Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Livvy
Staring at the juncture where two walls met tends to focus one’s mind.
Even when the thoughts inside said mind were skittering about like balls on a pool table once the cue ball hit them head on.
I shifted my weight yet again as I faced the truth of exactly why I was standing in the corner with my jeans and panties pooled at my ankles.
It wasn’t that I’d jumped a fence. It was that I’d jumped that fence knowing it was likely to end up with my bare ass hanging out in the wind.
Of course, what I’d—what we’d—failed to consider was that jumping in tandem with Kate would have quite the affect it had.
“You okay?”
The question startled me a bit, but only because I’d been straining to hear any sound of my Daddy approaching and he’d not been the one to ask the question.
“Believe it or not, I think so.” I smiled as the answer had come without me giving it much thought. “How about you?”
“I’m good,” Kate said. “Though ask me again when we’re done and I might give a different answer.”
“I didn’t mean to scare Lincoln, just wanted to—”
“To what?”
It took me a second to understand the very man I was talking about had just spoken.
“Oopsie,” Kate said and for some reason I found that incredibly funny and burst into giggles.
“Good grief, what have we done?” Luther asked.
“We? There is no we. You’re the one who encouraged her from the moment you yanked her out of the truck,” Lincoln said.
I tried to get control of myself, honestly, I did, but the giggles wouldn’t cooperate.
Not until I felt a very large, very warm hand splay against my ass, that was.
Who knew that all it took was my Daddy’s palm against my bare butt to cut off a giggle mid-giggle.
And that it then took a puff of warm air against my ear saying, “Breathe, pixie,” to have me inhale much-needed oxygen.
“I’m really sorry,” I said softly once I could speak.
“Are you?” he asked.
I might never have been in this situation before, but I’d devoured enough books on the Daddy/Little dynamic to know enough that I wasn’t supposed to turn around.
But then again, I’d known I wasn’t exactly supposed to jump that fence either.
Jumping was to be contained to the special equestrian fences Lincoln had erected in one of the corrals when he’d learned how much I enjoyed the sport.
So I turned and looked up at the man who was my world.
“To be honest, not really. I mean, I am very, very sorry for scaring you. I probably should have—”
“We should have,” Kate cut in which only made me love her even more.
“We should have factored that in, but please know that was never our intention,” I said, reaching out to place my hand against his chest. “For that I am really sorry. Next time—”
“There will not be a next time,” Lincoln declared even as he covered my hand with his and gave my fingers a squeeze. “And I not only accept your apology, I believe I know—”
“We know—” Luther corrected which caused my Daddy’s lips to quirk.
“I stand corrected. We know why you two hatched this plan.”
“You do?”
“Pixie, you’ve been pushing against that boundary for weeks now. You may have been too hesitant to make that final push on your own—”
“But Kate was only too happy to join forces with you,” Luther offered.
“That’s what besties do, Daddy!” Kate said.
Luther sighed. “Can’t argue that, can we? But the interruptions stop now, little girl, is that clear ? Otherwise you’ll be writing lines all night.”
Kate’s head turned to look over her shoulder, her eyes wide. “But the dance is tonight, Daddy.”
“All the more reason to get this show on the road.”
As if taking that as his cue to accept the pass off of the baton, Lincoln turned back to me.
“So what I’m hearing has me believing that you needed to see if I was all talk and no action, right?”
“No, Daddy, I’ve known you were a man of action ever since the first time you spanked me. What I wasn’t sure of was if I could walk the talk.”
“I’m afraid I’m not following.” His brow furrowed. “Are you saying you have doubt that you are a—”
“No!” I cut him off, kicking myself for ever causing him to, even for the briefest moment, fear I was about to rip out his heart.
“I’m definitely a Little. Your Little girl, but, Daddy, it’s one thing being your Little when it’s easy, but I needed to see for myself if I am your Little through and through.
And that means I needed to know if I can give up…
” I paused trying to think of the best way to phrase what I was trying to convey.
“Your jeans and panties,” Kate offered then yelped when her Daddy’s hand landed on her butt. “Sorry! I was trying to help move this along!”
“She’s right,” I said with a smile. “I knew I could lay over your lap in the privacy of your room, but had to know if I could stand before you and other Daddies and Littles bare-assed as well. I thought it best to discover the answer before we ever attend one of the get-togethers with others in the lifestyle… those outside of our little family.”
“Seems our Little girls have been talking about more than hatching plans,” Luther said. “You know anything about that, Kate?”
Kate turned her head toward her Daddy and then used a finger to zip her mouth shut.
“Besties,” Lincoln reminded him, but when his brow smoothed and his lips quirked, I knew he wasn’t upset. “Pixie, I must say it appears to me you’re doing a very fine job.”
Call me nuts, but I felt immensely proud of myself and nodded. “I am, aren’t I?”
“You are,” Luther agreed.
“Yep, the bestest job,” Kate called from her corner of the room. “Ouch!”
My Daddy stepped back. “Since your bestie seems determined to cheer you on at the cost of her own backside are you ready to see how good of a job your Daddy does to color your butt that special shade of red he loves so very much?”
“Giddyup,” I said and he just grinned and after crouching to guide my feet free of the clothing at my ankles, I took his hand and followed him to the same couch where he’d first held me.
“Ohhh,” I said, looking at the object that was already waiting on the cushion. “Is… is that a paddle?”
It sure isn’t a lollipop.
I’m sure Daddy couldn’t only hear that silent snark, but he forgave it as he picked the item up. “It’s not just a paddle, it’s a very special paddle.”
