“Hey, doll,” he greeted her with an easy smile, content to take a breath, and watch the party goings-on while chatting for a minute or two. “I’m great. How are you feeling? How did you convince that cousin of mine to let you out of your room tonight?” He gave one of her pigtail braids a teasing tug.
“I’m just here looking for Erika,” she explained. “Daddy said I could bring her the present I got for her. And really, I’m feeling a lot better, but now I’m grounded.”
“Grounded? What did you do now?”
“I didn’t do nothing!” Sadie protested, loudly. “My Daddy is just a big overprotective meanie-head.”
Sadie went into storytelling mode and replayed the entire incident which involved two other guests and some apparent, confusion over who really deserved a spanking for hiding a rawhide whip. He was pretty sure the outlandish parts were a lie, but that was okay. She didn’t owe him an explanation for her grounding if she didn’t want to share. Somethings were between a Little and her Daddy. Still, he couldn’t help but smile at her dramatized retelling of events. He also couldn’t blame Derek for grounding her ass, whatever she had done. She finished her story with a giant pout and he shook his head. “If my Daisy did that, she wouldn’t only be facing being grounded.”
“I know, I know, but…” Sadie started to protest and then trailed off as a huge smile came across her face, and she eyeballed him suspiciously. “Wait a second, did you say your Daisy? She’s, like, yours for real? It’s, like, official and stuff?” She bounced up and down, and he stood back and laughed at her excited exuberance.
“I did,” he confirmed with a happy nod, “and it's not quite official yet, but I am working on that. Speaking of my little girl though, it’s about time I went back to dance with her. I was just taking a break.” He turned to look at the now much more crowded dance floor and didn’t see her anywhere.
“Oh, my goodness, I’m so happy and excited for you!” Sadie leapt into his arms, giving him a hug and the surprising him by hitting him with a kiss on the lips.
Shock crossed both of their features, as Sadie pulled back with a look of stunned embarrassment. She quickly disentangled herself from him.
“You better hope you didn’t just get me sick,” Rett deadpanned. If it had been any other sub besides his cousin’s wife, they would have gotten into quite a bit of trouble with that display of familiar affection toward a Dom that wasn’t theirs. Sadie, with her vivacious personality, tended to get away with a lot more in this department than any other sub would. Still, her behavior was impulsive and inappropriate, and at the minimum warranted a scolding.
“I’m so sorry, Rett,” she apologized, with her eyes cast down at the floor, signaling that she had just remembered her place. “I just got super excited for you. I wasn’t thinking and I crossed a line.”
“You certainly did,” he scolded gently. “I don’t mind excitement, but something tells me your Daddy would not be too keen on you going around kissing other men. Even men who are related to him. Daddies tend to be possessive like that.”
Her sad face told him he was right. “I’m really sorry,” she apologized again.
“I forgive you, but you really need to be more cautious.” He continued with his gentle lecture. “Now, I think you need to tell Derek what happened here, don’t you?”
“Yes, Sir, I will.” Sadie dropped her chin to her chest and scurried off in the same direction she had come from.
Shaking his head at her retreating form, he scanned the crowd for Daisy, hoping that when he found her, he might be able to convince her to cut the party short and join him upstairs, even for just a short while.
Now all he had to do was find the little minx.
Daisy danced until her body felt like it was going to give out on her. She wanted to keep going, she’d never felt so free in her entire life, but she needed water and maybe some food, something with a bit more substance than the brownie and candy she had enjoyed earlier, or she was going to pass out. She looked around to find Rett, wondering what was taking him so long to get back to her. The party had gotten busier since they arrived, and it was hard to see anything.
Making the decision to leave the dance floor to look for him had her tummy doing flip-flops. How would Rett feel if she wasn’t where he left her? Would she get in trouble?
Her bottom tingled with anticipation, but instead of discouraging misbehavior, it spurred her forward. Slinking through the crowd, she found some water and a place to sit for a second, before taking off her ridiculously large bow. It wouldn’t make a huge difference, but her face was sticky with sweat from the serious cardio she had just done out on the dance floor.
She scanned the crowd again trying to find her Daddy, but he was nowhere.
“Guess I’ll just have to have a snack without him,” she mumbled to herself as she left her seat and headed toward the snacks. She was tempted to just snag another one of the orgasmic brownies, but she knew she needed to have some real food.
Tapping her chin, she contemplated her decision, but she was brought up short when she caught sight of Rett in animated conversation with a slender blonde in a provocative schoolgirl uniform, much like the one she had worn on her first day at the Ranch. He was smiling at her as she animatedly talked to him.
Scowling as she watched them, Daisy narrowed her eyes. She was tempted to go over there, interrupt them and introduce herself, but she was struck with fear and self-consciousness as she stared at the other woman's slender form, all but busting out of the provocative uniform. Didn’t she know it was a Christmas party?
The green-eyed monster snuck into Daisy’s brain and took root. Forgetting all about the orgasm brownies, she took a step in Rett’s direction but froze when the other woman jumped into Rett’s arms and planted a big kiss on his lips.
Daisy fell to her knees.
