Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Kendrick awoke the following morning to find the cute waitress from last night was still on his mind.
Her brown hair. Those big brown eyes. She was as cute as could be. Something told him she had a sassy streak, though. He chuckled just thinking about that.
She’d given him no evidence of such. It was simply a hunch he had.
Daddies could pick up on those things. They just knew.
He took a sip of coffee from the mug he held and strolled into the den. The morning sun was coming through the back window, making the space plenty bright even though none of the lights were on.
December might be cold and cloudy in other parts of the country, but there in Los Angeles it was all sunshine and mild temps. Even around Christmas.
It might not have felt like the holiday season outside, but it did inside. Thankfully.
The lights of a grand Christmas tree twinkled, switching from red, green, and blue to clear and then back again.
Wrapped presents ringed the base of the tree.
Some were perfectly packaged—like the ones the ladies had done or the ones some of the guys had paid to have professionally wrapped at the mall.
But others looked like a toddler had wrapped them—the paper and tape askew.
Those were the ones Ace had done himself.
The man wasn’t known for his wrapping abilities, Kendrick thought with a smile as he took another sip of coffee.
Walking deeper into the den, he realized Christmas music was playing softly in the background. He identified the source—a Bluetooth speaker on the bar. Tony Bennett finished Winter Wonderland and The Carpenters came on, with Karen’s beautiful voice singing The Christmas Waltz.
The music was drowned out by the sound of chattering as Iris, Cami, Lana, and Annika hurried into the room.
The four rushed straight to the Christmas tree. Evidently, they hadn’t even noticed Kendrick as he stood nearby drinking his coffee.
“That big one is for me!” Iris nearly yelled.
“Shake it! Let’s see if we can guess what it is,” Cami suggested.
Quickly, the Littles each had a present in their hands, holding it up near their ears as they rattled the boxes.
Kendrick cleared his throat.
The women yelped as they turned around in unison to face him.
“Do you cuties think your Daddies would be okay with y’all snooping?”
For a second, his Tennessee twang came out as he said y’all. He didn’t try to hide it. But he’d lived in L.A. for years, so it didn’t come as naturally to him these days.
Hmm. Perhaps being around that beautiful woman last night had brought it back out. She was from Kentucky, after all.
What was going on? he wondered. Sure, he wanted a Little. But he wasn’t the type to just fall for random women he met.
He’d get over her soon enough. Right now, he needed to worry about the naughty Littles in front of him.
“Well…” Iris began, though instead of finishing the sentence she simply winced and hung her head.
Annika picked up the slack. “You won’t tell our Daddies, Uncle Kendrick. Will you?”
He chuckled as he raised the mug to his lips and took another sip. Finally, he replied, “No. I suppose I won’t. If you put those presents down and run along. But if I catch you rummaging around in ‘em again I’ll either let your Daddies know or I’ll pop your bottoms myself.”
That wasn’t an idle threat. Around the mansion, all the guys had full authority to discipline the Littles that lived there on those occasions when the girls’ Daddies couldn’t do it.
Apparently, the four Littles took the warning seriously because they left the gifts alone and hurried away from the Christmas tree.
“Thank you!” Iris said, hugging Kendrick as she passed.
“Yeah, thanks for not ratting us out,” Cami added, hugging him too.
All four women hugged him before skipping out of the den. Kendrick watched them go and then walked to the tree to inspect things. They hadn’t done any damage to the gifts—all the wrapping paper seemed to still be intact. No boxes were exposed.
Crisis averted. For now. He knew the naughty Littles would try again before Christmas rolled around, though.
“What are you doing?” Isaiah’s voice called. “Trying to peek at your gifts early?”
Kendrick laughed as he turned around. He went a little too fast and nearly sloshed some of his coffee over the sides of the mug.
“It’s not me you have to worry about. But I just found the Littles—including your little Cami—rummaging around under there.” He jerked his head back toward the blinking tree. “But I told them I wouldn’t tell their Daddies if they stopped. So, you know… maybe don’t mention it to her.”
Isaiah smiled wryly. “Wanna know what I wrapped up under there?”
Kendrick waited for the answer.
“Socks and underwear.”
With a laugh, Kendrick nodded. “She doesn’t even wear underwear. She’s in diapers.”
“I know. But I also knew she was going to snoop. So, I figured that would fix her little wagon.”
Both men laughed.
Kendrick let a couple of moments pass before he said, “Man, I’m not sure what’s going on with me.”
Isaiah had a concerned look on his face as he sank into a chair. “What’s up?”
Kendrick took a seat on the couch. “It’s nothing serious. There isn’t anything wrong. I’m just… for some reason… I can’t get that girl from last night out of my mind.”
“You mean the waitress at the diner that you were clearly in love with?”
