CHAPTER 11
Angel watched her walk away, feet dragging, in no hurry to get home. He waited until she was out of sight before he let himself relax. A ghost of a grin tilted his mouth up at the corners as he shook his head.
It wasn’t like he was thrilled to be hit with multiple complaints about his Little girl all on the same day, but when he’d seen the order form, he couldn’t help but laugh. Derek hadn’t looked as amused, but then Derek had found one of the trick treats in his office, and apparently had taken a bite. He probably still had a bitter taste in his mouth.
Angel would dearly love to know who had left one of the chocolate bars on his desk. A few names sprang to mind immediately, but he knew it hadn’t been Heaven Leigh. For her, the fun had been in just providing the items. She hadn’t needed to take part in the distribution.
And there was Derek now, stalking his way. Angel wiped any hint of amusement off his face before the annoyed Ranch owner reached his side. “I sent Heaven home. I’ll have a discussion with her about all of this when we’re done.”
Derek nodded. His blue eyes were flinty with irritation. “Good. Ready?”
“Yes.” He tilted his head. “Get the taste of soap out of your mouth yet?”
His boss narrowed his eyes. “Funny. Wait until it happens to you.”
Angel laughed. “You think she’s never gotten me? Let me tell you about the time she replaced all my implements with realistic cake and then got in trouble on purpose, so I’d need one. I grabbed a paddle and it squished .” He shuddered. “Unsettling doesn’t quite describe the feeling of reaching for a perfectly normal item and finding out it’s… cake.”
Derek snorted. “At least you didn’t try to eat it.”
The chocolatier shrugged. “That will teach you to eat strange candy you find laying around.”
“I didn’t find it on the ground , Angel. It was on my desk!” Derek’s voice was outraged.
“Let’s be honest. At this point, you’re lucky she didn’t replace your desk with cake. Now that we have all the workspace and equipment… she could.”
The Ranch owner gave him a horrified stare and then shook his head, as if trying to shake away the image. “Replacing my phone was bad enough,” he grumbled. “Let’s just get this over with. I want to find as much of the contraband as we can before anyone else gets tricked.”
Derek had assembled a group of Caregivers, teachers, and staff to sweep through the Littles’ Wing and any common areas where the Littles frequented to do a quick search for the prank foods. The order form gave them an idea of what they were looking for.
By the time they were done, they had amassed an impressive pile of items. Including what looked to be every bar of soap in the whole building. It turned out that Heaven’s foaming chocolate was so realistic that no one could tell the real from the fakes.
“I certainly wasn’t going to taste them,” Nanny J said with a sniff. “It will all have to go.”
“Do you think we found it all?” Miss Price wondered.
Derek snorted. “Not likely, but at least we’ve diminished it some. And hopefully Angel will do something about the supply train from his end?” His voice rose in question, as he directed a look at the chocolatier.
Angel nodded. “I’ll certainly be speaking to her about the mean pranks. To be honest, I have no issues with the vegetables and fruits, and she had my permission to sell them. The foaming soap… well, to me that’s innocent naughtiness and not really harmful.”
Nanny J looked like she disagreed, but Derek nodded. “The vegetables are fine. The soap, well, punishment can be directed at the Littles who try to get away with using it, as you said it’s basically harmless. But I don’t want any more fake chocolate bars. A guest could have picked one of them up.”
“She won’t be making any more of those,” Angel agreed.
“Yes, well, I’m afraid I’m going to be putting a stop to the delivery service,” Nanny J said firmly. “It’s too much sugar coming in anyway. I noticed they’d all been extra hyper lately. I just didn’t know why.”
“I will leave that at your discretion, but I agree it would be best,” Derek said. “If they have to buy the treats in person, they’ll be limited by how often they can stock up.”
Angel doubted Heaven would be surprised about that, and it was a fair decision. “If we’re done here, I have her waiting in the corner, and I don’t like to leave her like that too long.”
“Yes, go.” Derek waved him off.
