Page 18 of Promising Little Poppy

Poppy wassocold.

A frigid ball of ice a moment away from shattering into a million frozen fractals.

Her bones were aching as CJ helped her to her feet, and when her Daddy draped a coat around Poppy’s shoulders, she breathed in not only relief, but the spicy, crisp scent of pine she knew wasn’t from the trees that surrounded the Ranch but from the woman next to her who’d stolen Poppy’s heart in an unexpected way.

Together, they took about thirty steps before the rear of the guest building came into view. Had Poppy not been frozen to the bone, she might have laughed at how silly it was. That she had panicked, thinking that she was surely lost to the Ranch’s frozen landscape when in actuality she was mere feet away.

CJ maneuvered Poppy away from the main lobby, instead escorting her to the suite the women had been sharing. “What… what are we doing back here?” Poppy asked, her straight, white teeth still chattering as her body slowly came back to a more reasonable temperature.

“You’re soaked to the bone from the snow, sweetheart. At the very least, we need to get you changed into some dry clothes. However, I think it might be best if we spent the rest of the day as just the two of us. You’ve had quite a bit of excitement already and we need to address what happened.”

Poppy knew CJ was right, but she wanted to be with her friends. She wanted to decorate cookies and eat turkey. Wanted to watchA Charlie Brown Thanksgivingin the theater and eat way too many sweets as everyone at the Ranch took turnsdivulging what they were most thankful for around the double-sided fireplace later in the evening.

But as with everything else in her short life, she had ruined that possibility when she defied one of the few rules her gentle, caring Daddy had put in place for no other reason than Poppy’s own safety.

She deserved whatever punishment CJ thought Poppy deserved.

Just like she had deserved everything else that had happened to her in her life.

Every bump in the road and hardship she had faced, Poppy had certainly brought upon herself by her not paying attention. By not being smart enough, brave enough,goodenough.

Opening the door to their suite, CJ led Poppy directly to Poppy’s bedroom and instructed her to strip down. While Poppy complied, CJ pulled a thick pair of sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt out of the closet. They were a pair Poppy brought with her from her dorm, wearing them often before she had started sinking more and more into Little space and started spending more time wearing appropriately themed and often colorful clothes. But after what Poppy had been through in the cold, CJ—while still in Daddy mode—was apparently more concerned with the warmth and safety of her Little than she was with what Poppy wore to play the part of her sweet, innocent Little girl.

CJ dressed Poppy in silence, sliding two pairs of fuzzy socks over her feet for added warmth. And while the Caregiver might have most recently lived in the tropical climate of Florida, she knew enough about frostbite to know what signs to look out for as she tended to her Little.

Still not using words, she took Poppy’s hand in hers and walked her to the couch in the living room before instructing her to sit down. Only once Poppy sat, did CJ turn on the electric fireplace. Then, she moved around their suite, pulling everyblanket and pillow she could find off beds and piling them into a heap on the floor of the living room. Finally, when satisfied with the nest she created, she sat on the ground.

“Come here, kitten.”

Like the awkward, oversized child she often felt like, Poppy scurried off the couch and onto the ground. CJ pulled Poppy between her legs, layering soft blankets over their still chilly bodies.

“You really scared me today, Poppy.” CJ’s voice was far wobblier than Poppy expected. She expected to hear disappointment in her Daddy’s voice, but instead, she only heard fear as the other woman continued to speak. “I thought I had lost you. When I finally got it out of your friends where you had gone, I was angry with you for not telling me, but I would have been okay with having that conversation about our rules and boundaries with you and moving on.”

CJ’s arms tightened around Poppy as she sighed, holding her Little closer to her chest. “But then I remembered the day I checked into the Ranch. It had been snowing that day, too. And when I was standing at the check in desk, this beautiful, blonde woman came bounding through the lobby covered in freshly fallen snow. I couldn’t help but stare at the girl—she took my breath away with these gorgeous, big eyes and cheeks that were rosy from the chilly wind outside. And you want to know what I thought that day, Poppy?”

Poppy’s head nodded. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Sorry. Yes, Daddy. I would like to know what you thought that day.”

“Much better,” CJ said, lightly trailing her fingers through Poppy’s hair that had begun to dry in a tangled, blonde mess. “I thought that as beautiful as that young woman was, her jacket was too thin. That she needed gloves and a hat. That she neededsomeone to look after her, to care for her, to nurture her, to correct her, and to guide her with gentle punishment when necessary.”

Poppy swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry. She had known that she had earned a punishment after the stunt she pulled, but she still didn’t know if she was ready for what she knew she had earned.

“I take it back,” Poppy said, pouting though she knew CJ couldn’t see her face. “I reallydidn’tneed to know what it was that you were thinking that day.”

CJ chuckled and Poppy felt the smallest bit of tension leave her body as she sank back against her Daddy.

And despite her hesitation, if there was anyone she trusted to walk her through the next step of this unique type of dynamic, it was CJ. The woman with the gentle voice who helped to calm Poppy’s nerves when frazzled. The woman who saw Poppy not for who she was, but for who she could be. The Caregiver—theDaddy—Poppy had never known she needed.

Together they sat in silence for several minutes, the only sound the quiet crackling of the artificial fire burning a few feet away. Poppy knew a punishment was coming and she was resigned to the fact.

Still, she wasn’t exactly nervous for what was to come. Sure, Poppy knew she probably wasn’t going to be able to sit comfortably for a few days, but not only had she put herself in harm’s way, even worse, she had truly scared her Daddy. The shame in knowing she had let CJ down was worse than any punishment she could ever receive.

“You finally warming up?”

Poppy nodded against CJ. “Almost like it never happened.”

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