Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The tall dark-haired man had been very focused on what he was doing, and it took him a second to notice her and look up. A wide smile exploded across his face, showing pearly white teeth. “Well now, you must be Heaven.”

She was feeling a little tongue-tied, and just nodded as she stood there awkwardly. A school uniform hadn’t felt appropriate for working in the kitchen, which could get quite messy, so she’d thrown on a comfortable outfit instead. Now, she was regretting not putting on something a little nicer.

Angel was… incredibly attractive. She hadn’t noticed in passing, but now that she was up close and personal, it was very obvious. His hair, thick and black, curled at the ends. His skin was tan, which wasn’t uncommon on the Ranch of course, but with him it was clearly his natural skin tone.

“I hear you’ve been getting into some trouble, little girl. You’re not going to cause any mischief here, are you?” One dark brow went up in question.

“No, uh… Sir?” She fumbled, wondering what she was supposed to call him.

“Angel will be fine, chiquita, as long as you behave yourself. Now, if you end up in trouble, you’ll be calling me Sir while I spank your bottom with a spatula.” His tone was gentle but there was an underlying note of warning there that made it clear he was a Dom of some sort.

Her eyes flicked to the white rubber batter spatula and then back to him. She tucked her hands behind her back and tried to look obedient. “Okay, Angel. Master Derek said I’m supposed to help you. What do you want me to do?”

Again the smile flashed, and he pointed to a stack of metal bowls. “You can start by washing those. I’ll need them back soon.”

Doing dishes wasn’t her favorite thing in the world, but it did make her feel better about her choice of clothes. She wrinkled her nose and collected them for washing, but then stopped and looked around uncertainly. “Where?”

“Ah. Right, I should show you around first.” Angel straightened and wiped his hands on a towel before giving her a quick tour. “Through there is the main kitchen.” He pointed behind her. There was an open archway separating them. “Be careful when you go in there. Chef isn’t fond of interruptions.”

Heaven shivered. Chef Connor was Hayleigh’s Daddy and she’d heard plenty of stories about how he dealt with “interruptions”.

“But space is tight here and the Ranch wasn’t built with my work in mind, so we share a lot of the facilities, for now. I work in here as much as possible.” He was expressive with his body as he spoke and now he spread his arms wide to indicate the alcove.

“Must be hard sharing a kitchen with them cooking meals all day,” she commented. Maybe she was a little spoiled, but she would have had trouble doing anything creative with all that noise.

“It can be. I’ve asked Master Derek to come up with a new space for my work. Maybe a small building. He’s considering how to handle it, so we’ll see.” He shrugged. “Until then we’ll make do. This way,” he added as he turned.

“Storage for my supplies and specialty equipment is in here. It’s a butler’s pantry luckily, so there’s room for the coolers and our own sink. You can wash in here for small loads. Sometimes when there are big functions or holidays, we just have to highjack the dishwasher to run a load for us, but we won’t need to worry about that until next week.”

Heaven frowned. “Next week?”

“Halloween,” he said with a laugh. “You’ll be excited about that, of course. It’s usually all the Littles can talk about by this time.”

She suppressed the sigh. Of course it was, and he wasn’t wrong, but she didn’t want to get into another conversation about how she didn’t like the holiday. “Oh.”

“Maybe if you do well, you can help me with the creations I’ve planned for the party, but for now we’ll see how you do with cleaning. Take a few minutes to look in the cabinets and see where everything is and then start on the bowls.”

He left her to get to it, and she finally let out the sigh she’d been holding in. She realllly hoped the Halloween thing wasn’t going to keep coming up. It was starting to feel weird.

Even though she was glad not to have to brave the busy main kitchen, the larger sinks would have made her job easier. The stacking bowls, of various sizes, were stuck together and had to be pried apart slowly with lots of hot water before she could wash them.

Each one held some different sticky ingredient, and it made her curious to see what he was making, but as soon as she brought back the clean, dry bowls, he gave her another job. She spent the morning going back and forth, fetching ingredients, washing things, and even cleaning out one of the cabinets while she checked expiration dates and made inventory lists.

“These need to go in the cooler to chill for a half hour. Be careful with them,” he warned as he handed her a heavy metal tray.

On it were twenty delicate chocolate bowls. She took a second to examine them, admiring the detail work. Except for the coloring they might have been real China bowls. He’d imprinted the outside rim of each with a graceful pattern of swans all the way around. The chocolate itself was dark with white swirls making it look like marble.

Angel cleared his throat. “If they don’t chill quickly, they won’t hold their form,” he pointed out.

“Sorry!” She turned, carefully, and took slow even steps to the storeroom. She didn’t even attempt to open the door while balancing the tray one-handed. That was asking for disaster, so she set it down on the counter first. Once it was safely shelved, she went back to get the next tray.

