Her skills became refined over time, and she took an interest in making realistic cakes—the ones that couldn’t be told from non-edible items. That was where her real passion for creation went. Barbara thought it was amusing and they played games of “which one’s the cake?” many times.
But neither of them expected the hobby to catapult them to fame in the baking world. Social media played a big part in it. A channel she’d created, just to show off her fun little creations, suddenly went viral. Millions of people all over the world began to follow and offers came in for a reality show that would be based in that small bakery.
Barbara was hesitant. She’d finally reached a point where she baked only because she wanted to. There was plenty of money and all the bakeries were doing well, so it seemed pointless. Once it became clear that Heaven would be the star in the production, and that she wouldn’t need to be part of it at all, she was completely willing.
In fact, she encouraged Heaven to do it. “Honey, you have some amazing skills and a real eye for design. Why not? You enjoy it and I think people will love watching what you bake.”
So Heaven had agreed but hadn’t thought much would come from it. She was wrong.
It had been life-changing for both of them. Barbara became a beloved “character” who popped in and out of episodes when she felt like it. They hired more workers to help with the complicated creations and their client list now included a breathtaking list of celebrities.
That was just for her original creations though. They continued to sell regular baked goods in an ever-growing chain that eventually reached across several states. And there was a mid-level store brand of cakes that were shipped to groceries across the country too.
It was exhausting juggling everything and neither of them could handle all the paperwork that piled up. Their little business had to make the jump to corporation, complete with a board to help run everything. Heaven thought that would free her up for more time to relax, but it didn’t really since she was co-head of the board with Barbara.
Her small life was no longer small. It was overwhelming and often felt like too much, but when she was really struggling, Barbara was there to help her through it. She soothed Heaven through the doubts and helped her make the tough decisions.
And then Barbara was gone.
She was gone and she’d left everything to Heaven. Heaven’s share had been more than enough to pay all her bills and give her a decent life, but she’d been floored at seeing the full value of everything in black and white. It was more money than she’d ever imagined possessing. Too much really for someone who had grown up with a simple life.
It freaked her out more than a little. Between that and the grief, Heaven had been entirely unable to function. The problem was that she’d never been allowed to just… not function before. It hadn’t been acceptable.
So she tried to keep going. Attending board meetings, and there were a lot of them, because the death of the founder required damage control. But she barely felt capable of handling her duties before and had relied heavily on Barbara to make the tough decisions. Now she was alone, and it was too much.
The board had lawyers, accountants, and others who had more skill at this sort of thing, so she took their advice and basically became a figurehead with no real opinions of her own. She couldn’t look past her own pain for long enough to form any ideas anyway.
When they gently suggested she take a bereavement leave, she was more than happy to accept. Only that meant she spent all her time at home, with nothing to do but think. Even baking didn’t give her the same happiness it used to, because she just ended up thinking about Barbara.
Desperate to keep herself occupied, she found herself online, scrolling through the Internet mindlessly. She’d always been curious about BDSM and had been fantasizing about certain aspects of it since she was a teenager, so it was natural she would eventually go searching for more information when she had hours of time to fill. It was eye-opening and more than a little bit shocking to realize this was a thing people really did.
But it was compelling, and the more she read, the more she realized she was intrigued by the idea of submission and discipline. With zero experience in that domain, she wondered how someone could even get involved. Did you just mention it on a date? “Hey, would you mind spanking me?” That seemed weird.
She had almost no experience dating anyway. She wasn’t exactly a virgin, but she wasn’t far from it. Moving past the hangups of a religious childhood had been difficult, but her overloaded schedule was the real reason she never had time to go out and meet people. Time was one thing she did have now, and online dating was perfectly respectable these days, so that was a possibility to consider in the future.
Then one day she stumbled on a forum for Littles, and confusion over what that was exactly made her click to read more. The next six hours were a blur as she pored through everything. She devoured every post and article and then went searching for more.
Suddenly it all became clear. A Little was what she needed to be. A chance to experience a real childhood, while someone took care of her for a change? Yes, perfect. Adding in the obvious aspect of having to submit to someone’s authority and then accept punishment if she broke the rules tied it in nicely to her kinky fantasies.
The only thing was, Heaven couldn’t actually picture anyone wanting to take on all the work. Maybe a normal woman could have that, but not one with her crazy messed up life. Besides, she honestly didn’t get what a Caregiver or Daddy would get out of the experience. It just seemed like so much effort, and then trying to find someone who was into that was another issue.
“Hi, I’m Heaven. I’m your date for tonight. I’m looking for someone to treat me like a Little girl,” didn’t seem like it would go over well. The emotional rollercoaster of realizing exactly what she needed, followed by the crushing understanding that she could never have it… took away all the excitement she’d begun to build.
She shut off the computer and spent the next day in bed moping. When she finally forced herself to get up and eat something, the computer sat there taunting her. She avoided it. If she couldn’t have that kind of life, she didn’t want to read about it either.
That resolve lasted all of two days before she was back online searching for blogs about living as a Little and fictional stories filled with happy Littles and Daddies—and that was how she found out about Rawhide Ranch. A brief mention in a blog post sent her on a deep dive while her lunch sat uneaten.
Hours later she had the solution to her problem. She finally knew the next step to take, and where she needed to be.
Chapter 4
The tall dark-haired man had been very focused on what he was doing, and it took him a second to notice her and look up. A wide smile exploded across his face, showing pearly white teeth. “Well now, you must be Heaven.”
She was feeling a little tongue-tied, and just nodded as she stood there awkwardly. A school uniform hadn’t felt appropriate for working in the kitchen, which could get quite messy, so she’d thrown on a comfortable outfit instead. Now, she was regretting not putting on something a little nicer.
Angel was… incredibly attractive. She hadn’t noticed in passing, but now that she was up close and personal, it was very obvious. His hair, thick and black, curled at the ends. His skin was tan, which wasn’t uncommon on the Ranch of course, but with him it was clearly his natural skin tone.
“I hear you’ve been getting into some trouble, little girl. You’re not going to cause any mischief here, are you?” One dark brow went up in question.