she could figure that out, he wrapped his arms around her securely and a happy sigh left her. That felt so good. She felt surrounded by him.
“There’s Daddy’s little girl,” he murmured to her. “She’s such a good little girl. But she’s shy, isn’t she? Maybe scared? She doesn’t need to be, though. Because Daddy is here and if Daddy is here then nothing will hurt her. Daddy will keep her safe, always. He’ll protect her body. And her feelings. And her heart.”
She could feel that very heart beating heavily in her chest.
Thump. Th-thump. Thump.