Epilogue
December
Alexis
“Alexis Paige! No running in the house!”
Skidding to a stop several feet from the front door, I spin around to face Mommy, my hands automatically moving behind me. “Sorry, Mommy! I forgot.”
One eyebrow raised, she places her hands on her hips and stares down at me. “You know the rules, little girl. Turn around.”
With a heavy sigh, I turn and bend at the waist, placing my hands on my knees so Mommy can flip my dress up over my diaper. Several sharp swats land on the backs of my thighs, and I can’t stop myself from yelping at the stinging pain.
“If I catch you running in the house one more time, I am going to paddle your naughty bottom with my brush. Am I completely understood, Little girl?”
“Yes, Mommy, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
Two hard swats land just below my diaper before she wraps me in her arms, pulling me close. Eyes closed, I snuggle into her breasts, my mouth watering at the scent of her milk even though I just nursed this morning.
“That’s my good girl. I know you’re excited but Mommy wants you to stay safe, remember?”
“Yes, Mommy.”
The doorbell rings again, reminding us both why I was running in the first place and Mommy sighs. “I suppose we should go let the others in before Victoria wears that doorbell out.”
Giggling, I grab her hand, dragging her behind me toward the front door. Our entire family is waiting outside, and a cheer goes up among the crowd as the door swings open.
“Lexie!”
Racing forward, my best friends in the whole world all tackle me to the ground at once, and the house comes alive with the sound of their excited chatter.
I love them all, so very much, and while I still have my moments of jealousy, we’ve become the family we were always meant to be.
Even Tori, who is now one of my favorite people on the planet despite our rocky start.
And now we get to celebrate our very first Christmas as a family. There’s talk of Santa and presents and all the fun things their Daddies and my Mommy have planned for us and we’re still talking a mile a minute to each other as we’re ushered into the parlor.
Where we all stop dead and stare at the giant, real-life Christmas tree standing in the middle of the room.
But it’s not just the tree, it’s the man and the woman standing proudly beside it, wide grins stretched across their faces that have half a dozen shocked squeals piercing the air.
“Auntie Gray! Uncle Axel!”
Completely forgetting my earlier promise to Mommy not five minutes ago, I break free of the group and go running to them, throwing myself into Auntie Gray’s arms as she laughs.
“I guess that means you like your surprise, little one.”
“I do, I do! I always wanted a real tree!”
Grinning, Uncle Axel hoists me up in his arms. It’s a move that’s taken some getting used to, as he’s one of the few people capable of doing so, but I love how very Little it makes me feel.
Throwing my arms around his neck, I squeeze. “Thank you, thank you, this is the best Christmas present ever.”
“You’re welcome, little red,” he says with a laugh of his own, using the nickname he granted me when he and our other uncles first started visiting just for fun instead of work.
While I love all our lumberjack uncles, Axel is my favorite and not just because he sneaks me candy whenever Mommy isn’t looking.
But then Uncle Axel’s gaze latches on something behind me and his smile turns sympathetic. “What have you done now, Lexie?”
Turning, I find Mommy standing behind us, holding her hairbrush. “Come here, Alexis Paige.”
Aw, crud. Uncle Axel puts me back down on the ground and I slowly drag myself to stand in front of my Mommy. “Sorry, Mommy.”
“You absolutely will be in a minute.”
Taking me by the arm, she sits on the couch and pulls me over her lap. Cool air brushes over my skin as she whips the diaper off me, and I can’t help but whimper slightly in anticipation.
“We just had this discussion, little girl. Clearly Mommy’s words are not getting through to you without some help.”
The hard wood of her brush cracks against my skin and I let out a long, loud howl, my feet fluttering against the couch. Over and over she paddles my bare bottom, and with each swat it feels like a bajillion bees are stinging my flesh.
“I’m sorry, Mommy, I’m sorry!”
