Page 21

CHAPTER 21

Kayley

Over the next two days, we took full advantage of the Ranch amenities, including a visit to the old mine, hiking, and more trail rides. It was fun letting loose and playing cowgirl for a few hours.

We socialized and joined in at the campfires, started making acquaintances, and I even learned our secret shadows’ names were Ashe and Jenny, who sported Midwest-youbetcha’-nice accents and made no indication whatsoever that they had any clue who we were.

I found myself… relaxing. Letting my guard down.

Shibari quickly became my favorite activity. We’d acquired more purple rope and Vic cautiously and carefully experimented with simpler intermediate ties.

He also introduced me to more implements, and I found my pain tolerance was far greater than I’d first thought.

Especially when he used a vibrator on me while smacking me on the ass with a paddle.

Haaawwww!

We hadn’t played in the Dungeon yet because I didn’t feel ready to do that. We did go and watch though. Seeing other people play allowed me to better define things I wanted to try—or wanted to designate as a hard limit.

More importantly, we took classes, in person and watching on the TV. Classes about dynamics, play styles, negotiation—I was starting to convince myself that, yes, I was overthinking all of this. We hadn’t yet resumed our “discussion,” but I knew in my heart Vic would not turn out to be some Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He wouldn’t sucker me in with one persona just to turn into an asshole if we moved in together.

Besides, I could always sic Leo on him if he did.

It didn’t answer the question about our careers though. And now, I was slowly growing more convinced that would become the big sticking point.

We held hands as we walked back to the lodge from the stables following our latest trail ride. “What’s next on the schedule?” I asked.

He shrugged. “We can check the class schedule. Or we can take a shower and nap.”

“ Hmm . Let’s check the class schedule.”

When we walked into the lobby, a Little wearing short Eeyore overalls and with her red hair up in wild, curly pigtails that bounced with an energy of their own ran up to me and Vic.

“Miss DeeDee! Come see! You hafta come see!” When she held her hand out to me I automatically reached for it. Then she started tugging to lead me away. When I turned back to Vic, he gently pushed my shoulders to get me moving.

“Don’t disappoint her, sweetheart.”

Intuition struck. “What’d you do?” I asked Vic.

But two more Littles had materialized out of nowhere, and I quickly found myself engulfed in their squealing ball of energy and herded toward the Littles’ wing, down the white-marble floored hallway, and into the multi-purpose room.

It looked like…

Like a party store had exploded. Streamers… well, streamed from the ceiling, in a violent rainbow of colors, along with other hanging decorations store-bought and hand-drawn like unicorns, rainbows, kittens, and more. A dining table had been set up and decorated with a dizzying array of delightfully childish centerpieces with mylar flowers and sprays, strands of colorful LED lights and flickering flameless candles, candy plants, and more.

One end of the room was dominated by a gigantic…

I blinked. It truly was a gigantic disco horse.

Covered in little mirrors, like a disco ball.

It stood easily as tall as me and sat on a white platform with caster wheels that looked to currently be locked down. It had been adorned in feather boas, stick on eyelashes, a light-up unicorn headband with pink feathers carefully propped behind its ears, a bridle and reins made of strands of tinsel and purple LED fairy lights braided together, and a sign hanging around his neck with My Name Is GLITTER BOMB! written in purple crayon with lots of flowers and curlicues. More pink and purple fairly lights were braided into its white mane and tail.

At the other end of the room, a large, hand-made banner said HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS DEEDEE!

I turned and spotted Vic standing in the doorway and wearing a sheepish grin. “Sorry, baby. I couldn’t resist telling them.”

He walked over and leaned in, kissing me. Then he whispered in my ear. “Please, let them do this for you. They’re having fun. The last week has been tough on everyone.” He shrugged. “And, you know, cake . Besides, who could possibly throw a birthday party better than a Little?”

I couldn’t resist his playful smirk. I nodded and squeezed his hand. “Thank you, I appreciate this.”

