Mallory knew she’d seen him before, but it took her a moment to place him. Instead of the uniform she normally saw him in, he was wearing a pair of jeans with sparkles all over them and a t-shirt that declared him to be Daddies’ Boy. The fact that the Daddy was plural also helped jog her memory. His name as Payne and he had not one but two Daddies. Besides being submissive to Master Thorin and Master Wylde, Payne was also a service submissive who’d been hired only a month earlier.
“Payne, hi. Oh, and no, I’m sorry. You didn’t scare me, just startled me. I probably should have asked Reese’s permission before I started drawing the animals,” Mallory said, fighting down a groan as she stood up. She’d been sitting for too long without a break and it took a moment of stretching before she could bend and pick up her supplies.
“Please don’t go and don’t stop. And you don’t need permission to draw the animals. I’ve been doing it ever since I arrived.”
“You have?” she asked, a bit stunned to discover they had more than their job title in common.
“You bet,” Payne grinned and pulled a notebook and a pencil from his pocket. Flipping through the book, he looked up and he added an eyebrow wag to his grin. “If you’ll show me yours, I’ll show you mine.”
Mallory couldn’t help but smile at the phrase normally exchanged by inquisitive teens. Still, she hesitated as she hadn’t expected to share her work.
“Come on, don’t pull a Matilda on me.”
Her head was still spinning as she looked at him. “A Matilda?”
Payne laughed. “Matilda is the name of one of the Ranch chickens. Though, she’s not really chicken. I mean, she is a hen, but a bossy one, not one to be chicken…” He rolled his eyes. “Never mind. I just want to say that from the brief glimpse Igot, you are talented and I’d really like to see more. Unless I’m mistaken, you’ve drawn Sherlock, the llama detective, which I might add, is brilliant as that hat fits his personality perfectly.”
Without waiting for her to offer him another look, he held out his notebook where she instantly recognized another favorite animal of hers. “It’s Alfie! Oh, he’s just so adorable!”
Payne grinned and nodded. “Yeah, I admit he’s one of my favorites. As is Clancy the fainting goat.”
Before she knew it, she was again seated on a haybale with Payne beside her as he showed her his work. She was so engrossed in his style that she barely registered the fact that another person had joined them.
“Aren’t those good?” Reese asked as she peered over Mallory’s shoulder.
“They are incredible,” Mallory agreed.
“Thanks but wait until you see Mallory’s. She’s drawn Detective Sherlock.”
“Oh, let me see!” Reese demanded, holding out her hand and wiggling her fingers in the universal gimme gesture.
Mallory smiled even as she shook her head. “I don’t think you’d like them. I’m not nearly as talented as Payne is.”
“You won’t know unless you let me see them,” Reese said, grabbing her sketchbook and running away.
Stunned, Mallory watched the younger woman disappear around the corner of the barn. Tossing the pen she’d been working with into the bag, she followed, though not as quickly as she would like as Payne easily passed her before she’d even reached the barn’s door. She really did need to get into better shape.
“Reese, come back with my sketchbook,” Mallory called as she rounded the front of the barn.
She stopped when she saw Fletcher standing with Payne on one side of Reese with Arlo, her Daddy who also assisted her incaring for all her misfit animals, on the other. Reese was flipping through the pages, giggling and commenting on each picture she came to. The men who flanked her were chuckling as well. She was surprised that Bossy P, the agoraphobic African grey parrot, wasn’t on either of their shoulders.
Mallory blinked several times as tears filled her eyes. She wasn’t sure if they were from fear or embarrassment. Working to breathe and stay on her feet instead of dropping to the ground and curling up in a ball, Mallory waited until they’d flipped through a few more pages before moving closer.
Fletcher looked at her and immediately frowned, as if he knew something was wrong. He strode toward her, stopping just inches away.
“Bunny? You okay?”
Instead of answering, Mallory wrapped her arms around her middle, hunched her shoulders, and dropped her chin to stare at her feet as she waited for their verdict on the pictures she’d drawn.
A finger under her chin tilted her head back until she was looking up into his face. “Bunny? Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“I’m afraid,” she whispered as tears filled her eyes.
He closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her. Burying her face into his shirt, she breathed in the spicy woodsy scent that she would always associate with him. It didn’t stop her tears from welling up and rolling down her face, but it worked with his arms hugging her tight to calm her somewhat.
“Mallory? I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted to see the pictures,” Reese patted her shoulder. It sounded as if she were on the verge of tears as well.
Knowing she’d upset the Little girl jolted Mallory out of her own misery. Lifting her head from Fletcher’s chest, she wiped away her tears before inching out of his embrace.