“Little girls do not run in the house.” As she lectures, she shifts her focus to my sit spots, and tears form in my eyes at the sharp pain. “Especially my Little girl in my house. Isn’t that right, Alexis Paige?”
“Yes, yes, Mommy, I’m sorry! I won’t ever do it again!”
“I’ll settle for making it through the New Year,” she responds dryly as she continues to paddle my bottom.
I’m too overwhelmed by the pain to even care that everyone is watching me get my bare butt spanked, and that they can probably see all my naughty bits as I struggle and flail over Mommy’s lap.
Whatever sense of modesty I had when I moved to the island has been stripped from me over the past few months considering every “grownup” in this room has either watched me get spanked or spanked me themselves.
By the time Mommy finishes my spanking, I’m sobbing over her knee, feeling very, very sorry for myself indeed. She gives me a moment to wallow, rubbing her soft hand over my bottom before helping me to sit up so she can cradle me on her lap.
“There, there, my love. It’s all over. My good, sweet girl.” Pressing a kiss to my forehead, she moves her hand between us to her dress. “Would you like some milk, little one?”
Still crying too hard to speak, I nod, turning my head when she pulls one heavy breast free. My tears almost instantly cease as I suckle, her sweet milk pooling on my tongue as I drink.
“Who’s ready for cook—oh, no.” Gavin’s exasperated voice pierces my consciousness right before he sighs heavily. “Again?”
“You know how Little ones get around the holidays,” Mommy says with a laugh. “Why don’t you show the others where the ornaments are so they can start decorating. But make sure to leave the star for Alexis.”
My heart swells as I pull harder on Mommy’s nipple.
When Mommy asked if I would mind having the family over to help decorate the tree, I wasn’t sure at first. But then she asked if there was anything I wanted to keep just for me, and I chose the star.
It’s become something of a tradition for us, Mommy asking if there’s anything I want just for us whenever we try something new.
And every time, she does exactly what she said she would do, keeping our “just for us” things between us.
The other Littles were disappointed when she told them she’d only be giving me her milk, but they understood.
She still gives them bottles sometimes, especially when they’ve just gotten in trouble and need someone to coddle them a bit.
But it’s always a bottle of someone else’s milk, not hers.
Sometimes I feel a little guilty about that, but then I think of them drinking my Mommy’s milk and that monster in my chest comes alive and I know it’s for the best that I’m the only one allowed to drink her milk.
“She’s so fuckin’ sweet,” a deep voice rumbles from beside us, and I open my eyes a bit, enough to see Uncle Axel watching us with a strange expression on his face.
“She is. You’ll find your own Little one soon, Axel. Don’t worry.”
“Starting to think I might need to take a page from you lot,” he says with a strained laugh. “Just find someone and make her mine, whether she likes it or not.”
“Worked out well for us. Didn’t it, Alexis?”
Unwilling to give up the comfort of Mommy’s milk just yet, I nod with her nipple still in my mouth and Mommy laughs before looking back up at Uncle Axel. “You’ll find her, Axel. All of you will, I’m sure of it.”
“Oh, Auntie Cat! Is this a new painting?” Nelly calls from the other side of the room.
I already know which one she’s talking about.
It’s another mermaid painting, but this time instead of the one mermaid looking so lonely, she’s perched on a rock in the middle of the lagoon, with a little redheaded mermaid by her side.
All around them, the other mermaids laugh and swim.
Now, they look more like a family, the way they were always meant to be.
“It’s beautiful, Cat,” Uncle Max says. “Someday you’ll really need to give me the name of your artist.”
I open my eyes to look up at Mommy, and find her smiling down at me, her dark eyes twinkling.
“No. That’s just between us.”
When Axel decides to take matters into his own hands to find his own Little girl, the last thing he expects is to find her right on his doorstep—already dressed to be his bride. Join the Thorne siblings in the Forbidden Pleasures Mountain series, starting with Daddy’s Runaway Bride.