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“Get another scoop, Nova,” Linc told her, and she dug in to the bucket again.
She’d gone through probably half the bucket and was getting frustrated when someone cleared their throat behind them.
Nova set her screen down and turned to see Roman there, hands in his pockets.
“Hey, Nova. You almost finished? I just got a call from Evie who asked if I could meet up at the rope circus.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling strangely disjointed and disappointed. She was having fun, but there was that creeping vexation from not having found any sapphire shards yet that she was trying to ward off with hope. But if she had to leave now—
“She’s not done yet,” Linc pronounced. Not in a mean way, just firmly. She wasn’t sure about Roman, but there was no way she’d argue with that tone. “But if you want to go, we can close up here.”
Roman darted a glance between the two of them. “I guess that would be okay since you’re a Ranch employee, Nova. Come here, I’ll show you how to shut off the table and lock up.”
While flipping a switch and locking a door would normally be easy peasy, something inside her lurched. Would she remember? What if she did it wrong? Would she get in trouble? What if it didn’t work?
All those questions and more tumbled around in her brain. She was about to tell Roman never mind, they’d just leave because she couldn’t deal with that kind of responsibility when she was Little. But there were tears and disappointment too. It wasn’t fair! She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to finish going through the dirt in her bucket in the hopes that she’d find some actual slivers of sapphires.
“How ’bout you just show me while Nova keeps doing the important work? She’ll be here to supervise, but I’m her assistant. No need to tear a Little girl away from her project.”
Roman looked between them again but apparently decided they could be trusted. Either that or he was just desperate to meet up with Evie at the rope circus. Which, fair enough. Evie was one of the Ranch subs and she was hot, and the rope circus sounded like a lot of fun. But maybe not as much fun as being alone with Linc at the Exploration Zone while she was slipping deep into Little space.
“Okay, I’ll show you.”
Linc gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and a squeeze with the hand he’d set at her waist. “I’ll be right back, Nova. Just shout if you need something.”
“Yes, Sir.”
It hadn’t takenRoman long to show him how to close up shop, which was good, because he was itching to get back to Nova. It was fun and gratifying as hell to watch her relax into being Little. Yeah, he’d fucked up so many times but deep down she trusted him, and he was going to make sure that trust ultimately wasn’t misplaced.
By the time he made it back to the panning station, though, he had a very frustrated Little girl on his hands. Her earlier smile had turned upside down and she looked like she wasn’t far from tears.
“What’s the matter, shortcake?”
“My bucket is broken!”
Linc looked at the pail and couldn’t see anything wrong with it. “Your bucket looks fine to me, little girl. What do you mean it’s broken?”
“I mean it doesn’t have any sapphires in it! I’m almost at the last scoop and I haven’t found any. Maybe they were all too small or maybe there just weren’t any. How come I picked the broken one?”
Oh yeah. With that pathetic squalling they were getting close to foot-stomping, maybe throwing-herself-on-the-ground-for-a-fit territory. Was she hangry? Overtired? He should’ve checked in with her last night and earlier today but he’d wanted to give her some breathing room—which was maybe just another error in judgment in the long list of mistakes he’d made with her.
Whatever was going on, this was probably the Littlest he’d seen Nova. She seemed even smaller than when he’d found her sobbing in the corner of her office. Maybe because that had seemed like a reasonable thing for a grown-up to be overwhelmed by, but this was definitely a Little problem.
“Hey. Look at me.” He set his hands on her biceps and chafed her arms through her soft sweater. “There’s no need to be upset. I understand you’re frustrated and that’s okay. But you’ve still got a few scoops left in the bucket to try. If there aren’t any, we’ll get you another bucket, okay?”
“But Roman already locked up the register when he left,” she wailed. “I can’t steal a bucket! I’ll get fired!”
His heart went out to her, but Linc also had to admit he was kinda charmed. She’d taken it to heart when he told her he wanted to give her some time to be Little and was sharing a really vulnerable part of herself. This was priceless. Not to mention a little funny given that the woman had to have been pulling six figures for years now and was obviously good for a bucket of rocks. Or they could just ask Roman to put it on his account when he got in the next day. But he wasn’t going to throw that bit of logic at Little Nova. He was just going to solve the problem in a concrete way that would ease her overwrought mind.
“We’re not gonna steal anything. I’ve got cash in my wallet, and I’ll leave enough for another bucket with a note and we can text Roman to let him know. No one’s getting fired, and you’re not leaving without some gemstones. Promise. And Daddies don’t make promises they can’t keep.”
Making a promise he didn’t keep was how Owen ended up with a donkey named Vincenzo. Linc had no intention of adding any more jackasses—of the two- or four-legged varieties—to Enclave.
Nova looked skeptical as fuck and he couldn’t blame her. Now that he was a man and had control over his own life, Linc did his best to honor his commitments. Then again, he tried not to make too many of those, and not too far out. He’d spent too long being in a shitty situation with no way to get out to stick around somewhere he was unhappy. But he wanted to be more like Owen in that way. Maybe he was ready to find a group of people who treated each other like family should be treated, where he’d be content to pull his weight, show up, and stick around. He wanted to be one of those guys who people believed when he made promises.
“If you’re sure,” Nova said, looking like she was very much not sure.
“Spud’s honor,” he told her with a grin, which made her giggle. Such a sweet sound. “Now let’s go see if there aren’t any sneaky sapphires hiding in the bottom of that bucket. Come on, shortcake, let’s have another scoop.”
