I woke in the morning a bit dazed and slow to reach full consciousness. When I did I realized that there was a woman in my bed, a naked woman. She felt warm, soft and very comforting as her little body lay curled against mine. It had been a very long time since I had woken with a woman next to me and I was painfully aware of how much I missed these feelings.
I extricated myself from her touch without waking her and gently tucked the blankets around her as if to place her in a cocoon. I pulled on a tshirt and sweatpants and headed to the kitchen. I started the coffee and opened the fridge to look for some ingredients to make into breakfast.
"Good morning."
I heard her soft, sweet voice and turned to see her standing in the doorway to my bedroom wearing my shirt from last night. She looked adorable. Her hair was a tousled mess around her face, her bare legs and feet made her seem so vulnerable for some reason. For no explanation I can give I felt something tug at my heart.
"Good morning, Jen. I've started coffee and I'm taking inventory of what I have to offer for breakfast. Please, come have a seat and tell me how you like your coffee."
She padded softly across to the breakfast bar and climbed up into one of the swivel chairs.
"Some milk and one sugar, please," she smiled. "I hope you don't mind me wearing your shirt."
"It has never looked better. Are you warm enough? Would you like my robe or a sweatshirt?"
"Nope," she chirped, "I'm fine just like this."
Fuck, she was so damn cute. I poured her a cup of coffee adding milk and one sugar and placed it on the counter in front of her.
"And what would you like for breakfast?" I inquired while pouring my own cup.
"Nothing yet, if that's all right. I usually just have a first cup of coffee to wake up before I get anything to eat," she answered.
"Well then, let's sit in the living room. It's more comfortable," I said, leading the way.
She popped off the chair and scooted over to my big leather couch. She wedged herself into the corner and drew her legs up to the side, holding the mug in both her hands. I took the other end of the couch and turned to face her my arm along the back. We sat sipping for a few moments just looking at each other, both of us with little smiles on faces.
"Forgive me," I began, "I'm way out of practice in morning after talk with a woman and, frankly, I was never particularly good at it when I was in practice. You have my head spinning a bit. Last night was wonderful, and strange and it's thrown me a bit off kilter."
'Okay," she started and then stopped. She took a deep breath and started again. "I can see how last night might seem a bit odd to you. Let me start by saying I'm not in the habit of going home and then sleeping with men I've just met and only known for a few hours."
"Not my place to judge if you do, but okay."
"I've never been married. I've had a couple of longer term relationships, 5 or 7 years but I have always ended them. I've just never found the right guy. And I've never called any man 'daddy' before, though I've been looking for someone to call daddy for a very long time, at least 20 years. I'm 38 years old and no man has ever felt right to me. You feel right."
I was pretty much stunned and I'm sure my face showed my bewilderment. "How can you say that? You just met me barely 12 hours ago. I could be an ax murder, a child molester or a rapist. You don't know!" I blurted rather vehemently.
She giggled a bit and then replied, "I can tell you're not any of those things, trust me. And look, I could have picked one of a number of other guys to ask for help last night. You certainly weren't the biggest or strongest guy I could have approached, but I wasn't looking for some macho he-man to protect me by beating that guy to a pulp. I was looking for someone who could handle the situation with tact, without drawing a lot of attention to me and who would have my best interest at heart without any agenda. And we're 10 out of 10 on that scorecard."
I asked her, "And to what scorecard are you referring?"
"Well I guess it's my own scorecard," she said. "It's basically a set of criteria that make a man a daddy. I want you to be my daddy."
"You think you could tell all this about me in that very short time last night?" I asked incredulously.
Her face became very serious. "Yes. It's a feeling, a sense that just struck me that you are a good man and that you will be a good daddy for me."