Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
Poppy
Poppy had no idea what she had done in a past life that led her to waking up tangled in the arms of a beautiful woman who was also a Daddy.
Her Daddy.
She smiled sleepily, aware of a slight soreness between her legs that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. While she might have originally been apprehensive about a Caregiver dynamic when Master Derek brought it up, she now saw the merits of having someone who looked out for her and helped her to thrive instead of always putting their own needs first. Poppy finally knew what it meant to have someone who had your back and it was something beyond her wildest dreams.
The fact that the woman who was first assigned as her Caregiver out of nothing but a curious necessity had turned out to be so much more wasn’t lost on Poppy. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if maybe it was actually Master Derek’s goal to bring the two women together from the very beginning. He had a knack for doing just that, but Poppy had never seen it in action for herself until now.
Smiling back at her Little with a warm, gentle smile of her own, CJ reached out and brushed a strand of hair out of Poppy’s eyes. “Good morning, kitten. How are you feeling this morning?”
As if waiting for the perfect moment to make its needs known, Poppy’s belly growled, the sound loud enough to have her eyes going wide.
CJ laughed, responding before Poppy had the chance to. “Hungry is apparently the answer. I’ll order us some breakfast.” Leaning in, she kissed Poppy sweetly. “Last night was very special to me, Poppy.”
“It was special to me, too.”
Something had shifted between them somewhere in the middle of the night. Poppy knew she would always need CJ, need her Daddy.
And not simply in the Caregiver role that she had so perfectly taken on without so much as a thought to her own needs. She needed CJ as her friend, as her partner, and as her lover.
As promised, CJ ordered breakfast for the pair, and it arrived at their suite only a short time later. CJ set out plates atop the mattress instead of eating at the small table in the living room, and Poppy squealed at the opportunity to have a picnic in bed with the most important person in her life. They dined on a meal of eggs and bacon, of sausage and fluffy pancakes topped with fluffy whipped cream and fresh berries. And when CJ had a little of the whipped cream on her bottom lip, Poppy stunned her by leaning forward and kissing it off her face with an eager, hot tongue.
They showered together, Poppy surprised when her Daddy didn’t opt to bathe her in the tub as she usually did each night with gentle care. But when CJ admitted that she had been feeling a bit vulnerable after the night they shared, telling Poppy she felt she needed her extra close, it made sense, as Poppy had been feeling the exact same way, only unable to put the feelings into words until she heard her Daddy say them out loud to her.
Instead of clothes, they opted for plush, fluffy robes that were stored in each bedroom’s closet. They were both dwarfed by the fabric that was downy soft and obscenely luxurious. Fresh and clean smelling, the only thing that was missing was the signature warmth of something fresh from the dryer.
“I could stay wrapped in this forever,” Poppy said as they got comfortable on the couch. She sat next to her Daddy, their fingers tangled together as they both looked out at the fire dancing away behind the glass door of the electric fireplace. And while she had meant she could stay wrapped in the comfort of the robe forever, both women felt the unsaid words that also hung between them.
I could stay wrapped in this moment forever.
I could stay wrapped in the magic of the Ranch forever.
I could stay wrapped in you forever.
Poppy felt her lip tremble, knowing her Daddy was leaving Rawhide Ranch in just a few short days. She wanted to scream to the universe that it wasn’t fair. That she had finally found someone who liked her exactly as she was, flaws and all. And now, she was going to be taken away as quickly as she had arrived in Poppy’s life.
Poppy knew she didn’t need CJ in her life to succeed, that she had been given an arsenal of tools to help. She was still contemplating making an appointment with the Ranch psychologist Master Derek had first recommended to her a few weeks prior, too. Still, she wanted CJ in her life and knew her life would be so much more plentiful with her Daddy at her side.
CJ squeezed Poppy’s hand and with anguished eyes, Poppy turned to look at her Daddy.
“Oh, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” She pulled her Little onto her lap and Poppy happily went, the tears that had been on the verge, finally spilling over as she realized this might be the last time she would sit in her Daddy’s lap.