It took several trips to get them all squared away safely and then she reported back to him. He smiled. “Good girl. Most Littles I wouldn’t trust to be so careful, but Derek says you’re a baker?”

She flinched at the praise. She should have been used to it by now, they were big on positive reinforcement at the Ranch, but it still hit her weird sometimes. “Yes. Well, I—I was. I’m not really sure what I am anymore,” she said truthfully.

Angel nodded. “This is a good place to find yourself, I think. It has been for me anyway. It’s kind of magical. Things don’t always make sense here, but eventually everything seems to come together. It will for you too.”

She wished she could be sure of that. It seemed almost impossible to believe her life would ever settle the way she wanted it to. “Thanks. I hope so. In the meantime…” She shrugged. “I’m glad to be here.”

He regarded her for a moment and then nodded as if deciding something. “I think we’ll work well together.”

Heaven wasn’t sure why that sent a little flutter of happiness through her mid-section, but it did, and she grinned.

When the bowls were finished chilling, he filled each one with scoops of a rich chocolate mousse and some whipped cream. They were topped with a drizzle of spicy caramel, and then, as a pièce de résistance, he allowed her to plant a rearing chocolate carousel horse in the center of each bowl.

The horses stood out. There were different types of chocolate, some with swirls, and they came in multiple styles—at least ten that she noticed. “These are so cute,” she exclaimed.

Angel smiled. “You think the Littles will like them?” It wasn’t really necessary to ask, the answer was obvious.

“Yes! They’ll love them. There’s just one problem…”

One eyebrow went up and the smile flickered as he looked down, examining the bowls with concern. “What’s that?”

“Well, the horses are so pretty they might not want to eat them.” Even she might have a problem, and she thought she’d long since moved past that particular issue.

His expression lightened and he laughed. It was a lovely fluid sound. “If that’s the only problem, then I think we’ll be okay. But there is one thing…”

Now it was her turn to worry. “What?”

“I need a taste tester, and since you’ve been so helpful today, I guess that’s you.” He pushed one of the fragile chocolate bowls over to her and waited for her to give it a try.

Getting to taste everything had always been the best benefit of working in a kitchen, and she grinned, delighted to dig in. From the first bite she was absolutely in love with the creamy richness. She moaned with her mouth full and let her eyes slide shut as she savored the rich decadence of the mousse.

She finished it quickly and then looked at the remaining bowl and horse. “It seems such a shame to eat them.” But almost as soon as she said the words, she had broken off a chunk of the shell and popped it into her mouth. It melted into an amazing mix of flavors on her tongue.

“Oh wow… is that… raspberry I’m tasting?”

Angel chuckled. “Yes, nina. Do you taste anything else?”

She broke off another piece and this time focused a little harder on the subtle aspects. “Lemon maybe? It’s really faint.”

“Perfect! We just want a hint of acidity to balance the sweetness.”

And it really did. Everything melded together perfectly, and she sighed as it melted away. “This is so good. How did you get that—”

Just like that they launched into a very complicated discussion about balancing contrasting flavors and for a while they were colleagues instead of the usual dynamic she’d found herself in since she arrived at Rawhide.

It felt wonderful to talk to someone on a professional level. Maybe it was one of the things that had been causing her to stumble, because it was such a nice change to have a conversation that didn’t revolve around who was in trouble for what, and why unicorns were the best things ever. Angel treated her like an equal who also had valuable skills.

They were so wrapped up in the discussion that neither noticed the time clicking by until they heard the distant sound of the class bell. Angel’s eyes flicked to the clock, and he frowned. “Whoops, Heaven, you’re going to be late to lunch. You better scoot.” He waved his hands at her.

She hurried off to meet up with her friends in the cafeteria, practically bursting with excitement after her busy morning. It had all passed so quickly, but she was positive that this was going to work out—at least until Master Derek found her a potential Daddy of her own.

She was sitting at a crowded table teasing the other Littles with hints about the fantastic dessert she’d helped to make, when Sadie appeared and plopped her tray down with a dramatic sigh. Everyone stopped and turned to her.

“Today’s been way tooooo frustrating, and I’m starving,” she announced.

“Something happen in class?” Hayleigh asked. She took college classes over at Rawhide University, and between that and living with her Daddy, she wasn’t in the Littles’ Wing much.

“I didn’t make it to class. I had to help Daddy with some plans for the Halloween party.”

Hayleigh frowned. “That sounds like it should have been fun?”

“Well, it was at first but then…”

Heaven dropped her eyes to her tray and focused on her lunch the moment Halloween was mentioned. She was resigned to never being able to escape mentions of it until it had passed, but she didn’t want to get drawn into another discussion on why she seemed to be the only one in the world who didn’t celebrate it.

And part of the struggle was that there really was no reason, except for some bad memories. Her parents had been very anti-Halloween. It was the “devil’s birthday” as far as they were concerned and any hint that their children were interested in the festivities had led to unpleasant responses.

