Although he’d need to make more of an effort this year. Abby said she had the gift buying under control, but he still had to get some more gifts for her. It was her first Christmas with him. As his girl, his sub, his Little. Wasn’t much of a Christmas without some gifts from Santa.
He’d never thought about playing Santa before. But that could be kind of fun. After all, Santa rewarded good girls, but bad girls. . .hmm. . .they needed punishment. Yes, that gave him some definite ideas.
But for now, he most definitely had a naughty little girl on his hands. He’d gone along with this Christmas stuff, but with a few rules. One was that she wasn’t to do any heavy lifting. Another was that she wasn’t to get up on a ladder.
And something that was very heavy in the room was the Christmas tree they’d gone out and chosen together. And that tree definitely wasn’t in the same place where it had been this morning when he’d left.
“Abby?” he called out. “I’m home.” He’d wanted to be home earlier, but his meeting had gone over time.
“I’m in the bedroom. Don’t come in,” she called out frantically.
He raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”
“I’m wrapping something I don’t want you to see.” Obviously, the gift was meant for him. He glanced down at the gifts under the tree, neatly wrapped in red paper with green bows. There seemed to be dozens of them.
Abby didn’t shop often, but like with everything else about Christmas she seemed to have gone into gift buying overload. Perhaps he’d better check the bank account. It wasn’t that he didn’t have money. Wasn’t that he begrudged Abby spending that money. It was hers too. But, he grinned, it probably wouldn’t hurt to check that his credit card wasn’t going to be declined next time he went to buy something.
“You got five minutes to get it wrapped then get your butt out here, young lady,” he said back.
There was silence. Worried silence. She knew she was in trouble and was no doubt trying to figure out exactly what for.
He moved to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. Then using his phone, he checked his bank account. And frowned.
There were no extra expenses on the credit card. What the hell? Most of this stuff had to have been bought online because Abby rarely went off the ranch and when she did it was usually with him. She’d gone out with the girls for a few trips buying things for the wedding, but she hadn’t bought all this stuff then. He looked at their joint checking account. Nothing there either.
What the hell was going on?
Where was she getting the money from? Was she using the money she got from the sale of her nana’s house? He scowled. He’d set her up on his accounts so she would have money now that she wasn’t working. The house money was in another account. He’d told her to take some time and think about what she wanted to do with it. Even though the house had been rundown, she’d owned it free and clear so it was a fair chunk of change.
“Hey, honey. Sorry, I lost track of time.” Abby walked into the room and moved immediately towards him. He liked that. Liked that she always came to him when he got home. He slid his arms around her, hugging her tight.
He kissed the top of her head. Then he drew back, and took her mouth with his, kissing her deep and hard until she gave him her full weight. He lifted her, setting her on the kitchen counter.
He glanced at her then around. “Seems you’ve been busy, sweet girl.”
“Hmm?” Her eyes were still glazed from that kiss. He liked that he could do that to her.
“Presents under the tree,” he commented.
“What? Oh. Yes. I had a bit of time so thought I’d get them wrapped. Do you think they look okay?” she asked, her voice slightly anxious.
“They look good, baby. Who are they for?”
“Oh, well, your family, Bear and Ellie, Jed and Daisy, Bain, Macca, Graciela, Linc—”
He pressed a finger against her lips. “You bought a present for everyone on the ranch, didn’t you?”
Her eyes widened. She swallowed audibly. He lifted his finger away so she could talk.
“Um. Yes. Shouldn’t I have?”
“People don’t expect you to buy gifts for them. It’s sweet as hell you want to, but it’s not expected.”
“Oh.” She chewed her lip. “I just like giving gifts. I like seeing people smile. Making them feel good. And some people don’t have anyone on Christmas.”
He felt his insides soften. “Then it’s nice they’ll have a gift from you, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t do the wrong thing?”