Page 6 of Tiger's Little Waif

“Are you Little?”

His question shocked her. How did he know? Had she done something to alert him to her Little? Well, other than asking for a sandwich with no crusts, and being delighted with a kitty face.

“I’m twenty-eight years old. Hardly a little girl.”

“And I’m forty-two,” Marshall said as he leaned forward and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Age is just a number and being a Little girl has nothing to do with age. It is a mindset, a personality trait. And I believe you have that mindset, but someone in your past did not allow you to live your truth. Or am I misinterpreting the signs? Do you even know what being Little is?”

Shaw blinked as she thought over his words for a long moment before slowly lifting her shoulders. “I do. I’ve read romances about Daddies and Littles. I’m just not sure I’m actually one even though I like to color and watch Disney movies, put sprinkles on everything, and sleep with Gio, my tiger stuffie. But does that make me Little?”

She looked at the chef and tried to read his expression, but it was difficult. His expression was strangely neutral. She could not tell if he was angry or speculative, or trying to decide whether or not to send her back to the capital without even letting her show him what she could do in the kitchen.

It was nearly a minute before he finally smiled. “I have a feeling you are, but we can explore that later. For now, I need to finish making dinner and you need to rest.”

He stood and held out a hand, which she did not hesitate in taking. She followed him across the kitchen to a door.

The door was to Marshall’s office. The room was big enough to hold a desk and bookcase filled with cookbooks on one side and a daybed with several pillows and a fuzzy blanket folded up at the foot on the other.

“Lie down and take a nap. I’ll be busy in the kitchen for the next couple of hours. I’ll talk to Kevin about seeing you after dinner and then we’ll go home and get you settled in.”

Though she was still confused about everything that had happened in the past couple of hours, she nodded and approached the bed.

Shaw sighed in appreciation of the soft, non-lumpy mattress. She froze when Marshall pulled off her shoes before covering her with the warm, fuzzy blanket. After brushing a kiss on her forehead, he stepped back. “Sleep, waif. I’ll be just outside if you need me.”

Shaw nodded, but closed her eyes and was asleep before she thought to thank him for his kindness.

While Marshall wanted to rush everyone through dinner, he knew that was not possible. At least not tonight. The new trainees needed time to bond with each other, and with their guardians. At least the two Little girls who volunteered to deliver food to the buffet line and bring back empty dishes were experienced and did not need too much supervision.

Three hours later, the leftover food was put away, the dishes and kitchen were cleaned, dried and ready for the morning, and he had prepared a pair of casseroles for breakfast. Kevin sat at the kitchen table waiting for him to finish up so he could be present when he examined Shaw.

Taking off his apron, Marshall tossed it into the laundry basket and turned to the panther shifter, who was a trained EMT and served as the institute’s medical staff.

“Ready?” Kevin asked as he pushed to his feet.

Marshall nodded and led the way to his office. He’d had a tough time keeping himself from checking on Shaw every few minutes but kept reminding himself that the more time he spent watching her sleep, the longer it would take to finish up his work.

Opening the door, the knot in his gut loosened when he saw she was right where he had left her. She was curled up on her side and hugging a stuffed tiger, though he had no idea where that had come from.

He slowly approached the bed, not wanting to scare her. “Shaw? Little waif? Time to wake up,” his voice rumbled softly.

He reached out and gently rubbed the back of one finger down the side of the beautiful woman’s face.

She jerked and whimpered as she wiggled away from him. The wall on the other side of the bed wall stopped her.

“Shaw, wake up.”

Shaw’s eyes opened and she appeared to relax when she realized it was him. “Oh, Chef. Hi.”

“Hi. You okay?”

She took a breath and nodded. “I’m fine.”

Marshall had to fight down a frown at her obvious lie. His palm itched to spank the lying out of her.

“Uh-huh, sure you are. Kevin is going to look you over and determine how much of a lie you just told,” he straightened and then helped her sit up. When she was vertical, she swayed slightly as if moving had left her dizzy.

“Kevin?”

“Kevin takes care of us. He’s going to look you over.”