The scene before her stopped time as she got caught in a tunnel wave of all too familiar feelings and memories. “Not again,” she whispered, as she stared at them, no longer really seeing them.
This couldn’t be happening to her again. Not with him.
She tried to catch her breath, but the air was too heavy, too thick. She might as well have been under water. Needing to escape, she crawled under the cake table. There was just enough room for her to hide so she could curl into the fetal position and cry.
Curling into a ball on the cold floor, she shoved her fist into her mouth to mask the sound of her sobs, even though the music was too loud for them to be heard anyway.
How could she be so stupid? she asked herself. A man like Rett would never be happy with a woman like her. He was perfect in every way and she was… not. She didn’t even come close.
Skinny, blonde, and beautiful. That was the type of woman Rett deserved and was obviously what he wanted too, if the scene she had just witnessed was anything to go by.
She wanted to go home. Fuck the Ranch and all its false promises. She was never going to find a man who would love her in the way she wanted, no, needed to be loved. And it didn't matter what they said or promised, men were liars. But it wasn’t even Rett’s fault. She didn't blame him. She blamed herself. She couldn’t be fat and plain and expect anyone to love her. She didn’t even love herself most days.
The air in her hiding place was still too heavy for her to breathe. Heavy and muggy. Sweat dripped down her face, mixing with her tears, and she knew she needed to get outside, and away from the throngs of happy partygoers, but she didn’t want to risk being seen by Everett. Peeking out from under the tablecloth, she got her bearings on where she was and crawled as fast as she could to the exit.
Thankfully, crawling submissives were not a rarity at the Ranch and no one paid her any attention as she made her escape.
Once safely outside, she sat against the Ranch wall and pulled her knees to her chest. Now all she needed to do was catch her breath so she could get her things and get out of here before she had to face Rett again. Ever again.
Chapter Fourteen
Daisy didn’t know how she did it, but she managed to get back to the room, change back into street clothes, call for an Uber and get out the front doors of the Ranch without Rett or anyone else trying to stop her.
Sitting on the steps out front, she shivered in the frosty winter air. Snow was falling at a rapid rate and there were already several inches on the ground. Her first chance to see a White Christmas and she was going to miss it because men were stupid.
The Uber had said it was only fifteen minutes away, but as time ticked by and the air grew colder, Daisy wondered at the accuracy of that estimate.
“Ho Ho Ho. Why do you look like you’re running away, little one?”
Daisy jumped and turned toward the sound of the deep voice that managed to sneak up on her, or rather the source of the deep voice to find Santa standing over her, hat in hand, frowning. At least, she thought he was frowning. It was hard to tell behind the beard.
“Because I am running away,” she retorted, not in the mood for the Santa act. She was not feeling very Little at the moment.
“Well, I hope you requested an Uber with snow chains, or I don’t know how they are going to get here in this mess.”
“Shit.” Her shoulders sagged in defeat.
Santa groaned and lowered himself to sit beside her on the step. “It’s Christmas Eve and there is a massive storm a-brewing. It’s a night for staying put, safe and warm, not running away into the great unknown.”
“I’m not going to the great unknown,” Daisy argued. “I’m going to the airport.”
“For what? They got comfy beds there? Cuz, I got to tell you, little lady, I’m pretty certain all flights have been grounded for the foreseeable future.”
“Shit,” Daisy swore again, and this time a tear fell onto the stoop in front of her.
“Now, that’s pretty naughty language to be using in front of Santa. Don’t you want to stay on the nice list?” His brow cocked with an authoritative air that would have sent a chill down her spine in any other situation. Now, it just annoyed her. “I just want to go home.” Her voice shook.
“Listen up, young lady, I don’t know what’s happened between you and your Daddy, but I’m not letting you run out of here into a storm and put yourself in danger like that. And on Christmas Eve, no less. Also, if your Daddy did something so bad that you’re dead set on leaving, I kind of want to know what happened, and I know Derek would too. We hold our Doms to a high standard around here. So, I’ll tell you what; come on inside with me. Let’s go to Derek’s office and have a chat and see if we can’t work this out. And even if we can’t, we’ll find a safe place for you to stay the night and get you out of here as soon as the airplanes are back up and running. Does that sound amenable to you?”
“Umm, o-okay,” Daisy stammered, but it didn’t really. She knew if she went back inside, she would want to stay and fix everything, just to get her stupid perfect Christmas. But she knew Santa was right. There was no point in her running away in the middle of a storm with nowhere to go.
“Let’s go.” Santa turned and led her back into the Ranch while she mentally berated herself the whole time.
Why did this have to be so difficult? All she wanted was to get out of there, get back to her cat and her quiet life where she could drown her sorrows in a gallon of chocolate malted crunch ice cream. Facing Rett’s cousin and admitting her shortcomings was not anywhere on that list. It wasn’t even near the list. As a matter of fact, it was on a completely different list.
Her mind wandered and spiraled as they made their way to Derek’s office. By the time they got there, she was closer to tears than she had been since she saw Everett kissing the skinny blonde.
Jared swung the door open, without bothering to knock or announce himself, and she froze. Speak of the devil, there he was, standing next to his cousin with a frenzied look on his face. Neither man looked particularly happy.
