CHAPTER FOUR
Xander
I think this little plus-sized girl next to me is perfect. I love that she has fire and doesn’t behave like so many women in the lifestyle. She may be a little girl eager for a Daddy Dom but she’s no pushover. She doesn’t display that kind of overly sweet submissiveness bordering on stupidity I see from so many girls who think that vacuousness is what Daddies want.
Okay, I have no right at all to make that generalization.
I think the point is, this girl is the first little I’ve experienced who didn’t seem like she was just pretending to be a little. She retains her personality, and she submits but she doesn’t pretend like she likes everything just because Daddy thinks she should like it.
I love the feel of her against me as she sleeps.
I glance at the digital clock in the room. It’s four in the morning. That’s par for the course for me. Hell, I can’t remember the last time I woke later than four-thirty. Most of the time I’m five minutes before or after four, so today shouldn’t surprise me.
I could remain here for hours in her arms.
I won’t fall back to sleep, though, and I can’t stay. This is the first one-night stand in my life that causes me regret. Oh, I don’t regret the experience. I just regret that it’s one night only. I gently disentangle myself from her and gather my things. A few minutes later, I’m out the door and headed to my room. I call the front desk and talk to Charlie, my best friend and the owner of the hotel.
“What the hell are you doing working the night shift?” I ask.
He laughs and says, “What the hell are you staying at my hotel without telling me ahead of time?”
“Why would I tell you. You’d insist on refusing my money.”
“Well,” he says, “I’ll make sure your card isn’t charged.”
“Checkmate, bud,” I reply, “I paid cash just to avoid such a thing.”
He laughs and says, “How long are you staying?”
“I’ll be out right after my shower.”
“No, I mean in town.”
“This is it,” I reply. “I’m home for good. I’m taking over the ranch.”
“Holy shit. When did…” He takes a breath and says, “When we talked last month you said that was off the table.”
“Yeah,” I say, “but last month I thought my grampa was just bitching about not liking it anymore. I got the truth. He can’t handle it anymore. He’s too proud to admit it. Grandma called me so I could help with the sale. No chance in hell I’m letting strangers get it.”
“So you’re heading to the ranch now.”
“Yeah but I need something. From the hotel, I mean.”
“Shoot.”
I tell him what I need, and he chuckles at me. He tells me, as he always does, that I need to have more than a one-night stand, that being a Daddy Dom requires a little girl and if I don’t have a meaningful relationship with one, I’ll never be happy. This is a conversation we have every single damned time we talk.
I drop by the front desk about forty minutes later as I leave, and he and I have a drink. Sure, it’s not even five in the morning. Nonetheless, this is the first time we’ve seen each other in the flesh in more than a year. One bourbon in the morning won’t kill me, and it’s good to see my friend. I realize my big mistake when I try to give him money for my special request, and he smiles at me.
So, he ends up by effect giving me the room for free after all.
I get out of there at about five-thirty and get in my car. There’s a lot of excitement about being home and a lot of excitement about knowing the ranch isn’t going to strangers. I drive fifteen miles away from downtown and when I see the gate to the Triple Bar, I feel a sense of pride and excitement that surprises me.
I’d forgotten how much this place means to me.
Every single summer until junior high school was spent on this ranch. When my father passed away, my mom moved home with her parents and so I lived on the ranch from then on. And now I’m back. I pull in and park next to the stables.
As I walk the quarter-mile from the stables to the house, I pass all of the familiar landmarks from my childhood. The corrals are just past the stables, along with the branding pens where a panicked yearling once kicked me in the chest and left a horseshoe-shaped bruise on my chest that lasted nearly a month. Past that is the barn where I lost my virginity to the head cheerleader and learned that I like being dominant in bed, although it would be several more years before I learned about DDlg and discovered I was a Daddy dom.
Past that is the courtyard with the old hand-pumped well and the woodshed tucked in one corner and past the courtyard is the house, a sprawling single-floor ranch house that I once knew even better than I knew my own house.
Papa sits on the porch drinking coffee and smoking out of an old wooden pipe he got from his grandfather who got it as a gift from a Civil War General for rescuing him from a Confederate ambush.
He doesn’t acknowledge me when I sit next to him but he pushes the porch table out of the way so I can pull my chair next to him.
We sit in silence and watch the sunrise. I don’t speak until the sun has climbed above the horizon. Then I turn to him and say, “I’ve been thinking. I’ve reconsidered about the ranch. I’m tired of city life. I miss living here. If you’re still willing, I’d like to buy the ranch from you.”
He doesn’t answer right away, and I wait patiently. My grandfather is a man of few words but despite that, he is the kindest, most caring man I’ve ever met, and seeing him again is the best part of being back home.
I think of the way Mary Cait felt in my arms and wonder if she may be the best part of my return. My grandfather saves me from that pointless reflection by saying, “We’ll call a staff meeting at nine. You’ll want to introduce yourself and get to know the new employees.”
I smile and say, “Yes, sir. I look forward to it.”
He nods and then a smile cracks his stoic façade. “Good to have you back home.”
I can’t resist thinking of Mary Cait when I say, “It’s good to be home.”