Page 44 of Heaven Leigh’s Little Halloween

“Yes, Sir.”

“Then make up for it by being completely honest with me now. Did you want me to punish you? Was that why you decided to pull off this elaborate trick?”

It was the worst question he could possibly have asked, and the hardest to answer. The words swirled around in her mind but getting them out took time. “I’m not sure what to say, Sir.”

“The truth. I need to know what motivated all of this, and you’re not leaving the corner until you have answers for me.”

Her forehead thumped against the wall and she sighed. “It was a lot of reasons, but… yes, I admit getting in trouble with you was on the list. I mean, it wasn’t just that. It felt really unfair. I’ve been punished for things that weren’t my fault too many times to be comfortable with that. And Hayleigh…”

Angel shifted in his seat. The rustle of his clothing made her tense up. “Hayleigh what?” he asked.

“She was trying to explain why Littles looked for trouble. Why the pranks were part of it. What they got out of it—and what the Bigs get out of dealing with it after.”

“Ah.”

“It was like the stuff you told me, about people sometimes needing a spanking, even if you didn’t want one. I just thought… it seemed like a good reason to give it a try. And I hoped…” She trailed off, but this time he didn’t prompt her.

As the silence drew out, she finally forced herself to continue. “I hoped you might step up and deal with it. Then I’d know.”

There was a pregnant pause, and a sense of intensity filled the room even without words. “Know what, Heaven? What was it that you thought this would tell you?” Angel’s voice had gone softer and the coldness had melted, at least somewhat.

It wasn’t until she tried to answer that she realized tears were running down her face. She sniffled. “If you… wanted me. For real, I mean. Not just to play with. Not just for sex. But wanted to really be my—my Daddy.” She was aware of how Little and lost her voice sounded, but she couldn’t do much about that.

Angel let out a long loud breath. “Turn around, Heaven.”

She did, slowly, almost afraid. He was standing in front of the chair and holding out his arms to her. She practically dove into them. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said, while her tears soaked into his shirt.

He didn’t say anything at first, but his hand rubbed slow circles on her back. The motion was soothing, and she calmed a little.

“Trust is a delicate thing, chiquita. Once broken it’s hard to fix, but knowing the reasons behind it helps.” He let her go and his hand dropped to catch hers. He led her to the sofa and sat her down. “I think we have some things to talk about before anything else happens today.”

Obviously that was true because she was a wreck. Her wants and needs were all at odds and the smug delight she’d felt over managing two very dramatic pranks had dwindled away to guilt. She couldn’t regret the cake sprouts though.

Well, not much. It was a fun treat and she still thought sprouts for dinner every night was too mean, especially when it included everyone. But the things Master Derek and Angel had said made her realize that going after all the Bigs had been just as unfair. She wished she’d skipped the second prank.

More than that, she wished she hadn’t had to trick Angel in order to pull them off. He’d believed in her, trusted her, and she’d used that. At the time it really hadn’t felt like a big deal. Littles were expected to be tricky sometimes.

But this was different. She’d already been given special privileges most Littles didn’t have. Angel had extended that even further by allowing her to be there alone, without supervision. It had been a gift based on trust.

She felt awful and her eyes wouldn’t stop running. “I really am sorry, An—Sir. I never meant to-to…” The words wouldn’t come. She trailed off with a loud sniffle.

Angel regarded her quietly. After a moment he got up and left the room, leaving Heaven to stare after him, but then he returned with a box of tissues. He handed it to her as he sat back down. “Well, if you don’t regret it now, you will soon. I intend to take out my disappointment on your cute little backside, chica, but for now… we have other things to discuss.”

She wiped her eyes and then her nose. “We-we do?”

“Yes, we do. I can’t say I don’t have feelings for you, Heaven. I do. And I was pretty sure you had the same feelings for me, but I’m not used to moving this fast. We both have painful things in our past that made me even more hesitant to jump into a relationship.” He paused, giving her a chance to say something.

“I know. Taking our time is the smart thing to do. I just don’t want to.” And that was something it had taken her awhile to realize. Her heart had already decided on him, and it was hanging out in limbo, while waiting for something to happen, that was making it so hard.

“Well, if tonight made anything clear, it’s that I don’t want to wait either. I’ve been fighting to keep things slow, but I don’t want to do that anymore. Remember when we kissed?”

She tilted her head, eyebrows going up. “As if I could forget.” She’d been reliving that moment in her head multiple times a day since it happened.

“You said you needed me to be sure before we went any further. Well, I’m sure, Heaven. I’m sure that I want you and I think you feel the same—”

“Yes, I—”

He placed a finger over her mouth, hushing her, so he could continue. “But before we commit to this, I need to make sure we’re both looking for the same thing. I want to be your Daddy, but that’s not all I want to be. You said you hadn’t really had a chance to explore anything, right?”

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