Page 41 of Daddy, Take Me Away
A Rock To Cling To
By Maggie Ryan
Chapter One
Stone
He’d heard about this, but getting to actually witness the process in action made all those stories pale in comparison. It was enough of a shock to have him standing framed in the middle of the doorway, simply too amused to take the next step into the room. Stone felt a bit like he’d stumbled upon some special dance meant for only the eyes of the person performing the secret ritual. Though “dance” wasn’t quite the word to describe what he was witnessing. This reminded him of a combination of gymnastics and weightlifting, if one considered the only thing being lifted was their own body weight.
A pair of hands, each hot-pink-tipped finger splayed to create more surface area, planted on her “vault” of choice. Bare feet sporting ten perfectly matching pink toenails weren’t carefully aligned on some four-inch-wide wooden balance beam, but rather had disappeared into the softness of a snow-white duvet as the contestant prepared to make her move. Biceps tightened as slender arms tensed to hold her entire body weight as it lifted into the air. It truly was a rather impressive feat of strength, but he’d admit his attention was captured by the uniform this athlete had chosen, or rather not chosen.
Naked as the day she was born, there was no sign of any flag depicting which country she represented. In fact, the only distinctive mark in evidence was the small red heart edged in a pink lacy design inked onto one of his favorite canvases in the entire world—her beautiful silky skin. The tattoo accentuated the adorable little dimple right above the split of her ass, and the white lettering spelling out “Daddy’s Girl” in the heart’s center never failed to make Stone feel like the luckiest man in the world.
A distinctive little grunt he’d recognize anywhere drew his thoughts back to the competition. Forget gymnastics or testing of strength. His Little girl seemed to have created her own Bottom-Bounce category.
“Have you considered the fact that if you’d wear some of the clothes you’re trying so hard to stuff inside, you’d have a far better chance of that closing?” he asked when she finally stopped bouncing her bare behind up and down on the surface of a clearly overstuffed pink Samsonite suitcase.
A high-pitched squeal told of her surprise at being observed and her crossed arms and flashing eyes conveyed her opinion of his suggestion.
“Don’t do that! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Stone said as he bent forward to drop a kiss on top of her curls. “Forgive me?”
Her head tilted to the side as her eyes lifted to his, the lilac tint reminding him of fields of lavender flowers. Just as cresting a hill to discover the delicate flowers flowing all the way to the horizon, being captured by her gaze had the ability to mesmerize him. But it was her smile as her lips curled up that had the power to stop his breath and have his heart skip a beat.
“Of course I will,” she began sweetly.
Experience had taught him that when her words were that syrupy and accompanied by a deliberate fluttering of long, curled eyelashes there was some sort of caveat attached to the declaration.
“If…” he prompted.
“If you’ll help me close the latches. All I need is a little more pressure–”
“Babygirl, an entire herd of elephants could do a synchronized floor routine on that suitcase and it still would have no chance of closing.”
“Huh?”
He chuckled and shook his head. Evidently, he was the only one thinking of the Olympics. “Never mind. We just need to take out a few pieces?—”
“We can’t!”
Easily prying away the fingers she had curled around the suitcase’s edges, Stone then lifted her into the air. The moment her weight disappeared, the top of the suitcase flipped open to disgorge what looked to be the entirety of her closet’s contents as well as those of her dresser drawers. He gave a long drawn-out whistle. “Make that more than a few.”
“But, Daddy, I need everything in there!”
Stone set her down onto the middle of the mattress before he made a random grab, pulling out one item with each hand. Lifting them high, he saw they were both pink, one fuzzy, the other slick, and he thought she looked adorable when wearing either one. However, only one could be considered even remotely necessary for this trip, and that would require a drastic climate change that dropped the temperature of their vacation locale into that seen in Antarctica. Still, he allowed himself another moment to visualize the possibilities provided by the drop-seat of the footed pajamas before releasing it to fall to the floor. Grinning, he concentrated on the other garment.
“A wetsuit? Micah, exactly where do you think we are going?”
“On vacation,” she quipped. “Though you won’t tell me exactly where that will be, you did say something about a lake.”
“A river,” Stone corrected, letting the pink neoprene garment fall on top of the pjs at his feet. “You may get some swimming in, but there will be no need for scuba gear. A bathing suit will suffice. Is there one in here?”
“There’s two.” Micah knelt up and dug into the suitcase to first pull out a sleek one-piece suit. “If you’d prefer I be Big,” she explained before producing a cute swim skirt and top covered with yellow rubber ducks wearing all sorts of outfits. “In case we’re going somewhere where I can swim while Little.”
“The question is what headspace you wish to be in. The choice is yours. After all, this is your vacation as much as it is mine.”
She smiled and threw the one-piece over his head. “Little!”
