Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“Everything but pepperoni. It gives me indigestion. I guess I’m getting old.”
“Or smart. Kids get indigestion, too. They’re just too busy playing to notice or care,” Hunter said with a laugh before adding, “It’s a good thing this is a veggie pizza. Come sit at the table. I’m getting ready to pull it out of the oven.”
As he grabbed potholders from the drawer, Hunter watched CC push herself up to standing. She picked up the towel-wrapped gel pack and brought it to the kitchen. She set it on the table before he turned to pull the steaming hot concoction from the oven.
“Wow! That looks amazing,” she complimented.
“Wait until you taste it. I’m pretty much the pizza master,” he assured her.
“No ego, huh?”
“I’ll check with you after your first bite to see if you think I’m bragging without reason. Take the chair with the pink cup. It has the apple juice I used to lure you here. I’m drinking water.”
He slid the pizza onto a huge cutting board and used his rocker pizza cutter to slice it into wedges as she settled into her chair. He placed two slices on each plate and added a few orange wedges before carrying it to the table.
“Oranges aren’t going to make that much cheese healthy,” she warned with a laugh. CC picked up the sippy cup and drank from it without comment. He knew immediately that she had a very Little side and had used these before.
“I might have a bit of an addiction,” he confessed smoothly, not revealing what she had given away about herself. Hunter loved her smile. It reminded him of the times he’d seen her having fun as she played with the other Littles at Blaze. The hospital had definitely not been her happy place. He hadn’t seen it there.
After Hunter settled down in his chair, he asked, “Do you need me to cut it into smaller pieces for you?”
“No. I’ll be fine,” she answered automatically before trying to pick up one heavy slice with her injured hand. Immediately, she dropped it to the plate with a quick intake of breath.
Hunter didn’t wait for her to ask. He slid her plate over in front of him and quickly sliced the wedges into thin strips. When he replaced it in front of her, she picked up a small piece and took a bite.
“Yum!” she enthused. “The perfect amount of cheese.”
“I know, right?” he agreed with a laugh as he picked up one of his pieces and took a giant bite.
“Whoa! You’re like a pizza shark,” she commented, nodding at the large bite mark.
“Duuuunnnn duun… duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun,” he hummed, the familiar threatening tune from a famous shark movie making her grin.
“I love scary movies,” she confessed. “I have nightmares forever afterward but they’re so worth it.”
“Bad dreams aren’t good for Little girls.”
“You seem so sure that I’m a Little girl. Other than seeing me at Blaze with my friends, how do you know I’m Little?”
“The same way I knew I was a Daddy. It’s how I’m wired. As I experimented with different relationships through high school and college, I didn’t know what I needed until I heard a classmate’s girlfriend call him Daddy. A bunch of beers later, I’d learned all he could tell me and was ready to seek more information.”
He watched CC deliberately take another bite of pizza and swallow it before meeting his gaze. “Darren introduced me to being a Little girl when we were in college. It was our only and biggest fight. I was sure he had cheated on me. Where else would he find this kink? Turns out, he was in a bar one night while I was studying for a test. He was always aware of people around him. Darren loved to watch people and try to figure out their stories.”
“He spotted a Little and her Daddy,” Hunter guessed.
“A Little boy and his Mommy actually. The Little had a bracelet that had the words good and bad written repeatedly in a row around it. Darren didn’t notice it until the guy was razzing the young man next to him at the bar. The woman reached out and tapped bad. When he didn’t stop, she pressed her finger firmly against the word and held it there. Immediately, he apologized to the man he’d been verbally poking at and leaned down to kiss her hand as if telling her also that he was sorry.”
“She rewarded him?”
“Darren said she held her finger against the bracelet again, this time over the word good before wrapping her other hand around the back of his head and pulling him in for a kiss. When she pulled back, Darren heard him say, ‘I love you, Mommy.’”
“And she answered?”
“She said, ‘Such a good Little boy. I love you, sweetheart.’”