Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
The thought of her working so many hours made his brow furrow. Little girls shouldn’t work so hard. She clearly had an amazing, successful business. He was proud of her in ways he had no right to be yet. But he hoped she had plenty of staff and wasn’t the sort of woman who worked thirteen hours a day because she needed her thumb on every aspect.
Adam’s mind wandered to the future again. Not the hot chocolate and swings this time but a day in the hopefully-not-too-distant future when she would be in his home. He pictured the room that connected with the master bedroom. He’d already filled it with nursery furniture and toys months ago, hoping it would bring him better luck in finding his Little. Now, he could see Rose sitting in the middle of the room playing, concentrating so hard on dressing her stuffies that she didn’t know he was standing in the doorway watching her. She was the final component the room needed, and he couldn’t wait to see her in it.
What would her hair look like if he put it up in two pigtails? How young did she like to regress when she was in Little space? How much power would she give him to choose her clothes and enforce the kinds of rules Little girls thrived on?
“Adam?”
He jerked his gaze back to hers. “I’m sorry.” He pointed toward the middle bin of hearts. “I’d like the kind I can record something on for my niece.”
She smiled, hesitating. “Excellent choice.”
It took a few minutes for her to teach him how to record his message, precious minutes he would remember forever as the first time he stood close enough to her to touch her repeatedly. He let his arm brush against hers over and over. He made sure his fingers grazed hers every time she passed him one of the stuffies or hearts.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly when that part of the process was over, hating how she stepped away to show him the outfits and accessories.
He loved how enthusiastic she was about choosing every detail for the beagle. She kept biting the lower corner of her lip while she stared at the selections, thinking. It was comical since this was her shop and she surely knew every single item on every rack as well as how many more she had in back.
Rose wasn’t fully in her adult space though. She’d slipped further into Little space as time passed. By the time she was putting jeans and a T-shirt on the beagle, she was nearly fully Little. She giggled as she tucked his hind legs into the jeggings.
Every inch of her made his heart race. She was perfection.
Suddenly, a thought struck him that made him freeze and panic. What if she already has a Daddy? It wasn’t unreasonable. Any Daddy would snatch her up as soon as he met her. She was sunshine and warmth. Sweetness and honey.
Rose turned toward Adam with the finished beagle in her hand, lifted him up, and made his head bounce as he clearly spoke. “Ruff!”
Adam chuckled. “I bet he’s a lot happier now. It was kind of you to ease his mind while he was scared.”
She shrugged. “It’s my job. Can’t have the stuffies nervous and upset.”
“Indeed.” He carried the elephant, the dance leotard, the tutu, and the ballet shoes over to the counter and set them down.
He waited until she processed his credit card and carefully tucked the elephant into the bag. As she lifted the beagle to add it to the carrier, he stopped her, saying, “That one is for you. Ruff told me he needs to belong to you.”
“What? You can’t do that,” she protested, looking completely surprised.
“Why not? Ruff deserves to have the owner he loves. He’s bonded to you. Look at those big brown eyes. He already adores you.”
Adam watched her gaze at the puppy. He could see her struggle to deny the connection between them but couldn’t. With a soft cry of delight, the shop owner pulled the stuffie close and hugged it tightly.
“I don’t know what to say,” she told him with tears filling her eyes.
“‘Thank you’ works for now,” he answered, feeling himself smile as she held the stuffie to her chest as if she’d never let him go.
“Thank you, Adam.”
“You’re very welcome. Ruff is very happy to be with you.”
“I love him. I don’t have any stuffies. I promised myself when I opened the business that I wouldn’t take the merchandise home. It’s hard to meet my financial goals if I’m the one buying everything.”
“Perfect. You kept your promise to yourself, Ruff got a home, and you have a stuffie who needed to be yours. That’s a win, win, win in my book,” he pointed out. “Now you need to find homes for all the other stuffies.”