Page 47 of Sadie's Little Christmas

He laughed. “How did I know you were going to say that? Close your eyes.”

Perching on his knees, with her hands eagerly clasped in her lap, she shut her eyes tight, determined not to peek this time.

“Hold out your hands.”

“Is it M&Ms?” she guessed. “Oooh, I love M&Ms.”

The box he set in her palm was too small and light for chocolate candies. She opened her eyes to find a little white box with a festive red ribbon, just like the one she’d used.

“You even used red,” she teased, briefly hugging the box to her chest.

His mouth curled. “Yes, I did.”

It was almost too pretty to open. Almost.

Tugging the ribbon, she plucked the lid off the box and very nearly dropped everything when she saw the ring-sized jewelry box nestled in a bed of pink crepe paper.

“O-Okay,” she hedged, her throat tightening with the sharpness of both her shock and sudden, almost overwhelming happiness. “This is either a piece of jewelry or the world’s smallest butt plug.”

“I do not,” he said, trying not to laugh, “believe in small butt plugs, and you know it.”

“Oh my God…” she breathed, her hands beginning to shake.

The smile under Santa’s snowy white beard softened. “Sadie Marie, I need to ask you a question.”

Dropping the ring box in his lap, she clapped both hands over her dancing heart, then just as quickly clapped them over his mouth.

“Wait, wait, wait! I need a minute.”

Someone laughed behind them, and the brightness of camera flashes began popping in the air around them.

Settling back in his seat, Daddy watched her from behind laughing blue eyes and licked her fingers.

“Ew!” She snatched her hands back, disgusted but proud to death of him for doing that. He’d learned that from her. “That’s the grossest feeling in the world.”

“Yeah,” he drawled. “So, I’ve discovered. What am I waiting for, babygirl?”

She watched him pick up the box and had to clap her hands over her stomach all over again.

“I-I have to give you my present first. It won’t mean as much if I give it to you after!”

His eyebrows quirked. “Baby, any gift you give me will mean just as much no matter when I get it.”

“Notthisone,” she insisted, and he relented.

“All right,” he said cheerfully, tucking the box into his hand and settling back to be thoroughly presented. “Go ahead, gift me.”

Suddenly shy, Sadie looked once around the room, then stood. She turned her back to them, letting the old ‘if she couldn’t see them, they weren’t really there’ reign in her head. Climbing back onto his lap, she straddled his thighs.

“I guarantee this kind of present will always mean as much,” he teased as she got as close as she could. “But we should probably wait until we’re alone.”

Sliding her arms around his neck, she sidled in until they were cheek to bristly cheek. He’d been telling her for months, but she’d never said it. In her world, the ‘L’ word had alwaysbeen an uncomfortable, painful, more four-letter curse than anything else. Her father had loved them; he’d left. Her mother had loved her; she’d drank herself to death. It had taken eighteen years and a Daddy Dom who’d gently persisted until she had no choice but to recognize her Little side before she finally realized just what love really was.

And how vastly different the ‘L’ word could be when the right person was involved.

“I love you, Daddy, with all my heart.” she whispered for his ears alone

His arms around her tightened.

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