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“You’ve gotta admit this isn’t the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever done. Probably doesn’t even make the top five.”
“I feel like the time you decided to circumnavigate the Baja peninsula in a sailboat with hardly any training takes the cake for that,” Owen agreed.
“And it was freaking delicious cake; I had a great time. Plus, going to a kink ranch in Montana for a week is much less likely to kill me.”
“Here’s hoping,” Owen muttered. “Here’s hoping.”
“Nova,do you want to split a waffle with me? Daddy says I can’t have another whole one.”
Quinn wrinkled her nose as if her Daddy Ryder not wanting her to have a third waffle was the most preposterous and insulting thing in the world instead of him trying to prevent her from getting a tummy ache. Novalie Marchand took in her half-empty plate that still had sausage, fruit, and half a blueberry muffin on it and shook her head.
“Sorry, Quinn. I’m already going to be in a food coma until New Year’s Eve. But maybe Sadie will share?”
“Sadie already ate three waffles,” Master Derek drawled from across the table, and looked at his mischievous Little with a raised brow. He was the owner of the Ranch and Sadie was his wife and the hostess of the resort. “And she was only supposed to have two.”
“Ooopsies,” Sadie said with a grin from her place next to her husband at the long table. “I should probably go to the preschool room tomorrow for a reminder on how to count.”
Master Derek grunted in response. “I think the practice counting the spanks you’re going to get over my lap once our guests have gone will be more effective.”
Nova hid a laugh behind her hand when the adorable and bouncy brunette pulled a dramatic and affronted face. Knowing Sadie, it probably wouldn’t even be the first time today she’d be put over her Daddy’s knee.
It was so nice to be included in the smaller, intimate post-holiday brunch at the Big House after all the hubbub of Christmas. Of course, it was really more of an in-between holiday brunch since it was after Christmas but they hadn’t rung in the New Year yet. But whatever. The food was delicious and the company was wonderful.
Novalie was so grateful that upon her arrival as a cybersecurity consultant at the Ranch three months ago, Ryder Moore had not only shown her the ropes of the IT set-up but had also become a friend and a bit of a protector. He’d also introduced her to his submissive in the bedroom and Little outside of it, Quinn, and in time, she’d become friends with Jared and Erika, as well as Master Derek. Sadie had practically demanded they be friends as soon as she came onsite so that had been easy.
Once everyone was finished eating, they all went into the den. The Daddies and Erika sat on the couches around the giant coffee table and the Littles mostly sat on the floor. It really was so lovely to be surrounded by people who understood the kind of relationship she wanted and who lived it every day with someone they were so deeply in love with. It gave her hope that she could have that with someone someday too. It could also get pretty lonely since there were so many happy couples here. Always wanting and never having seemed to be the way of things for her.
For now, she told herself.Just for now. Someday my Daddy will come and he’ll be as happy to cuddle and spoil me as he will be to mete out discipline and spank me.
In the meantime, she would excuse herself to do something more productive as she digested the feast she’d consumed than wallow in her single status while surrounded by beautiful people who’d found their Happily Ever Afters with each other. There was always work to do, either for Master Derek or one of her other consulting clients.
Novalie got up from the floor and stretched.
“You’re not leaving, are you?” demanded Sadie.
“Yeah, I should get back to work. I had such a great time, though. Thanks for inviting me.”
“Daddy!” Sadie yelled over her shoulder.
“Yes, angel?” Master Derek asked, smiling fondly at his Little.
Sadie could be a lot, but her husband seemed to be the perfect match for her. Even when Sadie’s frequent pranks were about to spin out of control, he still managed to keep her in line. Ish.
“Tell Nova she can’t leave yet.”
“Well, Sadie Marie, I’m not the boss of her like that.”
Sadie crossed her arms and pouted. She might’ve also muttered something under her breath that sounded like, “I thought you were the boss of everyone,” but maybe not because Master Derek didn’t appear to hear anything.
“But,” Master Derek said, turning his attention and steely blue eyes on Nova, “I will say that you’re not going to be working every waking hour between now and New Year’s. You’re going to take at least two full days off, and I expect to see you at a handful of the Ranch events. You came here because you were on the verge of burnout and there’s no way I’m going to be the one who’s going to push you over the edge. Are we understood, little lady?”
So as Master Derek had said, he wasn’t her boss in a lot of ways, but they did have an agreement and this was part of it. She lived in the employee apartments and had more freedom than full-time Littles, but she could also visit the Littles’ Wing whenever she needed or wanted to, and Master Derek and Nanny J could discipline her. It was an arrangement Novalie was eminently grateful for, and one of the reasons she’d come here in the first place. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good. Now run along and get some of that work done because we’ve got a fresh crop of guests coming in, a lot of them single, and you never know when one of them’s going to catch your eye.”
Novalie held in a sigh. No, she supposed she never did know when or if her future Daddy would walk onto the grounds of the Ranch but it hadn’t happened yet and a little voice inside her whispered maybe it never would. She wasn’t going to put that half-empty attitude on display and then get a lecture from Master Derek, Ryder, or Jared, and a pep talk from Sadie and the other Littles. She had things to do so she simply agreed.
“Yes, Sir.”