Poppy sniffled loudly, throwing her arms around her Daddy and pressing her face into CJ’s neck as she cried big, body-wracking sobs that shook her entire frame. Her Daddy’s arms came around her body, locking her into place much in the way a weighted blanket locked its recipient under the gentle pressure of its caress.
“Take a big breath and talk to me, kitten. Tell me what’s wrong, Poppy. Tell Daddy what’s wrong.”
Tightening her grip on CJ, Poppy tried to push words out through the tears. “I know I have a tendency to overreact and blow things out of proportion, and I know that I’ve even said some things that have been hurtful to you, but I’m not overreacting when I say I don’t know what I’m going to do when you leave.” She didn’t let her Daddy interject, instead barreling on like a steamroller while she held the courage to do so. “I know it’s silly that I’ve been living at the Ranch for as long as I have and never looked for a dynamic of my own, for a boyfriend… or girlfriend , I guess… but I didn’t feel like I needed it.”
CJ remained quiet, running a hand up and down Poppy’s back in reassuring touches that were enough to have Poppy continuing to speak.
“I don’t know what it was about you that made me change my mind, but it was like that day in the cafeteria, when I spilled things all over you and your first reaction wasn’t to yell or to be angry, that something inside of me clicked and I somehow knew that you were meant to be in my life—that I’d never be the same.” Poppy pushed her body away from CJ’s, looking the other woman in the eyes. “How am I supposed to go on knowing that I won’t get to see you at the end of each day? How do I live knowing that you’re somewhere out in the world caring for someone else? Loving someone else when it should be me?”
Finally, CJ broke as if unable to watch Poppy hurt for a single second longer. Surging up from where she sat beneath Poppy, CJ wrapped one arm around Poppy’s back while grasping her jaw in the other.
Poppy closed her eyes tightly, terrified of what her Daddy was going to say.
Their bodies were so close together, the electricity and emotion swirling around them in a current worthy of sweeping the strongest swimmers off course. “Look at me, Poppy.”
CJ’s voice was like nothing Poppy had ever heard from her Daddy. It was gritty and rough with emotion. Strained yet quiet as if it hurt her to speak.
It took all the strength she had in her body to open her eyes, but finally Poppy did as CJ had asked. Her normally stoic Daddy looked wrought with emotion and it tore Poppy apart even further, nearly sending her into another fit of sobs.
“Thank you for telling me how you are feeling, I know that isn’t an easy thing for anyone to do. The time we’ve spent together… Poppy, it’s been some of the best days of my life and I’m going to cherish these days forever, sweetheart.”
This was it, Poppy thought. This was their goodbye.
“I wasn’t looking for a partner when I came to Rawhide Ranch and I sure as hell wasn’t looking for love. But somehow in the last few weeks, I found both and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let that go.”
Confusion spread on Poppy’s face.
“Yeah, baby. That’s right. I am head over fucking heels in love with you and I don’t see how I can let that go.”
“You… you love me?”
CJ smiled, but the smallest bit of hesitation was behind her expressive brown eyes. “Yeah, sweetheart, I love you.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in love before. Well, not truly,” Poppy said honestly. “But with you, you’ve taught me what it’s like to feel loved and to give it in return. What it’s like to have someone who cares for me just as much as I care for them. You’ve helped me to become a better person and have taught me to see the promise within myself. You’re good, and deserving, and so damn wonderful. I love you too, CJ.”
Poppy’s arms were back around CJ’s neck. She held her lover to her tightly, the promise of their own future bright as the sun still rising over the winter morning’s horizon.
“Yesterday,” CJ started, still holding Poppy tight, “I had come to pick you up from class with the intention of having a conversation with you, but it’s safe to say we got a little off track.”
Poppy giggled, “Oopsies?”
“Yeah,” CJ laughed in response. “Oopsies.”
“So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about? Am I in trouble for something?”
Poppy tried to think of something that she had done that would have caused her to be due a punishment, but she couldn’t think of anything. Thankfully, her Daddy continued before her anxieties could kick in, and Poppy was once again grateful to have found someone who understood the intricacies of her anxiety.
“No, kitten, you’re not in any sort of trouble. I met with Master Derek yesterday with the intention of asking to extend my stay at Rawhide Ranch.”
