I shrugged. “I guess I’ll just have to punish you if you’re naughty.”
He couldn’t seem to decide if he was going to blush, hide, or grab his cock because he did all three as he wiggled and finally rubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t know what to say.”
He was adorable.
“What were you thinking?” Making sure to put a bit of Daddy in my tone had him squirming and a sigh escaped.
“That’s cheating.” We could both agree on that, but it got me the results I was looking for as words spilled out. “I was trying not to ask what kind of punishment because I pictured beingspanked and that was a turn-on and then I realized what you’d said and I decided it was probably an inappropriate reaction.”
Maybe but I’d started it.
“My mother was naked around town so often the local version of the state legislature had to come tell her to do it on her own property.” My dry response got a giggle from him. “They’ve completely reset my views on what is or is not appropriate.”
I wasn’t sure how I’d survived being a teenager around them.
Alton’s cheeks were pink as he stopped scrubbing his face, but he was smiling as well. “Just keep reminding me about that when I start to worry.”
“Deal.” Kissing his forehead, I loved the way that made his cheeks even redder. “Now, let’s go hide your car in my garage so we can have some privacy. It’s small enough to fit around my junk and they won’t think to look in there.”
Nibbling on his lower lip, Alton nodded. “I know you explained where I was going but my sense of direction isn’t that good.”
“Don’t worry.” Kissing his forehead again, I wished we’d talked about what other forms of physical contact he was comfortable with. “I’m going to go with you just in case you run into anyone else overly nosy.”
That had his eyes going cartoon-sized.
“Is that safe? Do you think anyone else has cameras set up? Did she tell anyone else I was visiting? Did you tell anyone else I was visiting?” When he paused for a breath, I reached up to stroke his cheek and stopped the rest for the moment.
“I’ll explain why it’s safe in one minute.” I probably should’ve explained that a while ago. “First, I have no idea what else the local nuts have done. Which is one of the reasons I’m going with you. Nothing they do would surprise me.”
Some had more magic than common sense so setting up another toll booth in the middle of the forest wouldn’t have shocked me.
It’d have been a pain in the ass, though.
“I didn’t tell anyone you were visiting because I didn’t want you to feel pressured or have anyone like my mother randomly show up.” I’d hoped we could have some privacy but clearly that had been too much to ask.
“More cameras wouldn’t surprise me but it seems like the gossips are off and running, so I’m mostly concerned with you feeling like you have to be nice to insane people.” Alton was the type to be too nice to those idiots.
His sheepish shrug said he saw the problem too. “But what about you? I mean, I don’t want to cause problems and have us end up on the news.”
“I won’t.” I gave his hand a squeeze before releasing it and stepping back. “This isn’t a secret but it’s not something we talk about for a variety of reasons.”
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and focused on my inner strength. It wasn’t something like the magic others like mages had access to. It was just part of who we were as a species. A piece of us that developed when our people first branched out from what would end up as the modern humans.
“What the fuck?”
As I let the magic sweep over me, keeping the image of what I wanted firmly in my mind, Alton’s marvel had me fighting to stay focused and not laugh.
“What the fuck.”
He said it several more times as I let out a deep breath and opened my eyes. I wasn’t sure what I’d see but he looked kind of like Belle at the end of Beauty and the Beast which was nice.
Everyone knew the Beast was better looking, so relief flashed through me when it seemed like Alton would’ve agreed.
“You won’t get stuck like that, will you?” Blinking a few times, he blushed and mumbled something about being an asshole. “I mean. You look very nice as a human. You’re… you’re handsome and would get a lot of swipes on dating apps.”
Swallowing hard, he couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted to get closer or further away. “You’re still really tall. Do you now have human strength or could you still carry me?”
There was my cutie.