Page 18 of Harmonizing with Little Heaven Leigh

And because he was a professional with long years of experience in his craft, he always made sure to cushion his preparations with extra time. He knew something always went wrong. There was always a last-minute problem to fix. Chocolate that didn’t temper correctly, an accident, or some other issue that hindered the plan.

But he never could have predicted that a gang of Littles would get into a locked room and devour part of his creation. It was the kind of thing that couldn’t be planned for. When he’d first seen the disaster, he’d been furious, and also, oddly, hurt.

He understood about Littles and their shenanigans. Bratty behavior and pranks were part of the whole experience of being a Little, but he’d really thought that they understood his work was an artform. The idea that they had considered it just a convenient sugar snack… well, that was painful.

In that first moment of shock, he would happily have given all three of them a spanking that would have them standing up for the rest of the day, and he hadseriouslyconsidered banning them from ever eating his chocolate again. That latter, he suspected, would have been the worst punishment imaginable for Littles with a sweet tooth.

It wasn’t the first time one of his creations had been broken. A jealous woman on the kitchen staff had destroyed his chocolate haunted house a few Halloweens back. She’d tried to frame an innocent Little, and his work had just been collateral damage, which made it no less painful.

It was still a sore spot. That, on top of all the stress he was under, had led to the surge of emotion.

But an accident he could understand. Pippi had clearly been telling the truth, and the regret on her face was so obvious that a lot of his anger had dribbled away. He made things that were fragile and temporary. That made them no less art, but it did mean that they were easily broken and… eaten.

In all fairness he couldn’t even be angry that the other girls had decided to eat the broken pieces. Annoyed yes, but not angry. Once his centerpieces had been seen and admired, eating them was a natural progression. He was careful to make sure everything was edible for that reason. The Littles (and not only them) always waited eagerly for the chance to grab a chunk later.

So before they’d even gotten to the punishment, he’d lost the anger and hurt. It had been replaced by simple frustration over how easily it all could have been avoided. He blamed himself for that. If he’d just stopped to make sure the door had closed properly… but maneuvering the cart had been awkward and he’d been in a hurry.

So he did have to take some of the fault.

However, the punishment they got was fairly earned. They’d known the room was out of bounds. They knew the door was usually kept locked. They’d certainly understood that the failure of the door to lock behind him didn’t mean the rules suddenly changed either. But he’d taken the mitigating circumstances into account when he’d delivered the spanking.

Mindy was fairly new to the Ranch, and he’d had few interactions with her before this. But that didn’t stop him from being thorough. She knew the Ranch rules the same as all the other Littles.

He’d given her a round dozen swats on the back of her uniform skirt, before flipping it up out of the way. For punishment he tended to keep his warm-ups short, if he gave one at all, so another dozen on her panties were enough, before he got down to the real spanking.

Spankings were always best on the bare bottom, so he could see exactly what he was doing to her skin. The last thing he wanted to do was cause any damage, especially when using an implement. Besides, rubber had a much fiercer sting when it was used directly on the bare skin.

So the panties came down. He left them bunched up just below her quivering bottom cheeks. He took a second to admire the rounded-rectangle red marks the spatula had already left… and then he began to swing his arm again. Soon the individual marks blended together, leaving no skin untouched.

Mindy was very expressive throughout the entire thing. First, she made excuses. Then she apologized, and then after that it was mostly a lot of “oh no!” and “owie!” mixed in with inarticulate cries of pain. He ignored most of that, focusing instead on the way her body reacted to each stinging swat.

He let Derek set the pace of the spanking. After all, the Ranch owner spanked a lot more Littles than he did, but he kept a close watch on Mindy’s reactions, letting the spatula fall lighter when needed, and even pausing now and then to give her a chance to catch her breath. As a result all three punishments reached a conclusion at pretty much the same time.

It wasn’t until they were done that he remembered Heaven Leigh was watching. His first thought was concern that she might be upset. Some people didn’t like to share, and while Heaven knew it was part of his job, she’d never seen him doling out a spanking to someone else before. Not a real over-the-knee punishment anyway.

In all his time at Rawhide he’d rarely needed to give a serious punishment. Of course, he’d delivered a swat here and there, as needed. But he could count on one hand the number of times he’d had another Little across his lap. It felt more personal. More intimate.

But his Little girl didn’t seem to be upset about it. A bit flustered perhaps. Her expression was… interesting, but she looked fine. She went off to get the replacement chocolate going, which was a big help since he had a sobbing Little to take care of.

The comfort was just as important as the punishment was, and he had no intention of skimping on that. Though it did remind him that after-care could be as individualized as a spanking needed to be, and he wasn’t sure what would work best with Mindy.

Doctor Denten had already helped Pippi up and was cuddling her in her lap, as she whispered reassurance. He couldn’t hear what was said, but it seemed to be working. Pippi’s sobs had trailed off into sniffles.

Becky was on her feet, rubbing her bottom with both hands, as Master Derek wrapped her in his arms for a long hug. He spoke to her in a low voice, and she nodded her head every so often as she listened.

That left Mindy, and Angel didn’t know her well enough to know what she needed, so he decided to just ask. He tugged her panties back up into place and smoothed her skirt down, as he said, “Mindy?”

“Y-yes, S-sir?”

“The punishment is over. You’re a good girl for taking it so well. What would you like to happen next?”

“S-sir?” The confusion was clear in her tone.

“How would you like me to comfort you,chiquita? Would you like to sit in my lap? Or maybe…” He left the question open-ended, allowing her to decide what would be best.

“I-oh!” Understanding dawned on her and she whispered, “Can I sit in your lap please?” so softly he barely heard her.

“Of course you can.” He helped her to turn over and sit up, one arm wrapping around her waist in a light hug. “How’s that?”

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