“Thank them—they did all the work. All I did was provide intel.”

I turned to the first Little who’d run up to me in the lobby, who I now recognized as Emmy, the Little who’d approached us the other day when we were talking to Derek and she begged for the poor mirrored horse to be allowed on the property.

“You named him ‘Glitter Bomb,’ huh?” I asked.

She diabolically grinned. “Well, Master Derek told me no glitter bombs.” She hooked a thumb at the horse. “Didn’t say we couldn’t name it that, though.”

I spotted the twinkle of evil amusement in her gaze and had a feeling she enjoyed and likely excelled at bratting.

“He’s… colorful,” I noted.

“Isn’t he pretty?” She reached out and stroked his mane. “He was just a plain disco horse until we fixed him up. We couldn’t let him be all lonely and blah .”

Yes, because a disco ball is so blah to start with. But I didn’t say that.

If I’m honest with myself, a huge chunk of my hesitation to have any kind of “party” dated back to when I was a kid. I wasn’t popular—Leo was. I have hazy memories, more due to pictures and old videos, of parties when I was little.

But when I was still a kid, maybe sixth or seventh grade, I remember inviting a few girls from my class to my birthday party.

They spent most of it trying to talk to Leo, who hid in the den playing video games to escape girl cooties. I later found out from others that the only reason those girls came to my party was to see Leo.

From that point on I didn’t want parties.

I got a few of them anyway, mostly due to friends or coworkers who legit surprised me with a cake or a night out at a bar or favorite restaurant.

Leo always took me out somewhere nice, if not on my birthday then close to it. Sometimes flying me to DC if he couldn’t make it to California. A couple of times surprising me by showing up at my work or house just to take me out.

We could annoy each other the way only siblings can but I had no doubt if anyone tried to hurt me or broke my heart, my polyglot brother would bare-handed drive their head down between their shoulders while cursing them out in several languages.

Maybe that was one of the big reasons why I’d stayed with Vic for so long. Not just because he was hot and hung and hankering to make me speak in tongues while he used his tongue on me, but because he was safe .

He reminded me in non-creepy ways of my brother. Not because he was a highly trained Secret Service agent, either.

Because he dealt with those he cared about with the utmost integrity and would metaphorically—or literally—burn the world down by any means necessary to protect them. He was intelligent and funny and did I mention hot ?

I let the giggle of Littles engulf me and take over. There were at least twenty of them, girls and boys, and even some who, based on their outfits, I guessed were Middles and not Littles.

One of them propped a handmade tiara covered with ridiculously large and sparkly rhinestones on my head while another draped a rainbow-colored feather boa around my neck. They’d organized a good old-fashioned princess tea party for me.

Vic even played along, laughing when one of the Littles positioned a blue, homemade leather crown on his head.

I was surprised at the small pile of gifts with their colorful, hand-drawn wrapping paper, but first we had to play games, eat, and have cake.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Twister, and a relay game involving balloons and stuffed fish that I wasn’t sure I understood but the Littles squealed with laughter over.

Their laughter alone was worth the confusion. At some point in my life I’d felt like I’d lost the ability to laugh with abandon like that, and I’d be lying if I said a small part of me didn’t envy them.

No, being a Little wasn’t my thing, but the joy they reveled in and the laughter they brought was something I enjoyed. I would stand up and defend any of them and their choices without a second thought.

Only after the games wound down was it time to have tea and eat, with macaroni and cheese as the main dish, obviously .

I mean, duh .

And somewhere around the third course, which consisted of what were healthy and also Little-approved lightly breaded chicken—excuse me, dino— nuggets, I found myself… smiling.

Laughing.

Even Vic laughed at the Littles’ antics and banter.

When our gazes met, I felt a catch in my heart, in my soul.

In that deep, dark place no one had ever truly touched before.

Is this what love really felt like?

I didn’t know. It was strange, surreal.

