Learning to Trust - M.A. Innes Page 0,53

was just kind of closed off before he met Destin.”

“How does he interact with you?” There was no judgment in Dr. Sheppard’s voice, but the question still made me squirm.

“He really pays attention to me and I don’t think he realizes it, but even before we talked about him being my Daddy, he was always really focused on me. It’s nice.” That seemed selfish, so I continued. “But I think he likes having someone to take care of. It’s his way of making a family, I think.”

“I can understand that, but I want you to focus only on your needs for the moment. Are they being met? I know his rules and the way he watches out for you make you feel safe, but that’s not all there is to a relationship.” He was back to giving me his look that always made me confess everything in my head.

But I wasn’t sure what he was talking about this time.

“I like feeling safe with him and I’m getting my work done a lot faster because he won’t let me play with my toys if I’m behind.” I had to smile when Dr. Sheppard chuckled. “But I don’t know what else you mean. He’s just really sweet to me and I like being around him. I trust him.”

Dr. Sheppard was still smiling, but I could see he was thinking about something. “What do you do together when he’s not in his Daddy role?”

“Um…” I could feel my stress levels going up, so I tried to relax.

It didn’t help.

“He’s Daddy a lot of the time. Even when I’m not little he’s still in that Daddy Dom-type role. He doesn’t realize he’s doing it and I haven’t really pointed it out, but I like it and I don’t want that to change.” Having him be less Daddy would change who he was.

Nodding, he shifted in his chair, relaxing. “I have a very similar Dom. Not everyone understands the pull to have that strong presence around all the time, but you’ll find a lot of people do. But do you have any time like on dates or during more intimate times where you’re on a more equal footing?”

“I’m not sure we’re dating, actually.” One eyebrow went up on the doctor’s face and I found myself squirming in the chair. “He hasn’t had very good luck with conventional dating and isn’t that interested in sex, so he’s my Dom and Daddy, but we haven’t defined our relationship outside of that. Well, we did agree not to date anyone else so maybe that means he thinks we’re dating, but it doesn’t feel like that.”

I could see that Dr. Sheppard was starting to get it, but I had a feeling Destin had been oversharing again because my explanation had been a rambling mess.

“A relationship doesn’t have to include sex to be intimate and fulfilling to both parties.” He was still relaxed, but I could almost hear the unsaid “but” that was silently hanging out there.

“But?” I smiled when he chuckled.

“What do you think I was going to say?”

I liked the way he didn’t pretend I was imagining it, but I had to think about what would have concerned him. “But you think we should talk about it and make sure we’re both on the same page?”

I sighed when he nodded. “Yes, I think that would be something that was important. How do you see your relationship?”

Taking a moment to really think about that, I finally started rambling. “When I think about our relationship, it feels like he’s not only my Daddy but he’s my Dom, and we’re in those roles most of the time. So that kind of blankets over the rest for me. I see us as in a committed relationship like someone who’s regular dating, but just more, because we live together.”

When I finally paused, Dr. Sheppard spoke. “Have you asked Leon how he sees your relationship?”

“No, but he brought up the topic of me not dating anyone else…so to me that meant he saw himself in that role. But we didn’t really spell all of it out. I thought about it, but it’s been almost two weeks since he realized he was my Daddy and we talked about that kind of stuff. We do lots together and he watches over me and I make sure he has time to relax. We cuddle together when we watch TV and he’s starting to be more comfortable initiating those kinds of casual touches.” The more I rambled, the