Page 7 of Soothing Little Sylmen

“Are you even listening to me, Gael?” Amelia asked.

I turned to look at her. The waiter had already moved in front of the sweet boy I’d seen. I didn’t have the ability to look at him anymore, but I also didn’t want to turn away should he be revealed. I needed another glimpse of him, needed to know who he was and what he was doing here. My instinct screamed at me that he was Little.

“I’m listening to you, Amelia,” I said, “but I also think I have just seen the person who I’m going to spend an ungodly amount of time thinking about while I’m here. I’m very tempted to go to them right now. I don’t want to be too forward, though. I know there are rules and things in place. I’ve reviewed them and I understand them logically, but emotionally I am a bit all over the place right now.”

The hands on her hips fell to her sides. She stepped closer, her voice dropping. “Holy crap, are you serious right now?”

The words weren’t angry, just shocked. I bit my lip and nodded, then raised a finger to point in the direction of the restaurant. The waiter was still at the table, thank goodness. I didn’t want my boy seeing me point at him, even though I wanted to go straight up to him. She turned, and it was at that exact moment the waiter left, revealing the man of my dreams once more. Only this time I noticed he wasn’t alone.

“Oh,” Amelia said.

I leaned down to look at her face, hopeful her expression would guide me. “Why do you say that?” I asked when I could pick up nothing from her.

She scratched the side of her nose, then calmly stated, “That is Zack. He works with the animals over in the petting zoo, and as far as I know he is also a Little, though he often acts like a Daddy.”

“Also?” I said carefully, probing for information without being too forward.

She turned to look at me. “Yes. If you must know, the person he is sitting with is someone who just arrived here today as well.”

I blinked at her several times, trying to understand how she knew this. Amelia was inquisitive, of course—as a librarian, gaining knowledge was her specialty. But the woman had just given me hell about the car and not calling her, so how did she have this too? Noting my befuddled look, she laughed.

“I know this because he has been here for hours unlike you, and since everyone loves to come tell me all about new arrivals, I have been made aware of his situation. Nothing personal, of course, just things I should be aware of.”

Part of me wanted to demand she share what this information was. I wanted to know everything I could about him before I approached, before I was given permission to be his Daddy. Even if just for a scene.

But at the same time I didn’t want that, because there was beauty in spending time with someone. There was connection and excitement. Those first-date jitters were a part of the bigger picture along with introducing yourself and getting someone’s name in return. All of it built and built. I didn’t want to lose that with him.

Amelia must have seen my indecision. She reached up, placing a hand on my bicep, squeezed it once, then dropped away. “I won’t share, because I can tell you’re torn about it all. I will say that you need to pay attention closely when and if you do approach him—there are differences. Not bad, just different.” She paused. “Oh, and I expect you to have dinner with me and Mandi at least once while you’re here. Honestly, if I have it my way we’ll have dinner every night.”

I rolled my eyes at that, which earned me a swat on the stomach. It didn’t hurt, but I pretended anyway—just to see the delight in her eyes. If I was honest with myself, Amelia had become something of a best friend to me. She was loyal and honest. She pushed me to be my best. It was hard to find that, especially in someone who wasn’t trying to use you to get ahead in life, who didn’t know your affiliation with certain people and want to climb the ladder as well.

I took a deep breath, then stood a bit straighter. “I think I need to have another talk with Master Derek. Or is it a form I fill out? Hell, I don’t even know his name. You’ve got to help me here, Amelia.”

She snorted softly. “You are pitiful. Come with me, we’ll get you squared away.” She waved her hand and I took off right behind her.

I turned my head one last time to look at my boy. I was hoping to just see his side profile, maybe a glimpse of a smile on his lips, even if I wished to be the only one to give him that.

Instead, I found his eyes already looking at me, drinking me in. I smiled, unable to help myself, and the most beautiful thing happened—his cheeks turned darker, the light golden hue of them pinkening so prettily that I could feel my heart start to speed up at just the sight.

Oh, this sweet boy was going to do me in. He was going to be my ruin, and I would let him. I would give him anything.

I had to jerk my eyes away or else I was going to do two things that would be a problem. The first would be to sport an erection, which would be lewd considering I was standing in the middle of the lobby. The second would be to say forget it all and go straight to him, when that wasn’t the right thing to do. I believed in following rules. I’d made an agreement to do such, therefore following Amelia, who was several paces ahead of me now, was the plan.

I caught up to her and noticed she was grinning. “You are ridiculous, Gael. I promise that you will find him again. It won’t be hard. On this Ranch, people love to get involved and play a little matchmaking.”

I accepted her words with a renewed sense of hope. No matter what, I would get back to my boy. It might take some time, but it would be worth it.

Amelia led and at first I tried to keep up, but then gave up, mostly because I didn’t really need to know any of where we were going or how we got there. My plan was simple—talk to whoever I needed to in order to get permission to spend time with my sweet boy. Once I was done going through the proper channels, I would try to find him and make contact. After that, it would be going at his pace.

When we finally reached our destination, which just so happened to be right off the lobby entrance, Amelia knocked on the door twice in quick succession.

“Come in,” said a voice so deep it rivaled my own. I knew that I had a roughness to me. When I spoke, people’s heads would turn to see who sounded like that. This man held a booming tone that meant business.

She opened the door and we went inside. When it closed behind us, I faced Master Derek again. He wasn’t alone this time. There was a young woman seated in his lap, appearing to be asleep, though there was a curve to her lips that suggested maybe she wasn’t.

“Don’t worry about my Little girl,” he said. “She is exhausted and refuses to nap today, so I’m holding her hostage.”

My own face lit up at the idea of doing the same with my boy. Would he want that? What type of Little was he? Amelia elbowed me and I shook my head to clear the thoughts.