Not that he’d say that in front of Abby, of course. Who knew she’d love Christmas so much? It had been a surprise when boxes of Christmas crap started arriving in the mail. Not that he was a grinch or anything. He liked Christmas. But he’d never bothered with decorating his place. Every year they’d invite all the people on the ranch who didn’t have somewhere else to be to have Christmas lunch at the big house and that was enough for him.
Although he’d need to make more of an effort this year. Abby said she had the gift buying under control, but he still had to get some more gifts for her. It was her first Christmas with him. As his girl, his sub, his Little. Wasn’t much of a Christmas without some gifts from Santa.
He’d never thought about playing Santa before. But that could be kind of fun. After all, Santa rewarded good girls, but bad girls. . .hmm. . .they needed punishment. Yes, that gave him some definite ideas.
But for now, he most definitely had a naughty little girl on his hands. He’d gone along with this Christmas stuff, but with a few rules. One was that she wasn’t to do any heavy lifting. Another was that she wasn’t to get up on a ladder.
And something that was very heavy in the room was the Christmas tree they’d gone out and chosen together. And that tree definitely wasn’t in the same place where it had been this morning when he’d left.
“Abby?” he called out. “I’m home.” He’d wanted to be home earlier, but his meeting had gone over time.
“I’m in the bedroom. Don’t come in,” she called out frantically.
He raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”
“I’m wrapping something I don’t want you to see.” Obviously, the gift was meant for him. He glanced down at the gifts under the tree, neatly wrapped in red paper with green bows. There seemed to be dozens of them.
Abby didn’t shop often, but like with everything else about Christmas she seemed to have gone into gift buying overload. Perhaps he’d better check the bank account. It wasn’t that he didn’t have money. Wasn’t that he begrudged Abby spending that money. It was hers too. But, he grinned, it probably wouldn’t hurt to check that his credit card wasn’t going to be declined next time he went to buy something.
“You got five minutes to get it wrapped then get your butt out here, young lady,” he said back.
There was silence. Worried silence. She knew she was in trouble and was no doubt trying to figure out exactly what for.
He moved to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. Then using his phone, he checked his bank account. And frowned.
There were no extra expenses on the credit card. What the hell? Most of this stuff had to have been bought online because Abby rarely went off the ranch and when she did it was usually with him. She’d gone out with the girls for a few trips buying things for the wedding, but she hadn’t bought all this stuff then. He looked at their joint checking account. Nothing there either.
What the hell was going on?
Where was she getting the money from? Was she using the money she got from the sale of her nana’s house? He scowled. He’d set her up on his accounts so she would have money now that she wasn’t working. The house money was in another account. He’d told her to take some time and think about what she wanted to do with it. Even though the house had been rundown, she’d owned it free and clear so it was a fair chunk of change.
“Hey, honey. Sorry, I lost track of time.” Abby walked into the room and moved immediately towards him. He liked that. Liked that she always came to him when he got home. He slid his arms around her, hugging her tight.
He kissed the top of her head. Then he drew back, and took her mouth with his, kissing her deep and hard until she gave him her full weight. He lifted her, setting her on the kitchen counter.
He glanced at her then around. “Seems you’ve been busy, sweet girl.”
“Hmm?” Her eyes were still glazed from that kiss. He liked that he could do that to her.
“Presents under the tree,” he commented.
“What? Oh. Yes. I had a bit of time so thought I’d get them wrapped. Do you think they look okay?” she asked, her voice slightly anxious.
“They look good, baby. Who are they for?”
“Oh, well, your family, Bear and Ellie, Jed and Daisy, Bain, Macca, Graciela, Linc—”
He pressed a finger against her lips. “You bought a present for everyone on the ranch, didn’t you?”
Her eyes widened. She swallowed audibly. He lifted his finger away so she could talk.
“Um. Yes. Shouldn’t I have?”
“People don’t expect you to buy gifts for them. It’s sweet as hell you want to, but it’s not expected.”
“Oh.” She chewed her lip. “I just like giving gifts. I like seeing people smile. Making them feel good. And some people don’t have anyone on Christmas.”
He felt his insides soften. “Then it’s nice they’ll have a gift from you, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t do the wrong thing?”
“No, baby. Not at all. I just don’t want you tying yourself up in knots trying to get everyone a gift, okay?”
“Must admit, wasn’t easy to think of what to get some of the guys. I mean, what do you buy a guy like Bain?”
“What did you buy him?” he asked curiously.
“Um, a coffee cup that says, Whiskey Wednesday, it’s like Taco Tuesday but for bad asses.”
He stared at her for a moment then burst into laughter. “Okay, yeah, that’s good.”
“Yeah?” She looked visibly relieved.
He cupped her face between his hands. “Baby, like I said. Don’t tie yourself up in knots over any of this. Everyone will love what you got them.”
She gave him a tentative smile.
“How did I never know you were this into Christmas?”
“Maybe because this is the first year I’ve ever really had a Christmas.”
She stiffened as soon as she said the words. “What do you mean?”