As Angel was leaving, he had a thought. “Did anyone think to check the candy bars in the Ranch store?”
Judging by the mad scramble and the mass rush toward the store, he figured the answer was no. He suspected that for the next few weeks, at least, all the Doms would be eyeing any chocolate bars with distrust. He hoped none of them had a sweet tooth.
When he got home, he found Heaven Leigh had followed his instructions. She was in the corner where she was supposed to be.
Her clunky black ankle boots had been kicked to the side, leaving her barefoot, and her day-of-the-week underwear (Friday) was draped over them. The short, flirty dress she was wearing was tucked up around her waist to expose her bare bottom. It was pale, unmarked, and ready for him to lay his hand all over it.
“Well, that was fun. Guess what I’ve been doing, nina ?”
She snuck a quick peek at him. “What?”
“I, along with half the staff at Rawhide, just searched the main building for your creations.”
“Oh.” Her face vanished back into the corner.
“I’m sure we didn’t find it all, but still, it’s shocking how much you managed to deliver in such a short time.”
“Well, I’m an entrepreneur,” she pointed out, turning her head toward him with a small smile. When he didn’t match her smile, it wilted. “Sorry, Daddy.”
“Mhm. You’re about to be.” He pulled a chair away from the kitchen table and turned it around to face her, before sitting down. “I’m sure you figured this was coming, but obviously there will be no more deliveries to the Littles’ Wing. Nanny J has put her foot down.”
Heaven sighed and nodded. “I figured.”
“And Master Derek has made it clear that he won’t tolerate any more mean tricks like the soap candy bars. Since you can no longer deliver, and I won’t let you sell that kind of thing in our shop, it’s a moot point anyway, but there will be no more of those made. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Master Derek was especially concerned that a guest might pick one up, given that they’ve been left as traps all over the place. You know how he feels about guests getting pranked.”
“I mean… people really shouldn’t eat things they just find laying around, Daddy. That’s just common sense.”
“Heaven.” His tone was annoyed, but he was struggling not to laugh. It was, after all, almost exactly what he’d said to Derek.
“It’s true,” she mumbled.
“That’s not the point, and you know it. Master Derek found one on his desk. Given how few people are supposed to have access to his office, it’s entirely reasonable for him to think it was safe. I’m sure he thought Sadie had left it for him.” Angel tilted his head. Actually, he wouldn’t be surprised if Sadie had left it there.
Not that he expected her to answer but, “Did Sadie buy any?”
“I can’t divulge my customer list, Daddy. It wouldn’t be professional.”
Of course. “None of this was professional, young lady, and you know it. This was pure shenanigans.” He sighed. “Go and fetch my hairbrush, Heaven Leigh. Your backside is due for a long, hard spanking tonight. And another one in the morning before you go to class.”
She turned from the corner, her bottom lip rolling out in a pout. “Not before class, Daddy, please? It’s so hard to sit on a sore butt.”
“That’s the point.”
“But if I can’t sit still, I’ll get in trouble and maybe even get spanked in class,” she pointed out.
Considering how annoyed all the teachers were right now? He’d almost bet on that. “That sounds like a you problem, nina . I guess you should have thought of that before you masterminded an underground black market in edible pranks. Hmm?”
She gave him the most pitiful look she could dredge up, but he was unmoved. “Actually, now that I think about it. Get the antique brush. I think the situation calls for a little extra.”
Her eyes widened and her bottom lip trembled. “But I don’t like that brush, Daddy. Can’t I just get the regular one?”
“Nope, and if you keep stalling, I’ll start adding implements,” he warned her. He pointed toward the bedroom, and she turned and trudged off. Every step was filled with reluctance, and she took so long in returning that he was almost out of patience before she finally came back to hand him the brush.
He pulled her across his knee, snugged her up against him, and then tapped the wooden back against her bottom. “I don’t think we need to begin with a lecture here. You know exactly what you did wrong. Right?”
