Page 15 of Heaven Leigh’s Little Halloween

Derek nodded. “Understood. The next time I see her in my office I’m going to present this situation to her. I suspect she’ll be pleased to be put to work.”

Angel nodded as he reached for the chocolate tempering spatula. “I’ll give her a fair try.” Derek turned to go, but not before Angel saw the sly smile curving his lips. The boss was definitely trying to work his matchmaking magic, but Angel still had doubts.

He couldn’t remember a Heaven Leigh among the Littles. In truth, he didn’t know all of their names though. Hayleigh he knew because she came to the kitchen often. And of course everyone knew Sadie since she helped run the Ranch. Like most of the Bigs on the Ranch, he kept his eye on any Littles passing by, but that didn’t necessarily mean he knew who they were.

When Heaven arrived a few days later, he recognized her. He’d seen her in passing, though they’d never actually spoken. She was one of the quieter Littles, usually towards the back of any group.

Her dark blue eyes were shadowed. There was a fragile hurt look to them, and he instantly had the urge to sweep her into a big hug. The way she stood slightly at a distance from him, made him think she wouldn’t welcome the affection, so he kept things professional.

With Littles praise was just as important as punishment, and he made sure to let her know she was doing a good job frequently. It was true anyway. She tackled every task with determination and no whining, which was all he could ask from a helper.

By the end of the morning, he’d decided that they would work well together. He’d taken Derek’s advice and set down a few ground rules, but there hadn’t been any issues. He gave her simple chores and she worked hard, without complaining, so he rewarded her with an extra dessert before she had to go.

There hadn’t been much time to get to know each other, not with so much work to do, but he found her intriguing. His thoughts turned back to her throughout the day, wondering about the way she’d flinched every time he’d praised her, and her unusual reaction to conversation about the upcoming holiday.

The second day went just as well, and the third. He found that when she left for lunch, he was sad to see her go and looked forward to seeing her again. It really was working out.

On the fourth day, when she arrived in the morning, she went right to work without being told. It was a habit he approved of.

She collected the used things, blonde pigtails bouncing as she moved to dump them in the sink. She wiped down all the surfaces and then came over to watch the careful molding he was fiddling with. “Is that for dessert tonight?”

He looked up, flashed her a smile. “No, chiquita. This is part of the Halloween decoration. I’ve planned a landscape centerpiece featuring some favorite creatures. I have to work on it in pieces because we don’t really have the room to spread out in here.” He turned the piece so she could see the detailed side. “Werewolf.”

There was a frown on her face, but it smoothed out as she looked. “He looks amazing. The fur has some nice texture on it.” There was approval in her voice, and it was a type he wasn’t used to hearing from a Little. It felt more professional, like the acknowledgement of skills from a co-worker.

It amused him. “Mhm. It will be an edible display, but at the end of the party I thought I’d let the Littles break it up and take the pieces they wanted.”

“Eating things like this is always the hardest part… or it was for me. You put so much work into the art and then it’s gone.” She laughed.

That was one way to look at it, but he had a different view. “That’s what I like about it. In a way it makes it more special if it’s temporary. And imagine how cluttered it would get if my creations weren’t eaten.” He picked up a metal sculpting tool and went back to carving the fur on the small werewolf.

“I guess that’s true.” She watched him in silence for a few moments, and when he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, he saw an intense look on her face, as if she were memorizing what he was doing.

“Would you like to try?” He straightened and held the tool out to her. He wasn’t sure what he expected. Any other Little would have hesitated, been afraid of messing up.

Heaven took it from him and moved right in to replicate the same tiny scooping movements he’d been using. As he watched, he noticed that her work blended in with his perfectly. “Very nice. So, your baking… you did detailed work like this?”

Of course, he already knew from the pictures, but he wanted her to talk.

“Mhm.” She didn’t look up and it was clear he had only a small bit of her attention. “I got into doing realistic cakes. You know the kind where you can’t tell that it’s food? I loved fooling people. We’d set up an item and a cake next to it, and have people guess which was which.”

She tilted her head, eying the monster critically, before setting the tool aside. “I think any more would start to ruin the effect,” she said.

He agreed. “Did you work with chocolate much?”

“Sometimes. I prefer it to fondant. You can get the same effect, but most people like the taste better, so whenever possible I went with modeling chocolate, but I’ll admit that I find fondant or gum paste easier to work with. I…”

She trailed off and looked up. “I can’t do anything like you can. I used molds to make things with it or used it to wrap a cake layer. This kind of detailed sculpting—” She shook her head. “I could never make chocolate behave like fondant.”

“Would you like to learn?” The offer came out before he’d even thought about it.

Heaven’s eyes widened. “Really?”

He shrugged. “Really. Why not? You’re clearly a professional.”

“It’s just… um, people don’t usually think of Littles as being capable of doing anything difficult.” There was a clear note of frustration in the statement.

“I’m not so sure about that, chica. Look at Sadie. She’s very qualified at what she does and incredibly professional about it, when she wants to be. And you know we have Wren over in the stables who’s a great hand with the horses too.”

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