She tried to look away and he knew she was going to do her best to avoid the question. But he wasn’t having that. She’d never had a Christmas?
“Abby,” he said firmly. “Explain what you just said.”
She shrugged. “I always offered to do the Christmas Eve shift at the diner to give the other staff who had families time off. Then I would come back to work the Boxing day shift too.”
His eyes narrowed. Her bitch of a boss had a lot to answer for. Those shifts should have been shared fairly. Whoever was on Christmas Eve shouldn’t have been working the day after Christmas too. But then he already knew how much Gloria had used Abby.
“It’s okay, Kent,” she said quickly. “I didn’t have a family to spend it with so it didn’t bother me.”
“What about when your nana was alive?”
Abby bit that delicious lower lip of hers. He used his thumb to gently pry it loose from her teeth. “Abby?”
She sighed. “Nana hated Christmas.”
His body gave an involuntary jolt of surprise. “She hated Christmas?”
“Yeah. Her dad wasn’t a very nice guy. When he got really drunk, he became violent. Thankfully, he didn’t drink that often, but at Christmas time his boss would always give him a bottle of bourbon as a bonus. He’d get drunk and knock around Nana’s mom. Sometimes the kids. So, all she remembered of Christmas was being scared and having to watch as her dad turned violent.”
“Jesus,” he muttered then gathered her close. Christ, now he felt like an absolute ass for feeling even the least bit of impatience over this Christmas stuff.
Seemed from now on, each December he was gonna live in a house filled with tinsel, lights and gifts. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“So, I’ve never had much cause to celebrate Christmas or buy gifts. Mostly, any gifts I bought and stuck under the tree Max would take and hock so. . .”
He leaned back and watched her stare around the room. “I went overboard, didn’t I? I’m so sorry. This place looks like a Christmas shop on stero
ids. I should take some of this down. I—”
She tried to slip off the kitchen counter but he was in her way.
“It’s perfect.”
She stared at him with wide eyes. “No, it’s not. It’s over-the-top.”
“Then it’s perfectly over-the-top.”
“Kent—”
“You’re not moving any of it.”
“Kent, I have so many lights in here that I’ve probably doubled our electricity bill.”
“So?”
“So, I should take some of them down and probably I don’t need five Santas in here or quite so much tinsel. Not sure why I bought every color I could find.”
“Touch any of it, baby, and you’ll find yourself over my knee.” He was joking. Maybe.
Her eyes widened. “You’re threatening to spank me if I take down some Christmas decorations when there is enough in this room to decorate five houses?”
Five large houses, he would guess.
“Yep.”
“Kent.” Her face softened. “You don’t need to feel sorry for me. I got carried away. I’ll fix it. I’ll still have an amazing Christmas without all this.” She placed the palm of her hand against his cheek. “Because I’ll be with you. And that’s what Christmas is about, right? Being with the people you love? I’ve never really had that. So that makes this Christmas incredibly special. All of this? Icing on an already well-iced cake.”
He leaned forward, lightly kissed her lips. “Baby, I was joking before about the spanking. You want to take some down we will. But if you want it up, then leave it there. I don’t like knowing that you never had a proper Christmas but now that I do know, I want you to have everything you desire.”
She looked at him, love shining in her eyes. “I already do.”
“So fucking sweet,” he murmured, his gaze caught on her lips. “All I want to do is take you to our bedroom and fuck you until you scream.”
Her breath quickened. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. But there’s a few things we have to talk about first.”
“Couldn’t they wait?”
“Nope. They can’t.” He made his voice low, serious. “First, I just looked at the credit card statements. And none of this Christmas stuff or those gifts you’ve been buying are on there. You want to explain what money you’ve been using to pay for everything?”
She bit her lip, shifted around on the counter and generally looked incredibly guilty.
“Abby,” he said warningly.
Her eyes went wide. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No? Then how come you won’t tell me where the money came from?”
“It’s so hard keeping anything from you!”
Well, he didn’t like that. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I wanted to buy you some gifts that I didn’t want showing up on the bank account because I didn’t want you to know what they were. And I couldn’t use cash because I bought them online.”
Ah, he got it now. “I can understand that. But what about all this other stuff? The gifts for everyone? The Christmas decorations? Why didn’t you use our joint accounts for those?”
“Oh. . .well. . .see. . .”
“Abigail,” he said warningly.
“I don’t like spending all your money on me!”
He took a steadying breath. “First of all, little girl. It is not my money, it’s ours. Second of all, I know you. There’s no way you’d ever spend all of our money on you. That’s not who you are. Third of all, I gave you access to my accounts, I told you to use them. I expected you to. And if you had any problems with that, I thought you would talk to me. Honestly and communication, yes?”
The guilt was written all over her face. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“I want you to have the Christmas of your dreams. This Christmas and every Christmas. Buying gifts is obviously something you enjoy. Are they from me as well or just you?”
She frowned. “I added your name to the cards.”
“Then I help pay for them,” he said firmly.
“But—”
“No buts, Abigail. I want you to transfer enough money from our joint account over to your account to pay for all the gifts.”