She didn't particularly care.
“I don’t want to see him.” Anger took over and she tried to turn and leave, only to slam right into Santa-Jared, who was blocking the door with his body.
“Daisy,” Rett spoke her name as a warning and she shuddered.
She stomped her foot and balled her fists before turning on him. “No. you don’t get to make my tummy do that flippy thing anymore.”
He raised a brow and Derek grinned.
She seethed and raised a fist in the air as she advanced toward him. Derek caught it, before she could strike out at the source of her anger.
“Everett,” he said, turning toward the man who had been her Daddy, all while keeping a firm grip on her still balled fist. “I’m going to chat with Miss Grace for a few minutes, if you wouldn’t mind waiting outside.”
It was posed as a question, but Derek’s tone made it clear that his question was more of a respectful command. Rett only responded by walking out of the office and closing the door behind him.
For a minute, she felt slightly guilty for embarrassing him, but he had embarrassed her first. She wasn’t the one kissing other people, dammit.
“Would you like to sit down?” Derek asked as he leaned against the front of his desk and nodded his head toward the chair in front of him.
“No, thank you. I just want to go home.”
“I understand,” Derek agreed kindly.
His friendly, caring demeanor only made her angrier. She didn't want his kindness. She wanted to go home.
“And you can leave as soon as you tell me what happened,” Derek continued. “The Ranch prides itself on creating a healthy and safe environment for everyone and when drastic things happen, like a little girl feeling like she needs to run away, I need to know the whole story.”
“I guess that’s fair,” she admitted begrudgingly. “So I just have to tell you why I want to go home and you’ll let me go?”
“This is not a prison, Miss Grace. I’ll let you go as soon as it’s safe to leave if that’s what you want.”
“Right.” She drew a deep breath and let the words rush out, coming out in much more of a ramble than she had intended. “I thought he was different, but he’s not. No one is ever going to choose me over someone else and that's fine, I’m used to being alone. It’s comfortable and it will be easy now because I can just stop trying.” Daisy found that she was unable to stop even though she was pretty positive she was making zero sense.
Derek didn’t move or speak, allowing her to get her story out as best she could in her own way.
“I would say it was stupid to come here, but I can’t because it wasn’t,” she continued brokenly. “I’ll always remember this weekend and the experiences I had. Even if it was all lies, maybe I can just forget that part. People forget bad parts of things all the time. I can totally do that, can’t I?”
Derek nodded, his brow furrowing. He was probably confused and trying to find a lick of sense in what she was saying. “Can you tell me the bad parts? Did someone hurt you?”
“Well, yeah!” she answered with a scowl, shaking her head and pointing toward the door. “He did!”
“Who?” Derek was patient. “I need a name, and I could do without the added sass, please.” His crystal blue eyes pierced through her and she shrank half a step back.
“Sorry.” She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it only grew as she recanted the incident. “Everett hurt me. He lied to me and told me he cared about me, despite my looks. Then he kissed someone else. Someone without any of this.” She pinched the extra skin around her stomach and shook it in case the Dom in front of her didn’t get the picture.
“Oh, Miss Grace,” Derek sighed, an exasperated and sad sounding exhale. “You are so lucky you aren’t mine.”
His only other reaction was a low growl, but it spoke volumes. The threat was evident, and Daisy fought the urge to bolt.
He took a deep breath and continued, “Okay, here is what I think. It is not in my power to make you talk to Everett, but he is my cousin, and I know that he is a good man. I a
lso know that he cares about you very much. I have never seen him as out of sorts as he was when he burst in here demanding to know where you were after he found the room empty of your things.”
“He burst in here?” Daisy wrinkled her nose at the revelation and frowned. “He doesn’t seem like the bursting type.”
“Yes, well,” Derek answered with a deep chuckle, “when a man has strong feelings for a woman, he will act out of character in certain situations.”
“Even strong feelings are no match for skinny blondes,” Daisy mumbled, refusing to be swayed by Derek’s accounting of Rett’s fake display of emotions. He had obviously just been putting a show for his cousin.
Derek didn’t respond to that even though it was obvious he had more to say. As grateful as Daisy was for his self-control, she wished he would say all the things. She wanted to know she was making the right decision.
After a few minutes of silence, Derek posed the one question she did not want him to ask. “Would you like to speak to Everett one more time before you give up?”
She couldn’t. Seeing him when she came into the office had already almost broken her, having to talk to him? It would be the last straw. She wasn’t strong enough.
“You have more strength than you give yourself credit for, Daisy.”
She bit her lip, and inwardly berated herself for speaking that out loud without realizing it.
“I’m going to step outside and speak with Everett and Jared for a moment. Is that all right with you?” Derek stood, and walked toward the door, but paused when he got there and regarded her with a raised brow, waiting for her to answer.
“Are you going to tell him what I said?” Her stomach twisted and her bottom tingled at the idea of him hearing she was putting herself down. She was more worried about that than the actual problem at hand.
“It’s not my story to tell,” Derek assured her as he left her alone in his office.
Daring Little Daisy Page 10