On His Ranch by Dinah McLeod

Epilogue

One year later

Piper could hardly believe the day had finally come. As she looked around, seeing the banner that declared ‘Piper’s Playthings’ now open for business, she could have pinched herself.

“I got the last box put away,” Chase told her.

She turned to him and smiled. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

She reached out and caressed his cheek. “No, I mean it—thank you. None of this would have been possible without you.”

He shrugged. “You woulda gotten here eventually.”

“No, I wouldn’t. I would have been working two jobs until the end of time just to pay back the loan. I mean, if you hadn’t called those guys up and gotten them to drop the interest rate.” She gave him a searching look, the way she always did when the subject came up. He’d never told her how he’d managed that feat, and she was starting to think he never would.

“Happy to.”

“And you and Senior helped so much around here, saving me a ton of money…” She looked around, remembering when the walls had been full of stripped paint and in some places bare drywall before the two most important men in her life had come and cleaned it up. They’d also fixed flooring, and some stamping on the ceiling before finding her an antique cash register as her ‘opening’ gift.

Patti had been an integral part of it too, helping choose paint colors and accents and just generally supporting her dream. She’d never made her feel weird about her ambition, just embraced Piper so fully that she felt like a part of the family.

And now, here she was—five minutes past her first opening, watching the door anxiously as she waited.

“Do you think anyone saw the fliers?” she asked. They’d been printed up to match her business cards, and as an extra-special unexpected gift, her aunt Sarah had shocked her by presenting her with a blown-up framed print of the picture of her beloved stuffed bear. It now hung behind the register, a constant reminder of how much she was accomplishing by bringing this dream to life.

“Yep, I’m sure some people did. It’s the first day, Piper. What did we say about that?”

She squelched the desire to roll her eyes. She knew that Chase would be keeping a tally and she would have to pay the piper the minute she closed for the evening. “Just take it day by day,” she recited. “What will be will be.”

“That’s right. But you know that you have plenty of people who believe in you, isn’t that right, little girl?”

She met his eyes, touched to see the love there. Chase had been the one who’d pushed her to do this. She’d thought the bear he’d brought to her diner nothing more than a gesture to win her back, but he had insisted she work on it. So she’d given the bear a makeover—a tiny pair of perfectly stitched jeans, a denim shirt with teeny-tiny buttons that really worked, a pair of boots and, of course, a cowboy hat.

Chase had mock-scowled when he’d seen it. “Are you makin’ fun of me?” he asked, his voice gruff, but something else was there, too. Pride.

“Well, I call him ‘Daddy’ so you tell me.” Then she’d given him the cheeky grin she’d learned he loved and danced away from him when he’d reached for her. It had led to a delightful game of chase she’d only been too happy to lose.

The next day when he’d picked her up from work—something that quickly became a daily occurrence—he presented her with a stuffed otter. When she had sewn that one a dress complete with a feather boa, he bought a panda next. On and on it went until she had well over thirty accrued.

Then he had taken her to a small, abandoned space.

“What’s this?” she’d asked, tired after her shift and hungry for some of Patti’s home cooking.

“It’s for sale,” he’d informed her, arms crossed over his chest as his eyes roved the space. “And been on the market long enough that I think we could get a good price.”

“But…” She glanced dubiously at the cracked paint and single boarded-up window. “What do you and Senior need with a building in town?”

“It’s not for me and Senior, little girl. It’s for you.”

It had taken her a moment to understand. When she had, her mouth had gaped open in shock. “It’s too soon,” she protested weakly. “I’m not ready.”

Chase had favored her with his stern listen to me expression, and told her firmly but gently all the many ways she was ready. He listed how he’d seen her grow, and encouraged her until her eyes brimmed with tears.

She’d thrown herself into his arms, peppering his face with kisses as she thanked him.

“I’ll be here, Piper. Every step of the way,” he’d assured her as his arms held her tight.

And he had been. He showed up every day giving her exactly what she needed even when she didn’t know what that was. He’d praised her, pushed her, and just plain believed in her in a way she’d never thought she’d have. He’d made the mantras she’d repeated back to him just now as a way for her to keep her expectations in check. And if she happened to need an extra reminder, she knew he’d be more than happy to take her in the back and spank her.

Piper didn’t know whether it was the mantras or that knowledge that helped her take a deep breath and remain patient, but either way, it worked.