“But that’s not fair, you’re paying for everything.”
“I’m a man,” was all he replied. Like that was supposed to say everything. “I’m a man with old-fashioned values, which includes taking care of you in all ways. You can use your money to buy me a gift, if that’s what you want to do.”
She looked at him for a moment then to his shock she burst into laughter. “Okay. Okay. I give in.”
“It’s who I am, sweet girl. You know this.”
Her eyes held love and the remnants of her laughter. She softened. “I know. And I love who you are.”
“Love you too, sweet girl. But we have something else to talk about.”
“Boy, you came back in a talkative mood.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Seems there are a few things that need addressing. Little girl, what was the rule about moving heavy things?”
Understanding filled her face and her eyes flickered guiltily over to the Christmas tree before returning to him.
“I’m not allowed to lift heavy things on my own.”
“Right. So, you want to tell me why the Christmas tree isn’t where it was when I left earlier?”
“Drat. Didn’t think you’d notice.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? Well, I did notice. It also means you disobeyed me ‘cause that tree is very heavy and definitely not where it was a few hours ago.”
“I didn’t lift it though,” she protested. “I just sort of dragged it along.”
He gave her a look that said he didn’t see there was much distinction.
She bit her lip worriedly. “You can’t punish me, though, Daddy.”
“How do you figure that, little one?”
“‘Cause I’m going to a party in a few hours.” She bounced with excitement.
“There’s still a few hours until the party begins,” he told her ominously. “Plenty of time to put you over my knee for disobeying me and risking your safety.”
“Rats,” she muttered. “You’d really send me to a party with a sore bottom, Daddy?”
“Yes, sweet girl. I would. Because every time you sat on that bottom, you’d know that Daddy loves you enough to want you to be healthy and safe. All the time. And he expects his rules to be obeyed. All the time. Want to tell me why you didn’t wait for me to move the tree?”
She shrugged.
He waited.
She squirmed around on the counter then finally gave in under his firm stare. “I guess I got impatient and didn’t want to wait.”
“For two hours?” His Abby wasn’t an impatient girl normally.
“I just. . .this Christmas stuff doesn’t seem to interest you much. I thought I could just do it myself and save you a job.”
His fault. Christmas stuff didn’t much interest him. But not because he didn’t enjoy it. He was just used to being single, turning up at Clint’s and having Eden take care of everything. He felt guilty that he hadn’t paid enough attention to Abby and her obsession with everything Christmas.
“Abby, when it comes to you everything interests me. I’m sorry if it seems like I wasn’t. That’ll change now. You need something done. You tell me. My job is to look after you. Help you. It’s also to ensure you don’t hurt yourself. So, from now on, you want something moved or hung, you wait and you ask me. Understood?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
He kissed her lightly. “Good. Now go to the bedroom, strip off, get onto your knees at the end of the bed. Legs spread wide. Arms out in front of you. Chest to the bed. Understood?”
Her eyes were wide as she stared at him.
“Abby, do you understand?”
She nodded.
“Words, Abby,” he reminded her.
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Good girl.” He lifted her down. As she m
ade her way upstairs, he took another look around the room with a grin. Looked like he was going to live in a Christmas tornado every December.
But it made his girl happy and that was all he cared about.
Abby knelt on the end of the bed, her arms out in front of her, her legs wide. Her bare ass was poking out, awaiting the punishment she had coming. Even now, months after meeting Kent, moving in with him, agreeing to be his sub, his Little, she still felt embarrassed at some of the positions she found herself in.
Embarrassed and aroused.
He probably knew that. Knew what it did to her when he commanded her to do things like this.
Damn man. God, where would she be without him? She never wanted to find out. Kent was her everything. He’d been her rock when all that shit with her brother went down, ending in Max’s death. He’d never faltered. He’d always given her what she needed. Whether she knew it was what she needed or not.
She was still getting used to having someone around who wanted to do things for her. Not having to do everything herself. And it was still hard to ask for help. Even for something simple like moving the Christmas tree.
She knew she’d gone over-the-top about Christmas and she hadn’t wanted to bother him with silly requests like moving the tree five times within a three-foot radius.
Idiot, Abby.
She should have just asked him. Then she wouldn’t have found herself in this position. Except, she had to admit that having him take charge gave her a sense of peace that she desperately needed right now. There was a lot going on in her head. This was her first Christmas with Kent. Her first out from under the shadow of Max and his problems.
Guilt hit her.
There was movement at the door and she pushed that thought away.
“Now that’s a nice sight. A naughty little girl ready for Daddy to spank her. It’s been a while since your last spanking, hasn’t it, sweet girl?”
Had it? Now that she thought on it, she realized she hadn’t been in trouble for a while. She was a pleaser. She usually followed the rules because it made Kent happy and she felt good making him feel happy.
Kent moved up behind her. “I’ve had an idea. There’s two weeks until Christmas and I think we need to start our own Daddy-Little girl tradition. Like an advent calendar for Littles. Some things will be nice, others may not be.”
A Montana Daddies Christmas Page 3