It was… right .

“I love you,” I whispered.

He smiled, erasing nearly every line from his handsome face. “I love you, too, baby.” He leaned in and kissed me to happy, squealing choruses of ooooooh! while hoots of approval and applause echoed through the Littles.

He nuzzled his nose to mine. “Let’s hurry up so we can have cake and open presents.”

“Cake! Presents!” various Littles squealed and chanted, making me and Vic laugh.

The buttercream-frosted vanilla cake was decorated with a pink unicorn and lots of edible sprinkles. The candles turned out to be trick candles I couldn’t blow out, which made the Littles howl with laughter and Vic snicker.

Vic grabbed a bowl of water to safely drop the candles into, and one of the two women Bigs supervising the Littles from the sidelines stepped in to take it from him. I’d invited them to join in but they’d politely refused with a smile, because they said it was their job to keep things from getting out of hand with the rambunctious Littles.

Still, I managed to convince them to enjoy cake with us by sending Vic over to them with slices.

Finally, it was time for presents. The Littles sat me in a dining room chair decorated with more streamers and balloons and started handing me presents.

There are plenty of people in the world who would’ve scoffed at all of this, and who would likely sneer and mock the presents.

They were all handmade, with obvious affection and enthusiasm, and I treasured them. First were the cards, at least two dozen, all hand drawn.

A set of five felt bookmarks. Two refrigerator magnets, hand drawn in crayon, depicting the Ranch’s main building and its view. A set of five colorful crocheted things that I mistook for pouches until they were explained to me as being reusable “water balloons”. Several hand-woven yarn friendship bracelets. A small, carved wooden horse that looked more like a hippo, but was painted like an Appaloosa and covered with purple and pink glitter.

Then the last box, a small one Emmy personally handed to me, smiling. “This one’s special,” she said.

I opened it and removed the bracelet, made of sparkly, glitter pony beads, fanciful spacer beads, and several Disney and other cartoon charms, on what I thought was a stainless steel chain.

And then… I looked closer.

In the middle of the bracelet hung a familiar-looking charm.

Vic stood in front of me, behind the giggle of Littles, smirking in a pleased way my special agent has. “Yes, that’s what it is,” he said.

Emmy dropped me another wink and took the bracelet so she could fasten it on my right wrist for me. “It’s a secure chain and clasp,” she whispered in my ear. “Your Sir gave them to me and Lilah helped me. She makes jewelry as a side hustle.”

I blinked back the sudden prickle of tears that hit me, but them Emmy was suddenly back to being a Little. “What do you think, Miss DeeDee?” she asked.

I sniffled. “It’s beautiful. Thank you. Is Lilah here?”

“No, Miss DeeDee,” Emmy said, then dropped to a whisper again. “She wanted to come but got kept at work late.”

I opened my arms to Emmy and I hugged her, long and tightly. “Thank you, sweetie,” I said. “I love it. Please tell her thank you for me if I don’t get to see her before we leave.”

“I will!” She stepped back and grinned at me. “She’ll hopefully be here this weekend.”

I wanted to help them clean up, but they playfully assured me it wasn’t necessary. After another round of thank yous to them for what they’d done, Vic helped me gather up my gifts.

We were about to return to our room when I spotted Emmy and walked over to give her one last hug. “Sorry Lilah couldn’t be here,” I said. “What does she do, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Emmy glanced around and dropped her voice. “She’s a game warden officer for the state,” she said. “A supervisor. I guess they busted a big poaching ring and they needed her help rounding up suspects.”

I blinked. “Uh, oh. That’s…” I didn’t know where to go with that. “Unexpected,” I lamely settled on.

She slyly smiled. “Mind blown?” she whispered.

I nodded. “You could say that.”

She giggled, her Little still close to the surface, but the woman whispered, “That’s okay. Most people who see me in Little mode can’t believe I’m a pediatric neurosurgeon.”