Page 72 of Tessa

Dax frowned skeptically. “Are you sure that’s okay? It won’t be like… confusing? For Tessa, I mean?”

“I don’t think it will be if we schedule it ahead of time and be very intentional about it. Tessa is very used to having other Littles around her as partners in crime. I think that this could actually be very good and fun for all of us.”

Dax peered up at Tessa with a question in his eyes to see how she was taking all of this.

She was wiping a tear with a big smile on her face as she bobbed her head up and down indicating that she liked the idea very much.

“Group hug!” Dax declared, jumping to his feet and throwing his arms open for Tessa and Beau to step into. Beau brushed a kiss to the top of his head, and Tessa buried her face in Dax’s chest, and they stood there for several minutes, just loving the way it felt to be in the moment—just the three of them.

Tessa

Tessa was amazed by Beau’s thoughtfulness and happy for Dax. While she was hyper-aware that there were several issues that hadn’t yet been addressed, namely hers, she also, for the first time all day, felt a peace that they would be. That was why when Dax declared a group hug, she was happy to just be breathing in the scents of her Daddies and savoring their closeness.

Finally, Beau pulled away with a mischievous smile and looked down at them. “Before we move on to the next thing, which problems did we just fix?”

Tessa loved the way he said we instead of I even though he had clearly been the one to do all the problem-solving and the work that went along with it. She tapped her chin thoughtfully and opened her mouth to answer, but Dax jumped in before she could.

“We solved the problem of me worrying that you didn’t value me as your boy, the problem of us not having space for you to take care of problems that may arise without somehow emasculating me or undermining my dominance in front of Tessa and the problem of me struggling with balance.”

“Very good.” Beau smiled and jangled the keys again. “Let’s go see how many more problems we can solve, shall we?”

Beau led them out of Dax’s new room, across the room they shared, and to the second adjoining door.

With a smile and a wiggle of his eyebrows in her direction, he unlocked the door and pushed it open, gesturing for her to enter.

“Holy cannoli,” Tessa whispered as she stepped over the threshold into the new room which had clearly been designed just for her. There was a large white canopy bed with posts that held sheer yellow curtains that would create a tent around her bed. Large sunflower and daisy decals patterned the walls. A giant stuffed giraffe sat in the corner. Stuffed animal hammocks, packed to the brim with fuzzy offerings, sat above a reading chair tucked into a corner. Her TV was somehow a screen embedded into a giant stuffed giraffe adorned to the wall. There was a corner desk and a shelf stuffed with art supplies. The closet was pulled open just waiting for her things, and, of course, at the bottom of the closet was a yellow gift bag, stuffed with tissue. The bag itself was much smaller than Dax’s had been but Tessa reminded herself that that didn’t matter. Beau had designed this whole room just for her, after all, and besides, sometimes good things came in small packages.

Without prompting, she ran across the room to grab it, dancing when she held it in her hands. “Can I open it, Daddy? Can I? Can I?”

“Go ahead, little one. It’s your present.”

With a squeal, Tessa spun around the room, trying to decide where to sit, and finally jumped onto the middle of her new bed, testing the bounciness of the mattress, before digging into the gift bag with both hands.

There was only one gift in hers, in a small flat box, and she pulled it out with shaking hands.

It took her a moment to gather enough composure to even get the lid off. When she finally did, her hand flew to her mouth to cover her gasp. Laying against a bed of tissue was a thin gold chain with a pendant that was nearly an exact match to her tattoo, only the heart read “Daddies’ Girl” instead of just “Daddy’s”.

“See,” Beau teased, coming to join her on the bed, “it is possible to get a feeling of possession and being owned across, without permanently engraving it into your skin. I’m just saying.”

Tessa was too taken aback by the sweetness of the gift to pay any mind at all to Beau’s sarcastic, good-natured ribbing. Lifting it from the box as if it were made of the finest diamonds, she held it gingerly out to him. “Would you put it on me, Daddy Beau?”

“Of course, little one. Turn around.”

She swiveled her body until her back was facing his front, and he carefully put it on her, locking the delicate clasp with his long, thick fingers.

When it was finally clasped, Tessa stared down at it, her eyes filling with tears.

“Do you like it, babygirl?”

“Oh yes! I love it! No one has ever given me anything this beautiful before!”

Beau blushed and Tessa threw her arms around his neck, squeezing tightly.

“Dax,” he called, waving his fingers to where Dax still stood in the doorway, “come and join us!”

Tessa turned to voice her agreement just in time to see Dax take off at a sprint across the room and nosedive onto her bed, landing with his face down, inches away from Beau’s groin.

“Well, hello there, babyboy,” Beau said with an exaggerated eyebrow waggle.