Suddenly, the bell above the door jangled. Piper’s heart leapt into her throat. She saw a pair of teens strolling in—both looked to be between sixteen and eighteen. Both were looking around, their faces bathed in wonder.

Chase cleared his throat at her elbow.

“Welcome to Piper’s Playthings,” she fairly sang out, hoping they didn’t notice the catch in her voice. She couldn’t help it. Having them here, looking awestruck by her creations… it was her dream coming true.

They mumbled hellos, their gazes captured by the beautiful stuffies all around them.

But Piper hardly heard them because the bell jangled again. This time, a middle-aged woman walked in. Before she could wonder if it was the girls’ mom, the woman walked right up to Piper, her face a mixture of shyness and determination.

“Hello. I saw your flier and I was wondering… I’ve always wanted… I mean…” She trailed off, blushing.

Piper felt at ease in an instant and reached out for the woman’s hand. “I think I know what you mean.” She gave her hand a squeeze. “Why don’t you follow me and we’ll see what we can find for you?”

Right at that moment, she looked up and saw Chase looking at her. He was beaming at her, so full of pride that she could feel it radiating back at her.

But she couldn’t focus on that right now. She had a job to do.

* * *

“I’d say tonight was a success,” Chase remarked, pushing her sweater aside to reveal the nape of her neck. He trailed his fingers along her collarbone, knowing all too well it got her excited. He knew all her secrets by now, and had committed them all to memory. Especially the ones that drove her wild.

“You really think so?” There was still a special glow to her eyes. It was a look he could get used to on Piper. He hadn’t thought anything could make her more beautiful, but apparently living out her dream made her radiant.

He’d keep Piper’s Playthings open for the rest of her life if it was the last thing he did. Nothing would steal that sparkle.

“Daddy? Penny for your thoughts,” she teased.

“A penny?” He tickled her collarbone. “Is that all I’m worth?”

“Well, I am kinda broke just now. I did just open a business.” She laughed.

“So you did. I tell you what, why don’t I show you what I’m thinkin’?” He lowered his mouth and kissed along the nape of her neck all the way to her shoulder.

Piper shivered.

The sight of it made him grin. He’d long since learned that meant she was turned on. “Arms up, darlin’.”

She obeyed without hesitation and he pulled the sweater over her head revealing the pink leopard print bra. He stroked the top of her breast and listened as her breath hitched.

“You ready for Daddy?”

“Oh, yes, Daddy,” she gushed. “Please.”

He chuckled. “So polite. How can I say no to that?”

She batted her eyelashes. “Only a mean daddy would do that.”

He clucked his tongue at her. “Only bad girls get a mean daddy. Have you been a bad girl, Piper?”

Her eyes widened as she gave him her best innocent look. “No, Daddy.”

“That’s what I was thinkin’.” Putting a finger in her belt loop, he pulled her even closer. Then, with deliberate slowness he pulled the zipper of her jeans down.

She gave another little shiver and brought her hands up to rub the goosebumps that had sprung up on her arms.

“Don’t you worry none, I’ll warm you up soon.”

“Thank you, Daddy,” she murmured flirtatiously.

The sound of it made his cock throb with anticipation. But he wasn’t going to rush tonight. He wanted to show her how proud he was of all that she had accomplished. He tugged her jeans down until they were at her ankles. Then he offered her a hand so she could step out of them.

The matching leopard print panties followed. He dragged them down inch by tantalizing inch, over her shaved pussy and down her shapely, silky smooth legs. By the time he had her undressed, he was panting with longing as hard as she was.

“Do you think it’ll always be this way?” she murmured.

He met her eyes and saw the earnestness in her expression. “What way, darlin’?”

“Between us. Sex, I mean.” She blushed and dragged her bare toes across the carpet.

He loved that about her. They’d been together well over a year and having sex all that time, and still, she blushed to speak of it. “You gotta give me more, little girl.”

She dropped her eyes to the carpet, but even with her head ducked he could see the curve of a smile on her lips. “This… fire between us. Passion, I guess. Do you think… I mean, it can’t stay that way forever.”

Chase hooked a finger under her chin and tilted it so that she met his eyes. “It will if I have anything to do with it.”

“But nothing stays the same forever.”

“That’s true, except that you’re forgetting one thing.”

“I am?”