Part of me really didn’t want to know why it was special.
I’d read about all sorts of paddles in those books.
The only ones I remembered as having any specialty, were the ones that hurt the most. The ones with holes drilled into them, ones made of leather or worse, acrylic, but this one appeared to be wood, but I really couldn’t be sure.
Not until I asked. “What makes it special, Daddy?”
“Because this is the first time I’ll be using it.
I’ve saved it for years just waiting to find the only one it could belong to forever.
” As my nose scrunched in confusion, Lincoln turned the paddle over to expose the other side and my breath caught in my throat and my heart skipped a beat.
Written in script across the beautiful grain of the wood were the words, Daddy’s Naughty Little Girl. “Who are you, Liv?”
“I am Lincoln’s.”
“And I?”
“You are mine.”
No further words were needed and when he held out his free hand, I took it and let him guide me across his lap, Kate grinned from where she was doing the same on the opposite couch and I saw a very similar paddle in Luther’s hand and smiled.
And I don’t think either of us were surprised when our Daddies’ hands lifted at the same time nor that those paddles landed at the exact same moment.
And in case you’re wondering, my Daddy was pretty darn proud of the job he did and I’d have to say, he managed to match that color perfectly.
Later that night at the Barn Dance
Funny how the same word could have one feel two completely different things. I’d missed last month’s dance because of an injured ankle. The supportive wrapping as well as the crutches made my condition visible to anyone who saw me.
Tonight however, my condition was invisible yet I bore it like a badge of honor. The physical signs were still there but unseen but for those people who had become my family.
Both had made me throb but in such different ways.
And though I’d been blessed to have Lincoln care for me while my ankle throbbed, it had been painful.
But as the banjos and guitars and fiddles played, and boots stomped, and cowboys twirled their cowgirls, all I felt was the delicious throbbing bliss of knowing that the man leading me was my very own Daddy.
With each duck and twirl, every stomp and weave, the denim of my skirt swished across my thighs and the ass that he’d made sure would remain pink all night long.
When the Cotton-Eyed-Joe dance ended with a shouted chorus of, “Bull-shit,” Lincoln picked me up and twirled me in a final circle before sitting me back on my feet. “Havin fun, pixie?”
“So much! I could do this every night!”
He chuckled. “I believe you could, but your poor Daddy needs a breather and a drink. Want your regular C4?”
I loved the fact he already knew what my regular was.
“Yes, please,” I said as he led me back to the table and the group of haybales the four of us had claimed on arrival.
Kate and Luther were still out on the floor as a waltz began to play.
I smiled and looked around the huge space.
I saw several faces I remembered from my childhood and new ones I’d met when those casseroles kept coming.
Tumbling Falls was so very different than any city I’d ever lived in.
I smiled with the thought that the true difference wasn’t the place, it was the people.
Everyone surrounding me was just as concerned with their neighbor’s health and happiness as their own.
“It won’t last, you know. It never does.”
It took me a moment to realize that voice hadn’t belonged to Miss Smarty-Pants inside my head, This one came from someone standing beside me.
I looked up and saw Susanne St. Helen. I also saw she wasn’t even looking at me. Her gaze was directed across the room to where the refreshments had been set up and I knew who it was Susanne was searching for.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” I said softly. “It’s not a very happy way to go through life.”
She dropped her gaze to me and any softness she’d displayed that day at the Feed ‘N Seed was gone. Her blue eyes were hard, her lips thinned into a mere slash. “You’d do better to spend your time feeling sorry for yourself when you discover the truth,” she said in a tone dripping with venom.
What she didn’t know was that venom no longer frightened me.
I’d dealt with vipers and come out stronger for the battle.
The moment I’d found those papers, I’d found a well of strength that ran deep inside me.
A well filled from the very beginning of my life with the unconditional love of my namesake that had just been waiting to be tapped.
I’d discovered it would never go dry as it was refilled every day with the love of the man I’d known for as long as I could remember and had only needed to find again.
I rose to my feet to face Susanne head on.
“I already know the only truth that matters. And despite what you may think, I truly wish you the best. I hope that one day you’ll be ready to move on and find the one man who makes you feel that you are the other half of his soul. One who protects you—”
“Protects you?” Her laugh was brittle as she cut me off.
“Poor little girl. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Olivia.
His goal isn’t to protect you. He’s not out to rescue a silly little damsel in distress.
He’s not interested in pure love and doesn’t give a shit about your soul.
He’s not going to put you in some ivory tower.
What are you going to do when you discover that your knight’s armor isn’t so shiny, Olivia?
When you learn it’s as dirty as the floor beneath your boots! ”
I shook my head, my heart truly aching for this woman who was hurting so badly that she felt the need to try to destroy what she couldn’t have.
“But that’s just it, Susanne, I’ve lived in all the ivory towers, I’ve been surrounded by all the showy flash, witnessed all the power plays and the people who are so desperate they’ll do anything to reach something they can’t even define.
While they see all the money as prestige, all the bowing and ass-kissing as respect, what they refuse to acknowledge is that it’s all nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
Look around you, Susanne. This town, these people, they know what makes life worth waking up every single day.
” I felt a presence behind me and knew without turning that I was no longer alone, still I kept my eyes on Susanne’s.
“I’ve never wanted a knight and have never been drawn to shiny armor. I much prefer denim. And, as for what I’m going to do”—I turned around and when Lincoln’s lips curled and his dimple appeared, I held out my hand—“I’m gonna dance with my cowboy.”