Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Addison
After seeing Daniel and Kylie off to their dorms, she left a note for her next class and shot a text off to the teacher group chat letting them know she’d be off the rest of the day.
Ignoring the immediate pings in response, she shoved the phone into her purse, tucked her laptop into her messenger bag, and headed for the main area of the Ranch.
Erika looked up from her desk in the waiting area of Derek’s office, a smile spreading across her welcoming face. “Hi, Professor Renard! What can I do for you?”
“I need to speak with Derek. Now, if possible.”
The urgency in her voice must have gotten through because Erika instantly sobered, her head bobbing up and down. “Of course. He should be available but let me check for you.”
Addison resisted the urge to pace while Erika made the call, but just barely. Every nerve in her body felt like a livewire about to snap, and it was all she could do not to simply burst into his office without waiting.
Thankfully, Derek was free, and as soon as Erika gave her the go ahead, Addison hurried into his office. He was where he often was, sitting behind his large desk, a knowing smile on his lips.
“Addison. Lovely to see you again so soon. What can I do for you?”
“I need advice.”
Now she did let herself pace as she told the whole story, from Kylie walking in without her uniform to her agreeing to dinner with the two of them. Once the story was finished, she dropped into one of the visitor’s chairs and met her boss’s amused gaze. “So what do I do?”
“Well, for starters, I suggest you choose a restaurant for dinner. Connor has soft-launched his steakhouse up on the Ridge if you’re worried about too many prying eyes. We could also arrange to have dinner delivered to your apartment if you’d prefer something more… intimate.”
“Dinner isn’t the problem, Derek.” Though now that he mentioned it, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted the entire Ranch watching their sure-to-be-disastrous date.
“Then what is the problem, Addison?”
“You know what the problem is! I’m not a Mommy and they need a Mommy.”
His expression shifted. There wasn’t sympathy in his eyes, but a deeper kind of understanding that told her he wasn’t just brushing aside her concerns.
“I know why you feel that way,” he said, his tone full of that same understanding.
“But you’re wrong. Just because you weren’t compatible with one Little girl doesn’t mean you’re a monster, Addison. ”
“What if I am, though?” Her voice had dropped to a whisper and she hated the weakness of the tears burning the backs of her eyes. “What if I break them, Derek? What if I’m too much?”
“Have you stopped to ask yourself what if you’re exactly what they need?”
“No. Because I’m not.”
“Addison.” With a sigh that said he thought she was being too stubborn for her own good, Derek rose and rounded the desk, perching on the edge and looking down at her. “Are you a good Domme?”
Insult pricked at her. “Of course. I’m an excellent Domme.”
“What makes you excellent?”
Frowning, she considered the question. “I listen to my submissives. I always take their needs into consideration, and I try to meet them where they are, even when I’m attempting to push their limits.
When they tell me they can’t do as I’ve asked, I don’t immediately move to punish them, but ask them to communicate why it’s difficult so we can hopefully find a solution together. ”
“And why do you think those same characteristics won’t translate to being an excellent Mommy?”
That was easy enough to answer, since she’d had all the reasons painfully laid out for her in black and white. “I’m too strict. The rules I have, the demands, they’re too much for a Little girl. Or boy. Littles need cuddles and stuffies and someone soft to gently guide their way.”
“I see.” Derek nodded slowly. “When you punished Kylie and Dan this morning, did you refuse to cuddle them afterward?”
More insult, running its spindly little fingers up her spine. “Of course not.”
“And was it in any way uncomfortable for you to offer that comfort?”
“No.”
“All right. Next question. Have you ever had two submissives with the exact same needs? Who flourished with the exact same set of rules and expectations?”
“Well, no. Every submissive is different.”
Triumph lit his eyes. “Exactly. So why on Earth are you acting like all Littles are a monolith? You’ve seen me and Sadie in the Dungeon, so you know some Littles enjoy the more extreme kinds of play.”
He was right. She knew he was right.
And yet, fear wrapped around her chest like a vise, threatening to squeeze every last bit of air from her lungs. “That doesn’t mean I’m cut out to be a Mommy.”
Leaning over, he gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.
And again she saw that deep understanding in his eyes.
“I can’t promise you it won’t be hard, Addison.
And as much as I believe in the magic of the Ranch, I can’t promise you happily ever after.
But what I can promise you is that if you don’t take this chance, if you walk away from them without at least trying, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. ”
Kylie
“You look adorable, Ky.”
Twisting in front of the mirror in her dorm room, Kylie wrinkled her nose at her reflection. “I don’t know if I want to look adorable.”
On the bed, her best friend Eliza Bennett rolled her eyes. “Well what do you want?”
“I don’t know,” Kylie said with a groan, turning to flop herself down on the bed beside Eliza. “Help me, Eliza. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Bestie powers activated!” Hopping up from the bed, Eliza rushed over to the closet and immediately began pulling clothes free.
“Hmm. Too casual. Too Little. Too… I don’t even know what this is,” she said, pulling out a hoodie Kylie had stolen from Danny’s dorm over the summer.
The sweatshirt was old and ratty with holes and fraying edges, but Kylie loved it.
“It’s comfortable,” she grumbled, jumping up to snatch the beloved shirt from her friend’s grasp.
“Uh huh. Sure. Anyway.” Turning back to the closet, Eliza continued her search. “Oh! This is cute!”
She pulled a dress free. Short, with a full skirt and a square neck, the pink satin shimmered in the light. A white ribbon wrapped around the waist and formed a giant bow that would sit right above Kylie’s butt. Everything in her longed to wear it, but…
“I don’t know. You don’t think it’s too Little coded?”