He smiled tenderly at her trusting, innocent expression. “You are. What we have between us—the fire, as you called it? It’s not just lust, or longing. If that’s all it was, you’re right, it wouldn’t stay this way. It wouldn’t still be this way after a year. But what we have is more than that. We love each other. And that’s why the passion will never go anywhere.”

“Never?” she asked, her eyes hanging on to his.

“Never,” he vowed. “It’s here to stay.” Then he leaned forward and kissed her as though to seal his promise.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and when he would have broken the kiss, her lips claimed his, hot and insistent. He returned her ardor, and they didn’t break apart until they had to get air. He was gulping in greedy lungfuls but Piper knelt before him, working on pulling his pants down.

“You really are in the mood,” he noted appreciatively. As she pulled down his boxers next his cock sprang out, hard and ready to greet her.

Piper started to walk toward his bed, but he grabbed her hand. She looked back at him, a wordless question.

“I had something different in mind for tonight.” He caressed her bottom, patting the plug she had been wearing for several hours tonight.

“Are you going to take it out?”

“Not just yet. Let me show you what I want.” He guided her to the floor and maneuvered her until she was in a crouching position. Then he knelt behind her, his lips finding the sensitive spot on her collarbone and suckling there until she moaned. Then his hand slid down, traversing a path that, while well known to him, still felt as delicious and thrilling every time he went down it.

Piper moaned and writhed against him, pressing her body to his.

Her heat seeped into his own skin and only made him want her more. But Chase forced himself to go slow and savor her. His hand cupped her breast and he rubbed her nipple between his fingers until it became a stiff peak.

Piper mewled and spread her thighs.

He grinned to himself. He knew she was trying to tempt him. After looking down at her creamy thighs splayed open he decided he couldn’t resist, and with one hand squeezing her right breast, his other slipped between her legs and stroked her.

“Ooh, Daddy,” she breathed, her eyes squeezed shut and her head tilted toward the ceiling.

“I think you’re ready for me, darlin’.”

“So ready.”

He chuckled. “Well, too bad. I’ma make you wait.” He flicked her hardened nipple and when she groaned he wasn’t sure if she was responding to his announcement or his touch. He moved to her left breast and when he’d pumped it in his hand, turning that nipple to the same stiff peak, he finally allowed his hand to slip down and cup her pussy.

He drew his breath in sharply as her wet heat filled his hand. His cock strained toward her, aching to be inside her.

“Please,” she whispered. “You said I was a good girl.”

He brushed her ear with his mouth. “So I did.” Moving his hand to spread her thighs wider and push her bottom up, he slipped his cock along her wet pussy. Piper let out a long moan of wanton desire that made her impossible to resist for another second. He sank inside her, his cock filling her in the most satisfying way.

“Oh, yes! Mmm, you feel so good, Daddy.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Taking hold of her shoulders, he leaned over her back and thrust inside her.

I can’t believe she’d ever think to question us. The fire between us can’t ever be put out. There’s still a hundred positions, and if that ever gets old, a million new places to explore her in. I’d travel the world with her, if that’s what it takes to make it feel like this every time.

But he couldn’t give voice to his thoughts just then so he became even more determined to show her, to prove he was wholly dedicated to her pleasure. Chase forced himself to slow down, to deliver the thrusts hard and deep, the way he knew she liked best. At least the first time.

“Oohhhh,” she moaned, a wordless plea for more.

He smiled to himself, feeling the way her pussy clenched around his cock. She was close. He plunged his cock inside her again, then leaned in for the kill. His lips on her collarbone, he bit down on her tender, ever-so-sensitive spot.

Piper let out a throaty scream as her pussy clenched itself around his shaft. Then he felt her gush around him.

“Just think,” he whispered in her ear, “of all the new places I could make you scream. Italy? Egypt? Pick your pleasure, darlin’.”

“A house,” she gasped out, a beautiful flush moving across her entire body as the pleasure he’d just given washed over her. “I’d settle for a house.”

“You got it.” That decided, he slipped his cock out of her and waited.

When Piper was finished riding the waves he’d created inside of her, she craned her neck around to look at him. “What…”

He tapped the butt plug tight in her anus. “I was thinkin’ it’s time.”

Her eyes widened, more surprised than afraid. He’d been using a variety of plugs to train her over the past year. “Now?”

The anxiety in her voice was tempered with excitement and it was like fuel to his own desire. “Now. Spread your cheeks for me, sweet girl.”

She reached behind her and he couldn’t miss the slight tremor in her hands as she parted her cheeks for him.