She sighed, wiggled a little. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good. Then we’ll just jump right in.”
Warmups were mostly for fun spankings. They were for long scenes or foreplay. With punishment, Angel kept them to a minimum, and he preferred to make a point with a series of nice hard swats right out of the gate. It was more effective that way.
His one concession was to keep the tempo slow at first, so she could prepare herself. The brush cracked down on her left cheek with a solid smack that made her jump. He counted five seconds and then brought it down on the other side, just as hard. The swats left identical bright red marks on the center of each cheek.
Another set, each spaced with five seconds between them, landed and one of her feet kicked up off the carpet. “Daddy, not so hard!”
He snorted. “Little girl, you should consider yourself lucky I’m just using a hairbrush. I was tempted to cut a switch before I came home and start with that. Imagine how the brush would feel on top of a bunch of switch welts.” He landed another pair, with the same pause between them.
Heaven apparently decided not to push her luck because she didn’t say anything else, but he could feel one of her hands wrapping around his ankle for comfort. She held on while he delivered a full dozen matching pairs.
Smack! Pause. Smack! Pause.
The last pause was a little bit longer, but then the spanking began in earnest. There were no more five-second breaks for her to catch her breath. The hairbrush swung almost continuously. His arm flew up and down delivering one searing smack after another, as the brush bounced all over her bottom. Red splotches merged until her entire backside glowed crimson, and he could feel the heat rising from her skin.
If this had been for fun, he would have stopped to rub some of the sting from her sore skin now and then. He would have helped her get through it by crooning loving praise, and maybe there would have been touching of a more sensual nature. His Heaven could take a hell of a hard spanking and still be turned on when he prepared her for it.
But this wasn’t for fun. Regardless of his amusement, and he did think some of it was funny, she’d broken rules and that called for punishment. They both knew that.
Her fingers tightened with each whack, until they couldn’t tighten anymore, and then she simply clung to his ankle with a death grip. He continued to wield the brush, bringing it down with one fiercely stinging smack after another as he looked for places that hadn’t pinkened up enough.
Occasionally, she’d yelp or hiss in a gasp as he smacked an especially tender spot, but it wasn’t until he moved down to her thighs that she began to struggle. She squirmed and wiggled, trying desperately to evade the hard back of the brush as he aimed for the sweet spot at the top of her legs.
Her toes began to drum against the floor as her plaintive cries grew more vocal. “Daddy. Daddy please! I’m sorry!” Her voice was husky and desperate.
“I’m sure you are, Heaven Leigh. You should be sorry. I warned you about those pranks. I warned you that they were going to get you in trouble. And you knew exactly what was going to happen when I found out.” The words were punctuated with stinging slaps that alternated from her right thigh to her left.
“Please, can’t you just switch to your hand? Daddy, the brush stings so much!” Her voice rose at the end, until it was almost a howl.
He wasn’t surprised. The antique brush was her least favorite implement, and for good reason. It was heavy in his hand, and the glossy coat picked up the light as it swung. That same gloss made it burn like crazy, imparting sting with every swat, as well as an underlying ache that would last for a while. It was almost never used, except for punishment.
“I think the brush is working just fine, chiquita .” He gave her a few extra fierce smacks, just to make a point.
Her toes no longer drummed against the floor because her legs were kicking high into the air, scissoring and trying to fold up to protect the tender spots on her upper thighs. At the same time her free arm had flown back to help. She didn’t usually struggle that much, but of all their spanking toys, the brush was most likely to get her to that place where she forgot how she was supposed to behave during punishment.
He wrestled with her for a minute, trying to unfold her legs, while continuing to spank. Finally, he blew out an exasperated breath and stopped trying. “Heaven Leigh, if you keep that up, I’m going to spank your inner thighs with this brush. So if you don’t want to be walking like a bowlegged cowboy when you go to class tomorrow, I suggest you put those legs down—now!”
She let a sound of frustration as her feet immediately hit the floor. “It hurtssss!”
