Chapter 7

When Mandi needed to think,really think, she organized. So when she needed to process something of this magnitude, she asked Mommy Amelia if she could shelve the returned books.

A children's library—or at least the fiction section—wasn't so much organized by the Dewey Decimal System, but rather by age and then alphabetically or by topic. Mandi headed straight for the YA fiction section. Picture books were perfect for organizing displays, but when she wanted to go into automatic mode and let her brain do its thing, she alphabetized.

As her fingers ran along book spines, finding the right home for each story, she thought.

She'd thought her Little was lost, and while it wasn't entirely lost, Mandi knew her Little wasn't entirely comfortable being back, either. And also, she was scared of being Little all the time; it would be too harsh a transition when she had to leave.

Her stomach clenched and her mouth dried. The idea of leaving… but that was a week away, and she had plenty of time before then.

Moving quickly through the stacks, the YA books were all shelved in no time. She went on to Middle Grade next.

And she loved working with books, but she didn't always want to be Little when she did that; she already had ideas for a books and boardgames display, and maybe even a workshop they could run. Being fully Little in a work environment meant she wouldn't be able to have control over the one thing she'd also managed to keep for herself—her love of books.

Okay, so slipping between Big and Little seemed like what she really wanted.

And what about other Big activities, like kink and sex?

Surreptitiously, she peeped around the corner of one of the bookshelves to gaze at Mommy Amelia.

The tall woman wore a neat suit, that didn't seem too starchy or overly pressed. There was a flow to the lines of it that flattered her figure, and the idea of holding on to the lapels of that blazer as Mommy Amelia made her come…

Flushed, Mandi spun back around and leaned against the shelves, breathing deeply. So she might be interested in sex with Mommy Amelia. A teensy bit.

A lot.

Blushing even hotter at the inner truth she was attempting to ignore, she finished shelving the books on her cart, and then pushed it over to where Mommy Amelia sat behind the check-in desk.

"I think I know what I want, Mommy," she said.

"Oh yes?"

There was a flash of something in Mommy Amelia's eyes that made Mandi go all giggly.

Mommy just waited patiently until all of Mandi's giggles had died down, and then asked, "You okay there, petal?"

She nodded, smiling happily. "Yes. I have books and a Mommy and-and…" Mandi took a deep breath and then started wiggling, "And I have the happy wiggles!"

"Not the happy wiggles!" Mommy Amelia came over and wiggled with her a bit, which made Mandi giggle even more.

When she was all wiggled out, she walked into her Mommy's office and then looked behind her expectantly.

"Oh I'm so sorry, petal dear, I can see I've been summoned!"

That made her want to start giggling again, but she put on her serious face instead and sat down, haughtily gesturing toward the chair behind the desk. "You may sit."

Mommy Amelia looked as though she wanted to laugh herself, but she sat down and waited to hear what Mandi had to say. It was more than Mandi had dared hope for and absolutely delicious.

"I think that I'm not ready to be Little all of the time, and I'm not sure I'll ever be ready. I won't always feel comfortable being Little in front of people I don't know, and I also like the feeling of being Big, particularly when I'm working."

"That makes sense," said Mommy Amelia. "You're clearly very good at working in a book environment, and it makes you happy to do so. If it's not broke, why fix it?"

"But I do want to try being Little more, and to encourage my Little to maybe come out in my day-to-day life. I'm curious to see when she's going to want to come out."

"Me too," said Mommy Amelia, and her smile almost took Mandi's breath away.

"And that's the other thing," Mandi said, trying to keep the confident tone, and banishing the encroaching brain snakes into the darkest recesses of her mind. "Kink is a Big thing for me, and I like it, or at least, I think I do? I don't know if you'd be… open to maybe exploring some of that with me?"

Mommy Amelia stayed very still at that question, and Mandi got the impression that she was trying very hard to appear laidback. "I think—ahem—yes, I would be open to that. What kind of kink would you be interested in?"

"Sexual." Mandi had never owned her own desire in such a forthright, open way before. She'd always tiptoed around what she wanted, content to just follow what others desired of her. But now, faced with this beautiful woman, she knew what she wanted. "I would very much like to explore… that, with you. If you're open to?—"

"Yes." The word almost burst forth from Mommy Amelia, and it made them both laugh. "Yes, sweet girl, I would most definitely be open to that."

"I don't think I want to play publicly; the Dungeon sounds fun and all, but also a bit scary."

"I don't think it would necessarily suit your sensory needs, petal. But if there's something you particularly would like to try, we can always use one of the private playrooms. Or even see if we can have an apparatus delivered to my house or your suite for a scene."

Mandi felt her eyes widen. "They can do that?"

Amelia smiled and nodded. "You'll find there isn't much that can't be made to happen here. Rawhide Ranch is very good at fulfilling all sorts of fantasies Bigs and Littles can dream up."

"Wow," Mandi said softly, images popping in and out of her head as she nodded. "That all sounds… um, really good." Her face grew warm again and she wondered just how pink her cheeks must be by now. "Um, can… um, I mean may I…"

"What is it?" Mommy Amelia asked when Mandi couldn't seem to finish her question.

"Could I… may I have a kiss please?" Mandi asked so softly she wasn't sure she'd spoken the request out loud, until she saw her Mommy's smile.

"Oh, darling, of course you can."

They rose at the same time, and Mandi dropped her eyes, laughing awkwardly. But then Mommy Amelia was striding forward, and standing close to her, so close that Mandi could count the buttons on her blouse.

"You come up to my chin, sweet girl; perfectly sized for me."

Mandi looked up into dark brown eyes, searching for something intangible, and when Mommy Amelia's lips curled up in a smile that brightened her eyes into a delicious caramel color, Mandi saw it, raised onto her tiptoes and kissed the librarian.