Chase slowly removed the plug, expertly efficient so that it didn’t cause her to so much as wince.

“You’re too big, Daddy.”

He smiled reassuringly. “Is my little girl afraid?”

Her eyes widened and she bit down on her bottom lip before she gave him a single nod.

Chase stroked her shoulder and down her back. “Don’t worry, darlin’. Yes, it will feel different, it might hurt just a bit. It’s the first time. But you’re ready for this. I wouldn’t do it if you weren’t.”

In the last year she’d learned to trust him implicitly and he’d proven himself worthy of that trust. He waited as she considered his words, and after a moment she nodded. “Okay, Daddy.”

Whoever had coined the term ‘music to your ears’ had never heard Piper. Those two words were a full-blown orchestra and he could swear his blood was singing in his veins as he prodded her tight hole with the head of his cock.

Her indrawn breath was as aroused as it was nervous.

“Shhh. Trust Daddy to take good care of you.”

“I do, Daddy. I trust you.”

True to his word, he was gentle, and he took it slow. The day would come when he could sink into her without fear of hurting her, slamming into her, his thrusts frenzied with need. But this time, their first, he wanted to savor.

“Such a good girl,” he murmured, and the praise made her relax further. Her body was hot and shivery under his hands and he couldn’t wait another second to claim her.

“Ooh,” she moaned as he pushed inside her.

“It’ll be good for you, baby. Trust your daddy.”

“I do,” she breathed. “I trust you.”

That was all he needed to hear. He plunged the rest of the way in her tight hole, gratified by the way his cock filled her. He paced himself, taking it slow as he’d promised, gently pulling out partway, then back inside.

“Shhh,” he murmured, caressing her shoulder. “Relax for me, little girl.”

She obeyed without a word, and he rewarded her by snaking his hand around to cup her breast. His fingers caressed and then plucked her nipple while he thrust inside her.

He was her daddy in word and deed. He had been for a long time now. But there was something about being the first in her virgin hole that made him feel on top of the world. He’d never cared about someone so much, and being bad at words, he was determined to show her.

He bent his mouth to her throat, his tongue tickling along her shoulder blade, his teeth nibbling at her collarbone.

Meanwhile, Piper relaxed even further, allowing him deeper entrance into her tight canal.

“You feel good, Daddy,” she murmured.

“Mmm. You taste good, sweet girl.” He kissed along the nape of her neck.

She giggled. “I’ve never felt so…”

“So what, little girl?”

“So utterly owned before.”

And there it was. Without even knowing it, his sweet Piper had given voice to exactly what he’d been feeling. She had him in delicious agony and he didn’t know how much longer he could take it. Taking her by the hips, he delved deeper inside of her. Hearing her moan in pleasure spurred him on and soon he was thrusting in and out with fervor. Her skin flushed hotter under his hands and it fueled his own need.

He growled as his balls tightened, plunging inside her with urgency.

“Oh! Oh! Daddy—”

“Come for me,” he rasped in her ear. “Come for me, little girl.”

And she did. Her cry was spectacular as her muscles seized. If he hadn’t been holding her down, she would have bucked.

My turn. Chase pushed his cock home, diving inside her deliciously tight channel and out again. When he felt his own orgasm near, he clung on to Piper, savoring the smell of her, the slight sheen to her skin. It all merged to be an intoxicating picture of the woman he loved—and she was never more beautiful than right after an orgasm.

He exploded inside her with a primal cry of desire. He lay draped over her for a few moments, panting and trying to catch his breath. Once his heartrate calmed, he stood up on shaky legs. “Stay right there, darlin’. I’ma take care of you.”

When he came back with a wet cloth, he cleaned Piper up before taking her in his arms.

Her body was limpid and her eyes half-shut, but she was smiling. “I thought you said it wouldn’t feel good the first time.”

He leaned forward and kissed her. “I didn’t say that. Besides, your first time was with me. Of course it was good.”

“Mmm, yes, Daddy.”

“How ‘bout a shower?”

Piper’s lazy smile grew wider. “I was actually thinking we’d try again.”

He chuckled. “Haven’t you had enough, little girl?”

“Oh, no. No, I’ll never get enough of you.”

Knowing the feeling was mutual, he leaned forward and claimed her mouth. Their lips merged and the heat of desire turned into an inferno. It could be tamed, this fire, but as long as he had Piper, it’d never be put out.

The End