Her parents hadn’t spanked, though her mother was prone to slapping when she was frustrated. Instead they’d practiced a form of shunning, where the offending child was ignored by the entire family for a proscribed amount of time. She’d rather have been spanked than have to endure that.

Showing an interest in participating in Halloween activities had gotten her ignored for an entire week once and the memory of it was still painful. Since they were all homeschooled and traveled a lot, it was usually easy to avoid the holiday, but that year they’d had a relatively stable six months in one place.

Her parents had rented a small house while her father had taken over a short-term contract as a reverend. The local one, a friend of her parents, was on leave. It had been nice having that consistency. She’d even made friends.

The kids next door had been a lot of fun and their mom, Stella, was happy to have them over daily. When Halloween rolled around, she’d begun working on costumes for her children and it was natural for her to ask the Robertsons what they were all going to be.

Heaven had reached an age where differences felt so awkward, so she’d evaded the question with a shrug. Stella must have assumed that they didn’t know what they wanted to be yet, or possibly that they couldn’t afford costumes, because she brought out a pile in all sizes, from previous years.

Everyone spent the day playing dress up, and then one of the neighbor kids had suggested a game of pretend trick or treating to practice for the big day. Heaven knew her parents wouldn’t like the idea, but she’d always wanted to experience it, and it didn’t really count since they were just pretending.

It was unfortunate that her father came home while they were still prancing around the yard next door, in costume, swinging treat buckets, and yelling “Trick or treat!”. He was furious at all of them, but it was Heaven whom his wrath had come down on. She was in trouble, not only for participating, but for leading her younger siblings into sin.

There had been a pile of punishments dumped on her head, but none had been as difficult as being shunned. Her younger siblings kept forgetting, but when they did, they were punished, so Heaven had to stop them whenever they tried to talk to her. She’d cried herself to sleep for days.

She no longer shared any of her parents’ beliefs, but her discomfort around Halloween had remained regardless. Just hearing the word made her stomach sink.

“Heaven Leigh? You okay?” Sadie was frowning and looking directly at her with concern.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine, sorry I zoned out.” She forced a smile.

“I bet you were thinking about Angel! Isn’t he wonderful? I bet working with him is so much fun.” She looked at Heaven expectantly.

It was a relief to have the conversation shift and she smiled. “Oh, it was so great! Wait until you see what’s for dessert tonight. You’re going to go nuts over it.” She grinned and shook her head as the other Littles went back to begging for hints.

Sadie interrupted the attempts to find out more, “Personally, I’m more interested in hearing about Angel than the dessert.”

Heaven tilted her head. “But you already know him better than I do.”

Sadie sighed and tossed her hair back. “Yes, but did you like him? I mean like like him?”

“Oh um…” Heaven could feel her cheeks heating. “He’s really nice.”

“You said that already,” Hayleigh pointed out, grinning. “You know he’s single right?”

“Single? Really?” How could that deliciously sexy man be single? She would have thought women would be all over him. His voice was as smooth as the chocolate he melted, with just the slightest hint of an accent.

His face was sensual but in a strongly masculine way, especially around the jawline. Thinking about his generous lips made her mind turn to other thoughts and she quickly pulled back.

“Yep.” Sadie smirked. “Daddy told me that Angel hasn’t really been looking for someone, but now he’s decided he’s not opposed to it if the right person comes along. Maybe you’re the right person?”

Wouldn’t that be something? But it was too much to hope that he’d be interested in her. “I don’t think so. Anyway, I barely know him. It was fun working together though. I’ve missed being in a kitchen,” she admitted.

“Oh, that’s right. You’re a baker. I forgot,” Chloe said as she tucked her bright red hair back behind one ear.

Heaven didn’t spend much time with Chloe outside of meals. The redhead was in the preschool class. “Yep. I mostly do cakes now. Well, I did before I came here.” Whether she’d ever bake cakes again remained to be seen, but after today she was starting to feel like she might be able to handle it.

“That sounds like so much fun. I’d probably eat way too much if I worked in a bakery though,” Chastity chimed in. “How do you not taste everythingggg?”

Heaven laughed. “I do taste things sometimes. To make sure the flavor is right, but honestly after a while you kind of burn out on sweets.”

“Y-you don’t like s-sweets?” Ben was shocked enough to speak up, even though he usually tended to be quiet in groups.

“No, I do. Just not as much as I used to before I was around them all the time.” And that was true enough, though there was something about being in Little space that did make her crave sugar. Probably because they talked about it all the time.

“I bet you like chocolate though… at least if Angel’s making it.” Sadie gave the words a tone that implied they were talking about more than candy.

Heaven’s face got even hotter. It was immediately obvious to everyone at the table and inspired a ton of giggling. In an attempt to change the topic she focused on what Sadie had said when she arrived. “So, what made today frustrating?”

