Page 93 of Tempted By her Daddies

“I guess I could try it and see if ILI,” she said shyly. “I do enjoy you reading to me about it.”

“ILI?” Alexei asked.

“See if I Like It,” she explained.

Roman nodded. “We’ve read lots about adult baby girls who like to be swaddled and have a pacifier.”

“But I might like other things too,” she said.

“Like creating giant cities made of Lego?” Roman queried.

“Yes! Especially a Christmas village.”

Roman grinned. “I’d help you with that.”

“Imagine the Christmas village we could create. With markets selling hot chocolates and waffles and snow on the ground.”

“You like Christmas?” Alexei asked.

“Yeah, I do. It just seems so magical. Like anything could happen.”

“In the orphanage, I gave up dreaming about Santa when I realized he never brought me or the other kids anything,” Alexei said abruptly.

Oh.

Silence filled the room.

“My parents never understood or liked me, but I always got gifts,” Roman said quietly.

“We didn’t have a lot,” Salem said. “But my parents made it as magical as they could. Even though my mother never celebrated it as a child.”

“I stopped getting presents when I was around nine or ten,” she said. “It’s hard, but I still kept believing. I needed that hope that there was someone out there who knew I was a good girl.”

“Of course you’re a good girl,” Roman said in a surprisingly fierce voice. “Who said you weren’t?”

She forced a bright smile on her face. “It doesn’t matter. I should really clean up that bird poop.”

“Stop worrying about the darn bird poop,” Alexei grumbled. “Worry about yourself.”

“Should I worry?” she asked.

“We do need to talk about appropriate punishment for putting yourself down,” Alexei said.

“What are your limits?” Salem asked.

“Urgh, I think being permanently scarred is out. So is knife play.”

“Permanently scarred?” Roman whispered. “Knife play? Holy heck.”

“Um. Well. I might have some others.”

“What are they, Bunny?” Alexei pressed.

“I don’t want to be humiliated,” she blurted out. “I don’t want to be told that I’m useless or ugly or anything like that.”

She was shocked that she didn’t have to force herself to show some emotion. Showing none would be a red flag. However, her chest heaved without prompting and she could hear a hint of horror in her voice.

Either she was becoming a very good actor, or her barriers were growing thinner around them.

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