Page 1 of Daddy's Little Duckling

CHAPTER ONE

RAELYN

Raelyn spent the twenty-minute drive to work thinking about where she was at in life. A college dropout who suffered from a sensory processing disorder, Rae felt like a shell of the person she once was.

She used to be so full of life and loved to do all sorts of things, but life had a way of kicking her when she was already knocked down.

When she arrived at work, she sat in her car postponing going inside. Rae loved her job most of the time, but being a caregiver to dementia residents at a nursing home was harder than most people realized.

Ivory Mountain Nursing Home was a great place to work and the residents were some of the sweetest people she knew, but sometimes the upper management and fellow caregivers left much to be desired.

None of that mattered, though. She couldn’t complain about the job because she would be in more debt than she already was without it.

Thinking about her empty fridge and bare cabinets motivated her to get out of the car, even though her body and mental state demanded she turn around and go home.

As Raelyn gathered the things she needed to take care of her assigned residents, her mind wandered to what she planned to do when she got home.

Not paying attention to where she was walking, she bumped right into something large, warm, and hard that smelled fantastic.

Bending down to pick up the linens that she dropped she blurted out “I am so sorry. I was off in outer space and wasn’t watching where I was walking!”

Looking up she was met by the most handsome man she had ever seen. “Little one, you should pay more attention when walking or you are going to fall and get hurt,” gruffed the man.

As he walked around her, he gave her one more lingering glance and continued down the hall.

Raelyn’s heart raced as she continued about her tasks. She couldn’t stop thinking about what the man said to her. There was no way he could know her secret.

She was careful to keep that part of her hidden, especially at work. The only person she had ever told from work was her best friend Olivia. There was no way he could have known.

She reasoned that he must have said that because she looked more like a nineteen-year-old rather than her real age of twenty-one.

She knew that most people confused her for being younger, so this man was probably no different. He looked to be older than her anyway, closer to forty if she had to guess.

Rae kept zoning out while trying to complete her daily tasks. All she kept picturing was the handsome man. Those dark caramel colored eyes, neatly trimmed facial hair, and muscles that made her melt, kept flashingthrough her mind.

As the day continued, Raelyn found herself looking around for another glimpse of the man, but she never saw him. By the time the end of her shift came, the memory of what he had said to her had long passed.

All she wanted to do now was go home, cuddle up with Bruce, her stuffed duckie, and watch her favorite movie, The Little Mermaid. She had the next day off and she couldn’t wait to spend some much-needed time in Littlespace.

Rae sleptin the next morning. It was a rare luxury for her to sleep past five in the morning. Her body was too used to waking up early for her shifts at the nursing home.

She figured that her body needed the extra rest, though she didn’t believe the dark circles under her eyes would be fading anytime soon.

Getting up, Raelyn decided to put on her favorite Little outfit. It was made of the softest jersey material that she could find. Most other fabrics felt like razor blades across her skin.

It was a pretty soft yellow color and had Daddy’s Little Duckling written across the front. She longed to have a Daddy to make that statement true.

She paired it with her favorite baby blue tutu that she had modified to fit her sensory issues and some white knee-high socks that had light blue bows on the back.

Skipping into the bathroom, Rae braided her hair into pigtails and tied them up with white sparkly bows.

She loved finding bows wherever she could and that was the one thing she allowed herself to splurge on. Finally ready for a day in Littlespace she skipped into the bedroom to grab Bruce so he could help makebreakfast.

“What should we have for breakfast, Bruce?” She asked her companion as she opened the fridge.

Raelyn sighed and knew that today would be another day of oatmeal. She knew she should be grateful that oatmeal wasn’t an icky food for her, but she couldn’t help wishing she had some bacon and eggs or pancakes to eat instead.

Payday was in a few days, so hopefully after her bills she would be able to splurge a little on her favorite foods.

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