Wide, hopeful eyes stared at CJ. “You’re staying longer?”
“That depends.”
“Well, don’t leave me hanging!” Poppy had a renewed vigor in her voice, some of the sadness being replaced with a cautious optimism that she would have more time with her Daddy after all.
CJ laughed, a deep, musical sound that filled the room around them. “God, you’re cute when you’re impatient.”
Poppy blushed. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, sweetheart. I like knowing you’re excited at the potential of more time with me. Now, what I was going to say before that adorable little outburst is that I was planning on asking if there were rooms available. You know that when I came here I didn’t have a set timeline, a set place to call home when my vacation was over. I wanted to take advantage of that, of more time with you. And that is still going to happen, if you want that. Only, I won’t be at the Ranch as a guest.”
Back and forth, Poppy searched CJ’s eyes with her own. “I don’t understand? You’re staying but you’re not staying?”
A full, bright smile spread across CJ’s face. It was one of the rare smiles that made her Daddy’s eyes light up in a way Poppy so loved. “As you know, Master Derek does thorough checks on all his guests before they arrive at the Ranch. Apparently, he was highly impressed with some feedback he received from Sebastian Waters, the owner of the lifestyle club back where I lived in Florida. Before I even had the chance to ask about extending my vacation, he was telling me that he had looked over my online portfolio and was offering me a residency at the university to teach photography!”
Poppy had seen much of her Daddy’s photography over their short time together, loving the pictures of people of all shapes and sizes that CJ had captured. There were vanilla pictures of happy families and beautiful friendships, but the pictures Poppy had fallen in love with most were the naughty pictures she had first blushed at when scrolling through the seemingly never-ending galleries. Bodies tied in brightly colored rope, splashed with colorful patterns of wax, and often in full-on fetish wear. It intoxicated her in a way she had never known possible, the pictures turning her on as she looked at the subject of each photo, each picture being somehow more beautiful than the previous image.
She looked stunned, nearly flabbergasted. “You’re going to teach? Here?”
“Only if you like the idea,” CJ told her. “I know it is a huge decision to make, that the Ranch has been your safe space, and that it’s sudden and soon. There are logistics to figure out and plans to make and...” She was cut off as Poppy slammed her mouth over CJ’s.
Poppy kissed her Daddy like her life depended on it. Like she needed the kiss more than the breath in her lungs. “Of course I want you to stay. I… I can’t believe this!”
CJ ran her hands through her Little’s hair as Poppy melted into her body. “Believe it, sweetheart. I would have done anything to spend more time with you so we could have figured out our next steps together. Sometimes, life just has a way of putting the perfect opportunity in front of us when we least expect it but need it most.”
Minutes turned to hours as they talked from their shared space on the couch. Lunch came and went as they made plans to travel to Florida together before the end of Poppy’s break. CJ was excited to show Poppy a place that was important to her and Poppy had squealed when her Daddy mentioned a cross-country road trip to return to Rawhide Ranch, claiming it was something she had always dreamed of doing but never had someone she trusted enough to take the plunge of actually making it a reality.
They had an early dinner delivered much like the rest of their meals that day, stealing mouthwatering kisses and gentle caresses between bites of equally delicious Italian food and desserts.
And for the second night in a row, when it was time for bed, they crawled under the covers of CJ’s oversized bed together.
“Tell me again?” Poppy asked, as they settled into a more comfortable position atop the mattress, still touching in as many places as they could. Thighs and arms pressed together, arms and fingers tangled as they giggled and cuddled in the warmth of their suite.
In the warmth of their love .
With a contented sigh, CJ leaned her head on her Little’s shoulder. “I love you, Poppy. You’re the sweetest little kitten I’ve ever known.”
Poppy grinned, though CJ couldn’t see it.
Sure, it had been but a few weeks. They were sure to find quirks with one another and not every day would be smooth sailing, but for the first time in her life, Poppy felt like she was truly at peace. Truly at a place where she could be herself and not be chided or looked down on for who she was.
And there was nothing more promising than that.
“I love you too, Daddy.”