Page 36 of Zale's Little Girl
“I’m better when I’m with you, too.” Zale deliberately mirrored her statement. She needed to know that it was okay to have feelings or worries. Everyone did.
“Daddy needs to wash his hands. Keep working on your picture. We need a Pippa Twinner creation on our refrigerator. It’s pretty plain right now.”
She considered the plain stainless-steel door with the rules on it and wrinkled her nose. “Boring! Just rules.”
Chuckling, Zale boosted her up and restored her panties and leggings into place. Her pink cheeks as he cared for her enchanted him. He hugged her close before sending her back to her chair with a pat on her bottom. She couldn’t be more perfect.
CHAPTER 12
The men settled around the fire pit in the middle of Zale’s backyard. The crew normally met up at Jerico’s house, but Zale had asked to host this time. He was glad it was just the team tonight. At Jerico’s, a neighbor joined them from time to time.
Hopeful Savannah would be the Little he’d searched for, Zale had made it his mission to spend time with her. Unfortunately, they hadn’t made a connection that encouraged him to get to know her romantically. Savannah was beautiful and interesting. Zale hadn’t understood what was missing. But it hadn’t been there. When he’d noticed her attention lingered on another member of the team, Zale had known he hadn’t found his own Little. Zale didn’t poach anyone’s girl.
Having the gathering at his house seemed to be easiest with his newly discovered Little. He wanted her to be comfortable and have a place to retreat to if she needed some alone time. Zale loved his team, but they were a lot. Competitive and physical to the core, the team magnified a simple game like corn hole into an epic battle.
He was happy about how close the women had become. Aspen was obviously delighted to have a friend. The two Littles had a great time roasting hotdogs and s’mores. He could tell Aspen helped Pippa feel more comfortable in being herself in the crowd. Zale would have to thank her privately for being such a good friend.
“Daddy?”
Zale smiled at his little girl who stood by his side with a gooey s’more in her hand. “Did you make that for me?”
“I burnt the marshmallow just how you like it,” Pippa assured him.
“How about if you come sit on my lap and we’ll eat it together?” The last thing he needed was another s’more, but she’d had so much fun roasting marshmallows he hated to refuse. He took it from her hand and lifted her with one arm onto his thighs.
“I don’t want any more, Daddy,” she said, leaning back against his chest.
“Are you okay?”
“Just over sugared,” she confessed.
“How about if I distract you then?”
She nodded eagerly.
“I promised Pippa that I would tell her about other things I found in the woods,” Zale announced to the group as he set the s’more down on a napkin on the small table next to him.
“Not the jungle story again,” Koa bemoaned.
“The jungle story?” Aspen asked, climbing up on Jerico’s lap to listen as well. “Have I heard it?”
“It was before Jerico joined the team,” Caden added.
“And me,” Hank chimed in. “Is the story appropriate for… everyone?”
“Definitely,” Zale assured him. “So, we’re out on a mission and we’re waiting for some bad guys to shift so we can slide past them. The terrain was heavily wooded, with lots of wildlife. Everyone was hunkered down.”
“We’d been there for several hours,” Koa pointed out.
“We had,” Zale agreed. “Caden communicated that a snake had bitten him.”
When the girls gasped and pulled their legs up further from the ground, Zale reassured them, “No snakes here,” before continuing. “Luckily, he’d killed it and determined it was not poisonous. Nevertheless, the wound needed to be treated. I was making my way back to him.”
“And I was dangling from a tree,” Koa jumped ahead, trying to speed up the story.
“Not only was Koa hanging from an overhead branch up ten feet…”
Koa interrupted. “He caught me with my pants down.”
