Page 9 of Tiger's Little Waif

After shaking hands, Marshall pulled her close. Wrapping one arm around her back, he bent down and brushed a quick kiss over her lips. A strong shiver of awareness went through them both and he wondered how long he would have to wait before fully claiming his mate and making her his own.

Chapter Five

Though she still wasn’t sure about her being a Little girl to Marshall’s Daddy Dom, or Marshall being a shifter and her being his mate, she returned inside the house with him.

“Good girl,” he praised as he led her to the big leather sectional couch that was the main furniture in the living room. There were also two end tables and the biggest flat screen television she’d ever seen covering the wall in front of the couch.

She was surprised when Marshall sat down, then pulled her down to sit across his lap. When she tried to move off, he held her hips still. “Stay there, waif.”

“Chef?”

“When we are not in the kitchen, you can call me Marshall or mate, though I would prefer that you call me Papa. Chef is for when we’re on the job.”

“Yes, Marshall,” she said, wrinkling her nose how not-right it sounded. She tried again with, “Yes, mate.” It felt less wrong, but still not completely right. “Yes, Papa.”

With that, something warm and fuzzy unfurled around her heart.

Was she a Little without truly acknowledging it? She knew she liked some little girl activities, though Dan would have a fit and accuse her of all sorts of improprieties if she had exposed this side of herself. She remembered hiding Gio in her nightstand, and her coloring books in with her cookbooks.

Question now was, how did she feel about calling Marshall Papa?

Thinking about it for a few seconds, she smiled.

It felt good.

It felt right.

“Now, let’s talk about mates and mating, Daddies and Littles, and your rules,” Marshall said, handing her a bottle of water from the dual cupholders built into the couch’s arm.

When she could not open it, he took it back and twisted the top off without problem. She immediately lifted it to her lips and drank down half the contents. Normally she wasn’t a big water drinker because tap water in the city tasted yucky, but this tasted so much better.

Marshall drank from his own bottle before praising her. After setting his bottle aside, he returned hers to the cupholder. Then he rubbed one hand up and down her back while the other covered her hands in her lap.

“Now, let’s start with Daddies and Little girls …”

By the time they finished their conversation, Shaw was yawning and nearly boneless with exhaustion. Her head rested on Marshall’s shoulder, and she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. When he stood with her in his arms, she jerked awake.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s bedtime, waif,” he answered simply as he continued to carry her.

“But …”

“You’ll be staying in the guestroom until we both are ready to share a bed,” he assured her, as if he could read her mind.

“Oh. Okay.”

He carried her into a huge bathroom and set her on the counter and reached for a clean washcloth from a basket. In less than a minute, he had wet the cloth and began washing her face and hands.

“You’re too tired for one tonight, so a bath will have to wait until tomorrow after breakfast,” he said as he exchanged the washcloth with a new in the package toothbrush that came from the same basket. After putting toothpaste on it, he handed it to her.

“We’ll also have to see about ordering you some more clothes, both for work, and for Little times.”

She was too tired to argue with him at the moment but made a mental note to find a way to pay him back for his kindness. After brushing her teeth, she looked at the toilet and then the man.

“Could I have some privacy?”

“Why?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.