Page 25 of Rekindling Little River (Littles of Rawhide Ranch #14)

Dave

Every place designed for the Littles of Rawhide Ranch seemed to have been turned into a pirate wonderland.

Even the playground was covered in pirate flags and pirate ships and little props had been added into the play areas: things such as a pirate ship wheel, a parrot, and flying pirate flags.

Everywhere he took Little River, Dave discovered some more pirate things and that made him glad their trip had coincided with this particular event.

Because River was having the time of their life.

After lunch, they had ventured back to the indoor playground, where River's new friends were waiting to play with them. They ran and chased each other all around, brandishing inflated or Styrofoam swords, talking pirate talk and enjoying themselves in a way he had never seen River do before.

It was lucky for him that he had brought his first aid bag, though, as River was once again accident prone.

The more their Big self receded, the less coordination they seemed to have.

It was nothing Dave couldn’t handle though.

In fact, he found he enjoyed taking care of all of River’s scrapes and boo-boos.

After the playground, Dave took River to the library, where he had heard that a pirate-themed game of Monopoly was happening.

There, to his chagrin, he discovered that River was quite competitive.

But in a turn of events that should not have surprised him, it seemed they were also extremely generous in the knowledge and strategies they were willing to share with other players.

While they very much wanted to win, they also didn’t want anyone else to feel bad, and went out of their way to make sure that everyone felt supported.

It took several hours for the group to finish the game, and there wasn’t a single player who was upset that River came out the winner. They’d been too nice to everybody else for anyone to not want them to win.

After the game, it was time for dinner, and they’d wanted to do something special .

He had called the front desk while the game was happening and asked for what he needed, so when it came time for dinner, instead of taking River to a restaurant, he led them to a room he had reserved.

It gave them some privacy and was set up as a sort of relaxation room.

There were comfy chairs, a sofa, and an extremely cushy rug on the floor in front of a beautiful fireplace.

On top of the rug, the Ranch staff had placed a picnic blanket, in the center of which was a basket containing the dinner Dave had ordered.

Dave led his Little pirate to the rug by the fire and helped them to sit, before pulling out sandwiches, plates of fruit and cheese, as well as a carafe of sparkling grape juice from the basket.

He then pulled out the plates, cups, and cutlery and proceeded to prepare them both plates.

He cut River’s sandwich into four triangles before placing it in front of them.

He poured them both sparkling white grape juice into plastic champagne flutes, setting them on top of the blanket that was thankfully waterproof so he didn’t have to worry if River spilled their drink.

While he wouldn’t be at all upset if River stayed in a Little mindset, he also wasn’t going to be disappointed if he got a glimpse of Big River, so he had taken careful steps to ensure that he was prepared for either eventuality.

He had something that he wanted to discuss with River, but he was willing to wait if River needed more time and Little space. However, it seemed that the romantic setting had brought Big River to the service. He wasn’t sure if it made him selfish that he was glad of that, but he was.

They talked of small things at first. Just light conversation.

Small talk. Simply enjoying each other’s company and the private romantic setting.

But once they finished eating, and River laid back on the blanket with their head resting on their fist, Dave brought up the topic he’d been waiting all night to broach.

“I have a question, baby,” he said softly. “Yesterday when I caught you by the tree, what made you react the way that you did?”

River's blush let Dave know right away that they understood exactly what he was talking about. Dave had an idea of what they might say, but he didn’t want to voice it and influence their answer in any way.

Just because it might be what he hoped for, didn’t mean it was the truth.

River had spent too much of their life kowtowing to everyone else for him to want them to do anything just because he would want it.

So, Dave was extremely careful in his wording to ensure that River would only give an answer that was true to themselves.

“Honestly, I don’t really know. After I hid the treasure, and you found me, it sparked something inside me.

I didn’t even know that I was gonna tag you as ‘It’ and run until I did it.

Then, when you were chasing me, the more adrenaline I got from running, the more turned on I was. Does that make me weird?”

Their words had caused Dave’s heart to leap, and if there had been any doubt in his mind that River had been made for him, their words had erased it. “No, baby, it doesn’t make you weird at all. Just makes you perfect for me. Because the more I chased you, the more turned on I got.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Dave adjusted his position so he could look directly into their eyes as he asked, “Would you like to try a more organized scene like that?”

As Dave’s heart raced in anticipation of River’s answer, River’s breathing picked up and their pupils dilated, letting him know before the words left their mouth what their answer would be.

“Yeah, Daddy. I think I’d really like that.”

“It will mean time planned for you to be Big River. We can’t do a scene like this in Little headspace.”

“We can’t?” River seemed genuinely confused as to why and it made Dave smile.

“No, baby, we can’t. If you hadn’t noticed, your Little isn’t the most coordinated person and while I want to hunt you, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Daddy!” River gasped in mock-outrage. “My Little self has the grace of a ballerina, the strength of ten men, and the stealth of a ninja!”

Considering that River couldn’t even say it with a straight face let Dave in on the fact that they didn’t really believe all that. “If you say so, baby.” He chuckled. “But just in case, why don’t we plan to be Big for this particular scene anyway?”

River shrugged as if they hadn’t a care in the world, and it made Dave realize that he’d helped them achieve that, and as River followed up the shrug with, “okay, Daddy,” Dave felt he had a purpose for the first time in a long time. To keep River as happy and carefree as any person could be.