Chapter 20

Les

"How many timesare we gonna hear this book?"

Les chuckled as the Bigs around him continued grousing about the book selections. Four Daddies had read and four Littles had chosen the same exact book. Les knew what was going on, but he was too busy laughing at the Littles' adorable antics to tell the other Bigs yet.

Finally his silent laughter slowed enough to voice his thoughts, "The Littles are celebrating Repeat Day."

"Repeat..." Master Derek looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"Today is an obscure holiday known as Repeat Day. I learned about it this morning when Rae-Rae told me she was excited about it. They're celebrating by repeating the same book over and over."

The Bigs looked at each other with the same looks on their faces. Ones that declared how adorable and apt this stunt was. Les had to agree, it was pretty damn cute.

Les' turn finally arrived and, knowing what would be requested, he took the book from Travis and settled into the seat. It was good they'd all requested the same book since it had given him time to memorize his lines. Being the last to read was working in his favor. Having heard the book twelve times already today, he should be able to breeze through it.

Keeping up the pretense of requiring a request he asked, "Rae-Rae, what book would you like to hear?"

Rae-Rae put her finger on her chin, tapped it a few times while she hummed as if thinking long and hard about her selection. She glanced around as each Little began to laugh and nod their heads. Finally, Rae-Rae opened her mouth to answer and Les opened the book getting ready to read. He'd taken a deep breath, prepared to begin as soon as the words left her mouth and had even said two of the first words before her answer registered, along with the hysterical laughter of all the Littles present and even most of the Bigs.

"I'd like to hear Sam the Speedy Sloth, Daddy."

Well, fuck him. She'd gotten him. And he didn't even know what the book was about. This reading was not going to be nearly as easy as he'd begun to believe.

Raelynn

Raelynn figuredher eyes must be shining in merriment. They'd gotten them good! Poor Daddy. It hadn't been easy for Sadie to arrange it to where Daddy was last. They'd even all had a book picked out in case it wasn't possible for him to read last. It couldn't have gone more perfectly, though. As Daddy stumbled his way through the story of a sloth challenging other animals to races, she held in her chuckles and filed the moment away in her memory. It was one she'd hold forever. A new favorite.

"Rae-Rae!"Sadie called out.

They were just leaving the library and Daddy was leading her to lunch.

"Hi, Sadie!"

Sadie was almost out of breath when she caught up to them. Daddy watched her curiously, but Raelynn knew exactly what was coming.

"A bunch of us are going to the park by the pond after lunch. They have some awesome tree swings there. Wanna come?" Sadie looked at Daddy and added, "If it's okay with your Daddy, of course."

Raelynn turned her best puppy dog eyes on her Daddy. She needed him to say yes. If he didn't, this wasn't going to work. "Please, Daddy, can I?"

Daddy looked at Sadie, then at Raelynn, and back at Sadie as if he didn't trust them. His instincts had always been good, they'd also been improved by his years at the Ranch, but she hoped he'd relent anyway. She was beginning to think he was going to say no or ask a question they really didn't want asked, but her face falling must have convinced him or something because finally he said, "Okay, but only for an hour, since you woke up too early this morning. You'll be getting a nap today."

Raelynn bounced up and down as she celebrated her success. "Thank you! Thank you, Daddy!" She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight as she told him, "You're the bestest Daddy ever!"

Sadie waved and headed back toward her Daddy, probably headed for her own lunch. Step one was complete. On to phase two.

Les

He hada bad feeling about it, but he'd already agreed to park time. The amount of excitement Rae-Rae showed over being allowed to go was a bit overboard, which he knew from extensive experience probably meant something was up. The problem was that his experience was from twenty years ago. She'd changed. It wasn't so hard to imagine that her Little had as well.

Was she this excited because she'd been deprived of Little time before coming here, from the joy of finding new friends, or because she was up to something naughty? Les figured time would tell and searched the armoire in their room. If it was what he suspected, he'd be needing some of the tools the Ranch provided.

Rae-Rae had just gone to the park to visit her friends and Les had an hour to kill while he waited. Maybe he could use some of these even if she didn't get into any trouble. There was nothing that said he couldn't use some as a reward, right?

Les doubled his efforts, choosing implements that would help him whether he was rewarding his good girl or disciplining his naughty one. Either was a win for him.

Raelynn

"Shhhhh,"Sadie used her key card to unlock the door labeled Staff Only. She cracked it a bit before turning to Hayleigh and asking, "You got it, right?"

Hayleigh held up the item in question, "I swear it was one of those James Bond computer file moments. There I am in the office trying to be patient for this download and I heard Daddy coming toward the office. He was on the phone so I was listening to him talk, getting closer and closer..."

Raelynn gasped, "What happened?"

"Well, Daddy got all the way to the door, and this still had thirty seconds to download. I just knew I was gonna get caught. But then, whoever was on the phone said something that had Daddy walking away and saying he'd be there soon. By the time he called me to the living room to let me know he had to run out, I'd gotten this and hidden it in my room."

"Wow, that was a close call!"

Hayleigh turned to Sadie and answered, "I don't think my heart stopped racing for two dang hours. But I got it, so let's do this!"

"Wren?" Sadie asked.

"Good to go. I don't have a Jane Bond story for you, though."

The girls all chuckled at her change of gender as Sadie opened the door, stuck her head in and looked down both ends of the hall before motioning the other girls in with her.