Page 9 of Lisa's Unexpected Valentine's Day

Rick grinned. “Is he?” He always acted amused when she spun out her long stories about the secret lives of her stuffies.

Each one had a backstory, dreams and aspirations. Some of them even had relationships with each other and had to be placed side-by-side at all times. She also named them in alphabetical order. “Yep. I can tell. And we’re on letter…” She squinted, trying to remember. “L now, I think, so his name is going to be… Loki.”

“Loki? The Norse god?”

“Yeah, him! And penguins live in Norway so that explains a lot. He probably got cursed to be a stuffy because he was bad or something.” She felt a sudden pang of sadness for Loki. Being in trouble sucked, so she gave him a quick hug in solidarity.

And then she remembered that they were out in public, and her younger side had just slipped all the way out. She flushed and quickly set the penguin on the empty chair next to her. Stuffies always tended to draw that side out, and even Middles liked cuddly animals.

Rick’s eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement. He didn’t mind the lapse one bit. “I guess he’s a hit then,” was all he said about his sexy wife suddenly regressing a bit.

“Yes, I love him. Thank you, Daddy,” she said in a solemn tone. She straightened in her chair, pushing the younger headspace back, as she tried to recapture the flirtatious date night vibe.

It helped that the waiter returned with their cocktails. Fancy drinks always made her feel grown up, and she accepted hers with a graceful head bob. “Thank you.” One ladylike sip was enough to be sure they’d gotten it right, and then she set it aside so she could focus on the list of specials he was reciting from memory.

They were regulars at the restaurant, so she normally didn’t even need to look at the menu, but one of the featuredValentine’s selections caught her attention. “Oooh, what do you think about sharing the ‘Lovers’ Delight’?”

She didn’t really need to ask. It was shrimp, scallops and mussels, which Rick loved, served on a bed of linguini. It came with a special molten lava dessert, which was the part she was most interested in. Of course, he said yes.

While the waiter went off to put the order in, they had time to talk. “So, how was your day, sugarbear? You sounded a little frazzled on the phone earlier,” her Daddy asked.

Maya wrinkled her nose. The last thing she wanted was to talk about her day. “Annoying, but nothing I couldn’t sort out.”

It was only polite to ask about his day in return, but legal stuff was boring, any work was boring really, so instead she changed the conversation around. “Have you been thinking about where we’re going on vacation?”

“I have… and I know you really wanted to do a cruise this time but, I think we should put that off.”

“Daddy!” It came out louder than she’d planned, but the feeling of disappointment had overwhelmed her. “I thought we agreed that this time we’d do something that didn’t involve the wilderness.”

One eyebrow went up as he looked at her. “No tantrums, young lady. If you give me a minute, I think you’ll find my plans are an acceptable compromise.”

She narrowed her eyes, mouth turned down at the corners. “Fine, but I reserve the right to tantrum if I don’t.”

“Later. At home. Unless you want me to embarrass you in public,” he warned her. “I’d prefer to keep your discipline out of the public eye, but if you force me…” He shrugged and his poker face made it impossible to tell if it was an empty threat.

It wasprobablya bluff; he was a judge after all. That position in the community pretty much demanded proper behavior in public at all times. She didn’tthinkhe’d risk his reputation bydoing anything too risqué in public, but times had changed and BDSM wasn’t the huge secret it used to be.

Finding out a judge engaged in a consensual discipline arrangement with his wife, might actually win him some fans. There were plenty of conservatives around who liked the idea of an old-fashioned home. So every time he warned her, she debated whether he’d really follow through, but so far, she’d never been brave enough to test him.

Someday that might change, but it wasn’t going to be tonight. She squirmed in her chair and avoided his eyes. “So, what were your plans then?”

She could feel the heavy weight of his gaze on her, but she didn’t meet his eyes. Finally, he replied, “I found an Alaskan cruise that I thought you would enjoy. You did say that you wanted to see the glaciers someday.”

Her mouth dropped open and she stared for several seconds. “I… but you said…”

“I said that we should put it off, because the cruise is popular and the good rooms with the ocean views are booked already for the time we were considering. So we could take an interior cabinwithouta view,orwe can wait until next year, book early, and get a good room.” He paused and then added, “It’s a lot cheaper that way too.”

Since she’d seen the prices on some of those Alaskan cruises, cheaper was probably better. Not that they had any money issues, but Rick was frugal and usually checked the deals. “I’d say waiting is worth it then, but what are we going to do this summer?”

“Well…”

“Let me guess… camping?” She rolled her eyes. “Fine, Daddy. We can go camping again, as long as I get my cruise later.” It was fair and she didn’t actually mind the camping part.

She actually pretended to dislike it a lot more than she did. It wasfunto be off in the woods, alone with her Daddy. They’d played out some amazing kinky scenarios on past trips, and she’d enjoyed them enough that her nipples tightened just thinking about it.

But camping, the way Rick liked to do it, was a lot of work. It usually involved miles and miles of hiking too. Maya could have done without that part. When they got home from vacation, she was usually worn out and wanted another vacation to recover.

“I seem to recall someone saying ‘I wish we never had to go home’ on our last trip. Or am I remembering wrong?” He took a sip of wine, dark eyes fixed on her.

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