Page 1 of Reaching Little Robyn

CHAPTER 1

Moira

“I swear, if I eat another single bite, I’m gonna pop!”

Moira smiled at the exaggerated groan Sadie gave while rubbing her hands across her belly. The smile turned into a laugh and a shake of her head when Derek reached into the picnic basket at his side and pulled out a huge chocolate-chip cookie and his Little wife made a grab for it.

“Hey, gimme!” she squealed as Derek easily kept the treat out of Sadie’s reach, standing when she did and laughing as she bounced around him like an excited puppy.

“Can’t have you popping, now can we?” Derek asked, taking a bite of the cookie.

Sadie’s shocked expression had the rest of the group laughing, but when the small brunette made as if to kick her Daddy’s shin, the sound of four people all inhaling deeply at the same time was actually audible.

“Uh-oh,” Moira said when Sadie realized what she’d come within a hairsbreadth of doing and wisely forgot all aboutcookies and turned her attention on making the raised eyebrow of Derek Hawkins lower.

“Oopsie!”

“Oopsie?”Derek repeated. “Is that really the word you want to use, angel?”

“Sorry?”

Moira stifled a laugh. The word sounded far more like it was being auditioned rather than being used to offer a heartfelt apology. Evidently, Derek thought so as well as he shook his head. All it took was for him to lift his boot from the ground to have Sadie squealing and taking off in the opposite direction, her Daddy right on her heels.

The friends watched as the owner of Rawhide Ranch chased his wife across the grass. Sadie’s squeals and giggles rang out as Derek’s far deeper tone calmly informed her of what happened to Little girls who forgot their manners.

“You’ve got to catch me first!” Sadie yelled, feinting to her left then dodging to the right and ducking under Derek’s arm before racing away again.

“Think she has a chance?” Jayne asked from where she was sitting opposite Moira.

“Nope.”

Jagger’s response was given with an assurance that had Moira’s bottom clenching at the memory of how her husband offered his own lessons on etiquette, usually delivered with the flat of his palm against the globes of her bare butt.

“I’ve missed this,” Moira said wistfully.

“Missed what? Getting your booty busted?” Jayne asked with a smile as she returned her sandwich to her plate and picked up a pickle spear, using it to point at Jagger. “Sounds like someone might be doing too much Daddying while forgetting his Dommie duties.”

“Jayne!” Moira gasped, darting a glance between the two.

“Don’tJayneme, little girl.” Jayne bit into the pickle with a force that somehow managed to emphasize her words. “Or are you forgetting that I’m not only your friend, but a Domme in my own right?”

“No, Ma’am, I don’t think there’s a soul who’s ever met you that could forget what a great friendandDomme you are. But I can also assure you that Jagger hasn’t skirted any of his Dommie duties either.” She giggled at the look on her husband’s face. Jagger had come a long way since she’d met him. Granted, their meeting hadn’t been under the best of circumstances since he’d been recovering from a bad fall from his horse.

The day she’d been assigned as his physical therapist had changed her entire life. Despite the fact he’d constantly griped he didn’t need her help, she’d been persistent in teaching him he was wrong. Patience trumped orneriness and he’d finally decided he not only needed her help, it turned out that he needed her in his life forever. Since then, he’d gone from being a grumpy patient to become her husband, Daddy Dom, and the father of their children.

“I meant I miss all this.” Moira waved her arms wide to encompass their surroundings. “The six of us getting away from ranch work and just having fun. It makes me feel, I don’t know, free, I suppose you could call it

Jayne, the remainder of her pickle spear halfway to her lips, looked across the red and black-checkered blanket they had spread over the grass to serve as their picnic table. “I’d love to say something profound and meaningful, but did you ever stop to think that feeling of lacking freedom might lay at the feet of those two adorable babies you and Jagger brought into this world?”

Moira smiled, but when her hand lifted to her cheek, it was her husband who responded.

“Now you’ve gone and done it.” He reached for his wife and easily pulled her onto his lap.

“Done what? I didn’t mean to make her cry. All I did was state you two make awful cute kids.” Pickle forgotten, Jayne was drawn to another hand as her husband Moses’ fingers danced in the air.

Though deaf, Moses was not only fluent in sign language, his ability to communicate went far deeper in that he read more than a person’s lips. He saw words left unspoken in the expressions on a face, the tension in one’s body, the softness of a smile and the emotion seen in the depths of a pair of eyes.

Jayne translated the words his hands and fingers spoke.

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