“It’s supposed to. You knew this was going to end in punishment when you set up this plan,” he reminded her. And she couldn’t argue the point because he’d warned her more than once.
“But—but I’m sorry now,” she blurted.
“I’m sure you are, but unless you’re using your safe word, this spanking is going to continue.”
She was silent.
“You always have that option with me, Heaven Leigh. Do you need to safeword?”
“N-no, Daddy. I’m fine,” she admitted with a series of soft sniffles.
He hadn’t expected her to actually safeword. They both knew that she was nowhere near her limits yet. She was being dramatic because she hated the brush, and because, most likely, for a moment she had felt overwhelmed. Reminding her that she had the option to safeword seemed to settle her.
Having options meant she still had control, and his Little girl needed to know that sometimes. “That’s better. Now, let’s finish this punishment.”
Her thrashing had shifted her position, so he took a moment to readjust her before he carried on with the spanking. The last part was brisk. The brush flew up and down so quickly it was almost a blur, as he paddled her thighs until they were just as red as her cheeks.
He could tell when the tears came. Her shoulders shook, and the sniffles turned into soft hitching breaths, and then finally into sobs. He moved the spanking to a close with one last circuit to make sure he hadn’t missed any spots. The final few spanks were stinging upward swats. Aimed at the undercurve of her cheeks, they made her bottom bounce and ripple with each strike of the hairbrush.
And then he was done. He let the brush fall to the carpet with a soft thud and began to rub her back in slow gentle circles. “It’s over, chiquita . The punishment is done.” His gentle voice didn’t penetrate at first, but he kept repeating it until she heard him, and stopped waiting for the next smack.
She slumped with a relieved sigh and he let her lie there, draped across his thighs for a couple of minutes before he helped her to sit up. It took some squirming to find a comfortable spot in his lap. There were whimpers as her scorched bottom scraped across the rough fabric of his jeans, but finally she settled, curled in his arms.
“Better?” he asked, as he rested his chin on the top of her head.
“My butt is on fire.” There was a grumble to her words, but they were muted, as if she didn’t have the energy to be upset about it.
“It’s supposed to be. I wanted to make sure you remembered this.”
She buried her face against his shirt and then, a minute or so later said, “You’re not really going to spank me again in the morning are you?”
“I certainly am, chiquita .” Of course, the morning one wouldn’t be much more than a touch up, nothing like he’d just given her. Just enough to refresh the sting and send her off to school with something to think about during class.
“Can you write me a note saying they can’t spank me, at least?”
“I don’t think so, Heaven Leigh. I think you can expect to see more trouble every time someone finds another one those pranks. I hope for your sake we found most of the mean ones.”
She twisted, tilting her head up to stare at him aghast. “But, Daddy… I’ve already been punished. I’m supposed to be forgiven after. That’s—that’s the whole thing.”
“I have forgiven you, Heaven. I forgive you for making things you know I wouldn’t approve of. I forgive you for hiding things from me. I forgive you for all the complaints I received from people who stumbled over your tricks this week.”
He patted her sore bottom. “But I can’t give you forgiveness from other people, and there are plenty who are annoyed at you right now.”
“Oh, but…” She trailed off. Her bottom lip wobbled, and her eyes spilled over with tears again.
“I’d start your day with some apologies, if I were you.” A long shuddering sigh escaped her as she settled back against his chest. He gave her a reassuring squeeze and kissed the top of her head.
No doubt the Littles’ Wing would see her best behavior for the next couple of days—she wouldn’t want to earn any punishments while her backside was still sore. But if they saw her wincing every time she sat, maybe they’d feel like she’d been punished enough. If not… oh well.
As annoyed as they might be, the staff of the Wing loved all of their charges, and most would quickly get over the embarrassment of being the ones to have soap in their mouths for a change.
“I love you, Heaven Leigh.”
She didn’t look up but snuggled closer. “Even when I’m naughty?”
“Especially when you’re naughty,” he assured her.