Kendrick laughed. “That’s an exaggeration.” He took a drink of coffee. “But was it that obvious?”
Isaiah nodded. “Couldn’t keep your eyes off her, man.”
“Did I seem creepy?”
“No. Not like that. But you were noticing her.”
“You think she realized it?”
He grinned. “She knew you were there. Noticed you, too.”
Kendrick felt foolish for being so excited to hear the news. Like he was some kid back in middle school or something, talking with his friends about the girl he liked over lunch in the cafeteria.
“So you’re still hung up on her this morning?”
“Yeah. But that doesn’t make sense. I’m a Daddy. Being a Little is a make-or-break thing for me,” Kendrick pointed out. “I’d be better off looking for my sweetie at Auntie Athena’s.”
Isaiah shrugged. “She could be a Little.”
Kendrick thought about it for a moment. “It’s possible. But the odds of me finding my cutie in the wild are pretty slim.”
Evidently, Isaiah couldn’t deny that, because he didn’t have a counter argument.
“Speaking of Auntie Athena’s,” Kendrick continued, "did the waitress seem familiar to you?”
Isaiah arched an eyebrow. “Oh? Like you think maybe she is a Little?”
“I’m not sure,” Kendrick told him. “But I swear I’ve met her before. I just can’t place where.”
Isaiah sighed.
“What?” Kendrick probed.
“Man, it might have been in our past line of work. You know we met a lot of people, day in and day out.”
Kendrick couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about that. But his friend was right—as cops, they met countless people around Los Angeles every single day. And it was often on those people’s worst days.
Had he encountered the waitress while he was out on patrol?
A dreadful thought crossed his mind.
What if he’d arrested her?
There was no way he could remember everyone he’d met while serving Los Angeles. Or even everybody he’d arrested. But something told him he’d remember that woman.
At least, he thought he would.
Maybe not. He was trying to place her, thinking they’d met at Athena’s nursery. So… his theory might not hold water.
As if reading his mind, Isaiah said, “Just because you arrested her—if you arrested her—doesn’t mean she’s a bad person. Lots of people find themselves in desperate situations.”
“True,” Kendrick said, remembering some sad stories from his days on the force. There were people who broke the law—and were technically in the wrong—but they were just trying to survive. It wasn’t as if they were hurting anyone.
But the law was still the law, and he’d been bound by it, having to arrest people he wanted to let slide.
That was one of the many reasons he didn’t miss being a cop.
Sometimes you just wanted to help people, but it seemed like the system was stacked against them. As a biracial man, he knew that all too well. He’d had plenty of situations in life where someone didn’t trust him simply because the color of his skin.
He knew Isaiah understood that all too well, too.
“You feel a connection to this girl, huh?”
The question snapped Kendrick from his thoughts. “I guess. Sounds stupid, huh?”
Isaiah shook his head. “Not at all. When you know, you know.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Kendrick said. “I don’t know anything.”
“Okay. But you suspect, at least.”
Kendrick thought it over for a moment. “Yeah.”
Isaiah gave him a very pointed look. “Then it’s worth following up. If there’s the slightest chance she’s your babygirl, you’ve got to do something.”
“What can I do?”
Isaiah grinned. “You know where she works. Go for pie.”
Kendrick nodded. “Yeah. I guess I could drop in. I mean, that diner isn’t really close to us. But… worth a shot.”
“You know she’ll most likely be there at some point, unless she quit.”
Kendrick nodded. The thought of seeing her again was nice. And patronizing the diner was the only way that would happen. If that meant eating mediocre burgers or pie, then so be it.
“In the meantime,” Isaiah said, “I think you and I are working Auntie Athena’s today.”
Kendrick nearly spit out the sip of coffee he’d just taken. “Oh man. I forgot all about that.”
“Do you have other plans? I bet I can handle it. You know it’s no big deal. And Trevon is more than capable of handling anything that comes his way. They don’t really need us.”
Kendrick chuckled and bobbed his head in agreement. Auntie Athena’s was pretty secure, but due to the nature of the place, she liked to have extra security on hand besides Trevon—the resident guard.
Trevon was a mountain of a man, towering nearly seven feet, with muscles to spare.
Only an idiot would start trouble under his watch.
But Kendrick and the other Guard members didn’t mind working security at Athena’s. It had started when they were cops, picking up extra shifts when they were off duty to make a little extra income.
It got them around the Littles, which was a wonderful bonus. In fact, Kendrick would probably do it for free just for that reason—but the extra income was nice.
“Nah. Nothing going on. Unless a call comes in for the Daddy Guard. I’ll go get ready,” Kendrick said.
Getting out of the house would be a good thing.
Besides, he thought as he drained the last of his coffee, it would be the perfect time to visit the diner after leaving Athena’s house that evening.
Perhaps he’d see the woman who had occupied his thoughts since last night…