“So? She already knows you’re a Little. And I think it walks the line between Little and sexy rather nicely. Especially with these.”
Shoving the dress at Kylie, Eliza spun and hurried over to the duffel bag she’d brought with her. When she unzipped the bag, Kylie couldn’t stop herself from gasping with excitement.
“You brought me shoes!”
“I did indeed.” Grinning, Eliza pulled her favorite white stilettos from the bag and held them up next to the dress. “See? Perfect?”
“They really are.” For the first time since her rather disastrous spanking, excitement outpaced worry and embarrassment. “Danny and the professor aren’t going to know what hit them.”
Danny
Three hours after Kylie had kicked him out of her dorm room so Eliza could help her get ready, he was back where he’d started, staring at the dry erase calendar hanging on her wooden door. She’d added “date night” to the current date and circled the entry with a heart.
God she was adorable.
He reached for the doorknob but paused with his hand on the cool metal. Normally he just walked right into her room, but this wasn’t “normal” circumstances. They were going on a date. Together. And with Professor Renard.
Should he knock, then? Shit, should he have brought flowers? For her and the professor?
Why are you so bad at this?
He’d just about made up his mind that he should turn right around and head back to the gift shop for flowers when a familiar, smoky voice called his name.
“Hello, Daniel.”
Turning, he froze at the sight of her. She’d let her hair down, literally.
The vibrant red lay in soft curls over her shoulders, which were left bare by the short, curve-hugging dress she’d chosen.
Her skin seemed to glow, though whether that was from the deep blue of the dress or she’d done some feminine magic to give herself that glow, he wasn’t sure.
“Holy shit.”
As soon as the words left his lips, he wished desperately for a hole to open up in the ground and swallow him whole.
But Professor Renard didn’t seem to mind. Her lips curved up, a smile of pure feminine satisfaction as she raked her gaze down his body and back up. “You clean up well yourself, Mr. Hollis.”
He hadn’t put on a full suit, but since he didn’t know exactly where they were going for dinner he’d figured he should dress up a little bit.
Freshly pressed gray slacks and a cream-colored button down that he’d left unbuttoned at the top because the thought of putting on a tie made him feel a little claustrophobic.
When he’d left his dorm, he’d felt slick and put together, but next to her he just felt sloppy.
“I should, um, go put on a tie. Or… something.”
Still wearing that cat-who-ate-the-canary smile, Professor Renard tilted her head to the side, just a bit.
But enough for him to feel like she was studying him, like she saw things he didn’t want her or anyone else to see.
“Perhaps what you should do is trust that I would tell you if I wasn’t satisfied with your attire. Can you do that for me, Daniel?”
His breath tangled in his chest and he prayed with everything he had that she wouldn’t notice the erection tenting the front of his pants. “Yes, Ma’am. I think so.”
“Good boy.”
A whimper rose in his throat at her praise.
Despite occasional trips to the Dungeon during his time at Rawhide, he’d never had those words hit quite so hard.
Like a physical punch to the gut, one that had his knees trembling with the desire to drop down and worship every inch of her gorgeous, curvy body.
Hunger flashed in her eyes, leaving him again with that impression that she saw right through to the deepest parts of him.
“Knock on the door, Daniel. It’s rude to be late.”
The part of him that thrived on the push and pull between Domme and sub wanted to rebel, to see how far he could push her before she punished him. But the other part, the part that wanted to hear her call him a good boy again won out and he turned to rap his knuckles on Kylie’s door.
“Thank you, Daniel. You’re a good boy.”
Before he could give in to his urge to drop to his knees in front of her, the door swung open and for the second time that night he froze in shock at the vision in front of him.
Unlike Professor Renard’s smoldering sexuality, Kylie was all innocence and lace.
The pink dress she’d chosen flared out at the waist with layers of some fluffy material that caused it to puff out around her thighs.
The soft pink accented her skin, giving it a similar glow to Professor Renard’s, though Kylie wasn’t quite as pale as their potential Mommy.
Half her hair was down, the other half pulled back and clipped with a giant white bow, and she’d done something to her face to make her eyes seem larger, rounder, and her lips were painted a glossy pale pink that matched the dress.
Two very different women, with two very different styles, and yet he craved them both like he craved his next breath.
Mine.
On the other side of the doorframe, Kylie also froze, her dark eyes going round and a pretty blush creeping along her cheekbones. “Oh. Um. Hi, Danny. Hi… Professor.”
Beside, him, Professor Renard chuckled, deep and throaty and intoxicating. “I think under the circumstances you should both call me Addison, at least when we aren’t in class.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he said in unison with Kylie. Their gazes locked and a second later they burst into laughter.
Addison watched them, amusement making her emerald eyes sparkle. “If you two are finished, we have a reservation for seven-thirty at the steakhouse. It’s a bit of a drive up to the Ridge so we should get going.”
He shared a look with Kylie, and found his own surprise mirrored there. “The Ridge, Ma’am?”
“Yes.” Addison’s smile deepened. “I wanted you all to myself this first time. I never have been very good about sharing my toys. Which is the first thing you should know about me. If you’re mine, you are mine.
The second thing you should know is that I take punctuality very seriously and if we are even a minute late for our reservation, I will bend you both over the table and spank your bare bottoms right in the middle of the restaurant.
“Now, do you have any other questions, or would you prefer we get going so we aren’t late?”
“No more questions,” Kylie squeaked, snatching her purse off the hook near her door. “Let’s go.”
Approval lit Addison’s eyes before she shifted her attention back to Danny. “Daniel?”
“No questions, Ma’am.”
“Good. The shuttle is waiting.”