Page 62 of Loving Luna

I wanted to say “not really” and demand to know where she’d run off to, but she looked so excited for reasons I still didn’t understand. It was freezing and as lovely as the event was, it was, just like a lot of things at the Ranch, very Little-centric. And though she was friends with many Littles, Luna herself was not one.

“Better now that you’re here,” I answered instead, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “And it is nice having my mom here. Thanks for inviting her.” I pressed a kiss on her cheek and whispered, “You better not run off again.”

“Look! It’s almost time for the tree lighting ceremony!” Luna cried as Master Derek took the stage once more. “They’re going to announce the ornament contest winners!”

“That’s great,” I answered. “Just one question: Where is the damn tree?”

Again she ignored my question. Before I could press, Master Derek called out “Are we ready to have a tree lighting?” into the mic, and the Littles cheered.

“First, we must announce the winners of tonight's special ornament contest.”

“How come we didn’t bring an ornament?” I asked. It was one of many questions I had.

As usual, I didn’t get an answer, and Master Derek jumped right into announcing the winners. Okay, we’ve got half a dozen categories to announce, and there are a few categories with multiple winners, so let’s just jump right into it.”

The Littles all lined up in front of the stage, whispering excitedly to each other. I wondered if they were the only ones who’d entered. The first few awards went to Littles, and I decided that must be the case after Wren won with some sort of horse painting ornament, and a Little named Billy won for most colorful with a hand painted ceramic gingerbread house. But then Colton won best handmade with an intricate hand carved Ranch Christmas scene on a wood block, and Moses and Nanny J tied in that category with a handcrafted personalized paddle replica, blowing my original theory out of the water. Angel and Heaven Leigh took an award for most creative with some sort of preserved chocolate concoction, and Sadie and Hayleigh won cutest with some sort of friendship-bracelet-looking garland. All in all, ten awards were given out, and I still had no idea what tree the ornaments were supposed to go on.

After he’d given out the last award, Master Derek finally answered my question… sort of. “Now folks, it’s almost time for the moment you’ve all been waiting for—the tree lighting. I know some of you were wondering, so for those of you still in the dark, the tree is inside a brand-new house on the Ridge,and that house is a very special Christmas present to three of the attendees of tonight’s little soiree. But before we continue, and let you all in on the rest of our secrets, can we first get a big round of applause for Santa’s elves, otherwise known as the masterminds behind tonight’s festivities? Elves, do you want to join me up on the stage?”

I wasn’t at all surprised when Sadie, Wren, Daisy, Hayleigh, Georgie, Reese and Eli rushed the stage, giggling excitedly and taking dramatic bows. All of them were in fact dressed as Santa’s elves.

I was completely shocked however, when after a beat, Luna and her suitemate Mia, both service submissives and not in fact dressed like elves, joined them.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Drake

What in the world is happening?I thought for the hundredth time that night. Nothing about this event made sense, and Luna’s apparent participation in it made even less. When had she had the time? She’d been helping me for a week, and after that, all her time had been spent catching up on missed work shifts.

There was no time to question though, and she never got off the stage. Just then Master Derek signaled for the applause to stop and instructed us to all line up single-file to make our way into the house where the tree lighting ceremony would apparently be held.

While that did explain why I hadn’t been able to find a damn tree all night, it didn’t explain much else. Whose house was it? Master Derek had said it was a home for three, and I Immediately wracked my brain for throuples on the Ranch who weren’t yet living on the Ridge. I couldn’t come up with any. But besides that, who the hell threw a tree lighting ceremony indoors? Well, in a house at least? And invited hundreds ofpeople? And why in the world was Master Derek being so mysterious about the whole thing?

My mom’s expression said she had the same questions as me so I just shrugged and pulled her up so we could claim our place in line which was already wrapping around the park. The elves and Master Derek left the stage, and once again Luna was nowhere to be seen. So much for Christmas memories and a special date night. So far I might as well be on a date with my mom.

Just when I was inwardly swearing to myself I was going to spank her silly when we got home, Luna appeared by my side, seemingly out of nowhere and took one of my hands and one of my mom’s dragging us to the front of the line.

“Luna!” I cried, reaching around to pop her on the bottom. “What are you doing? We can’t cut the line! It’s rude!”

Sha paused her dragging only long enough to scoff at me. “It’s not cutting, Daddy. It’s one of the perks of being an elf. Elves and their guests get VIP treatment.”

There were still so many things wrong with her claim, but I had really no grounds to argue so I sighed and let myself be dragged along. Sure enough Reese and her Daddy Arlo, Hayleigh and Chef Connor, Georgie and Lucas, Wren and Travis, Daisy and Rhett, and Eli and Willem joined us near the front of the line, along with Mia and Sadie and Master Derek. All the Littles kept looking back at us and giggling though, and I swore once again Luna’s ass was gonna get roasted once we got back to my apartment later. I just wasn’t quite sure why.

Master Derek made a big show of unlocking the door and we all filed into a large house with a huge tree in the otherwise nearly empty living room. The tree nearly touched the top of the high vaulted ceilings, with exposed beams and an open floor plan. I sucked in a breath at the beauty and wondered if it was about time for me to talk to Master Derek about getting a houseon the Ridge for myself and Luna. If my mom did indeed move away as I feared she would, at least we’d have a real guest room for her when she came to visit.

“All right everyone. Back up as far as you can and make room. It’s gonna be a tight squeeze. Elves and contest winners, you all make sure to stay up front, near the tree, please,” Derek called.

By the time all the event goers filed in, the large great room was packed and the crowd was spilling into the hallway. The fire marshal would surely have something to say about the amount of people in the house and I wondered again at the wisdom of this plan.

Before I could ask, Master Derek stepped forward, somebody pushed play on a boom box plugged into the wall and Christmas carols rang out, filling the cramped space. Even if I’d said something, nobody would hear me. The tree lit up, and everybody gasped as the majestic tree twinkled with soft white lights that blinked in time to the music.

I smiled and nudged my mom. “Look, Mom. They found the jukebox lights like we always had.” The jukebox lights as I called them, were something my dad had brought home when I was small and had used every year since. They’d always been one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I always said I’d have a set for my own tree one day. I added that to my mental shopping list, along with a tree, ornaments and stockings.

“And now, can we have the contest winners, starting with Sadie and Hayleigh and their garland please come up, one by one and place your ornament on the tree. Once they are done, the rest of you can hang your ornaments on the tree, and after that, the owners of the newest home on Rawhide Ridge will finally be revealed.”

I couldn’t wait for that moment. Hopefully then this would all make sense.

Luna squeezed my hand and pointed as Sadie and Hayleigh hung their friendship bracelet-style garland. The letters on the “beads” spelled out “Our First Christmas Together”. That just added to the mysteries. Of all the throuples I could think of here on the Ranch, none of them were newly together this year. Were they? One of them had to be.

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