That turned out to be a good choice because Sadie was happy to talk about it. “Daddy is being a meanie head about some things I want to do for the Halloween party.” She scowled, looking more than a little annoyed.

“I had all these big plans, but he says it’s too late. That we don’t have enough time to get everything lined up. Halloween only comes once a year and holidays at the Ranch are supposed to be big and special.” There was more scowling as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Heaven was kind of glad that things weren’t going to get any bigger than they already were, but then she noticed how upset everyone else at the table looked and felt bad about it. This is a you thing, Heaven Leigh. Just because you don’t like the holiday much doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be wonderful for everyone else, she scolded herself.

“I’m sorry, Sadie. That’s really sad. I mean… I mean I’m sure it’s still going to be a lot of fun though? Angel was talking about some amazing things he was working on,” she said carefully, trying to console her.

Sadie’s brows furrowed and she huffed. “That’s not the point. I had some great ideas! It’s not my fault I only just thought of them last night.”

“Maybe you can save them for next year? If it’s just a matter of time then you could get started on it earlier next year,” Hayleigh suggested.

It was becoming apparent that Sadie had very specific ideas of what she wanted for Halloween and no amount of advice was going to help her get over it. And then someone from the nearby table, who had been listening, suggested a plan that was guaranteed to get everyone in trouble.

Heaven didn’t know who said it first. She’d turned her attention back to her lunch and hadn’t seen. What she did know was that it was immediately picked up by everyone.

“Wait… how can you strike? No one here has a job…” Heaven tilted her head looking confused.

“I have a job,” Ben pointed out. “But I’m not skipping it,” he added.

Sadie waved that off. “We can refuse to go to class instead.”

Hayleigh looked alarmed. “Um, normally I’d be on board for the fun, but I can’t skip my classes. I have an exam coming up and I really have to take this seriously.”

Sadie sighed. “That’s okay, Hay. I totally get that,” she assured her.

Heaven was so glad someone else had bowed out. It made it easier for her to do the same. “Um, you’ll have to count me out too. I’ve already been in Master Derek’s office three times this week, and he said I had to behave if I wanted this job with Angel.”

“No,” Sadie said thoughtfully. “You definitely can’t risk that. It’s okay, Heaven. I think there’ll be enough of us on board to make a point.”

Heaven was pretty sure that the only point being made would be each of them getting upended and spanked. Yet they all seemed excited about it. Soon there were Littles clustered around the table laughing and promising to take part.

She leaned over to Hayleigh and whispered, “I don’t get it. Do they actually think this is going to work?”

Hayleigh shook her head. “Nope, but it’s kind of a tradition here at Rawhide. It’s been a while since there was group trouble like this, but sometimes it does work, in a way.”

“Really?” Heaven had trouble believing the Bigs would give in like that.

“It at least lets them know we’re serious about something. A couple of years ago on Thanksgiving we had a protest and handcuffed ourselves to a fence to save the turkeys from being dinner. We even made signs and slogans to shout. They were sooo mad and we were all in tons of trouble.” Hayleigh’s eyes were wide just thinking about it.

Heaven frowned. That didn’t sound like much of a win. “Um, where’s the part where it worked?”

Her friend laughed. “Well, despite getting in trouble… the turkeys did get a rescue. Daddy had to buy frozen ones to roast for dinner instead.”

Huh. That was a kind of success. “So you think they’re hoping they’ll all get in trouble but still get a bigger party, or whatever?” Her eyes narrowed. “Actually, Sadie never even said what her plans were. How do they even know it’s worth it?”

The other girl shrugged. “Sometimes you just have to roll with it. Even if you know you’re going to get your butt paddled, the adventure it still fun up until then.” She paused and then added, “Sometimes the spanking part can be fun too.”

Heaven sat back and shook her head. She really didn’t get it. She liked the discipline part of being a Little, and it felt important, but she didn’t have the same zest for getting in trouble on purpose that a lot of them had.

“Won’t their Daddies and Mommies be really mad though? Not to mention Master Derek.”

There was a pause, as Hayleigh considered the question. “Maybe some will. Some might think it’s funny. But you know, Heaven… this is part of the whole Little experience. Making bad choices, getting into trouble, and getting punished are important pieces of this for most Littles. The Bigs know that. They expect it and most of the time they enjoy dealing with it, even if they don’t say so.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway,” Hayleigh said with a grin, “that’s how Daddy and I got together. So you know, sometimes there are other benefits to getting in trouble.”

Breaking rules had always been hard for her, and it was true, she had been doing a lot of that, but only because it felt like she hadn’t had a choice. Protesting over an unimportant holiday, knowing they’d be in big trouble for it, just seemed… silly. If that was what a Daddy would expect from her then… maybe she was right to think she’d never find one.