Prologue
“Charlotte, have you finished the paperwork for the Busy Biscuit meeting?” Mr. Hagerty asked in his megaphone voice after he stepped into her cubicle.
Lottie Smith jumped as he began to massage her shoulders. For a man who required his subordinates call him Mr. Hagerty, he was breaking all kinds of sexual harassment rules. Instead of answering him, she deleted the last few letters she’d typed by mistake. Only then did she push her chair back and stand up, forcing him to back out of her space and stop touching her.
Taking a breath, she reached into her pocket and wrapped her fingers around the crocheted dinosaur she kept there to soothe herself. “I emailed that file to the partners two hours ago. Mr. Hempstead and Mr. McCullough both responded that they have received it.” She did not tell him that both men also asked why she’d sent it instead of him.
“I wanted to see it before it went to the partners.” Mr. Hagerty frowned at her, obviously perturbed that she would receive the kudos for a job well done and turned in ahead of time. Especially since it was a project he’d been assigned. “From now, I want to see all your work before it goes to upstairs. I toldyou that last week when you sent that other file on without my okay.”
Another file he’d been assigned, but had handed off to her.
Lottie forced herself to breathe slowly in and out before she responded. “No sir, you did not. Nor have I seen any emails from HR regarding such a change in policy.”
Having worked for the firm since graduating college at the top of her class and passing her CPA exam on the first try, as well as having a nearly photographic memory, Lottie knew the employee handbook by heart. She had to remind herself that she would only have to deal with Hagerty for a short time longer. Another few months and she would be taking great pleasure in telling him off as she quit and left for the last time.
She knew why her supervisor wanted to see all her work before it went up the chain. The email from Mr. McCullough asking why she was turning in the updated files instead of Hagerty was a dead giveaway. Hagerty spent so much time shmoozing those in the executive offices, talking on the phone with his friends, bookies, and people he owed money to that he couldn’t keep up with his own accounts.
When she bypassed him to deliver the finished work to whichever partner was in charge of the account, it made him look bad. Most of the time the partners never asked, but for the last couple of weeks, Mr. McCullough and Mr. Hempstead had been inquiring as to why she was turning in work they’d assigned to Hagerty.
Since she hated liars and tried to be as honest as possible at all times, she’d told them. She had a feeling Mr. Hagerty would not be her supervisor for much longer, though she would never tell him that. No, she would just keep her head down and focus on the work until she didn’t have to anymore.
She could not wait for that day.
Mr. Hagerty harrumphed and turned red. “From now on, you will send all the completed files to me.”
“Yes, sir,” Lottie responded softly, hoping he would go away so she could get back to work. She had two more accounts to update before she could leave for a four-day break to go to Littlepalooza with her sisters.
She could not wait to be around Littles and their caregivers for the three-day event, even if she was only a vendor of her homemade candies and not able to participate fully as a Little. She hoped that her presence at the event would help her business grow enough so she could leave this job and Handsy Hagerty would become just a bad memory.
Lottie’s Lollies had just about reached the tipping point of needing her attention full time. She could not wait to spend her days making marshmallows, lollipops, and other yummy candies that contained more fruit and less sugar than most of the candy on the market. Her dream was to make enough to support herself without having to work another job. She didn’t care about nationwide market domination with a zillion employees, but it might be nice to have a helper or two when things got really busy.
“Oh, and I’ll need you to come in tomorrow to set up a couple of accounts that came in earlier this week,” her boss added.
“Sorry, Mr. Hagerty, I’m off until Monday. HR approved my request for time off and put it on the schedule three months ago.”
With that, Lottie sat down and returned her attention to her computer with a smirk. She listened as he grunted and then stomped away, no doubt to find someone else to hand the work off to. As she worked on updating the spreadsheet, she allowed her thoughts to wander to the upcoming weekend and mentally visualized not only having a sell-out weekend, but also meetinga Daddy who would help her unleash the Little side that she had to keep tightly locked down.
Chapter One
After setting up her own booth Thursday morning, Lottie and her younger sister, Tilly, helped their youngest sister, Carri, redo her crocheted critter display so it wasn’t so overwhelming. She then confirmed both Carri and Tilly had everything they needed to make change, accept charge cards, record sales, and take orders for things they could make in the weeks to come. Once she knew they were both ready, Lottie left to walk around the rest of the convention space. Though they’d all been born within a ten-minute period twenty-five years before, as the oldest triplet, Lottie felt protective and responsible for her sisters.
Walking the ballroom, she worked to shift her mindset from motherly older sister to saleswoman and candymaker. As she wandered the room, she greeted other vendors, and made mental notes of the various booths she wanted to visit before the convention ended on Sunday.
Finally heading back to her own booth, Lottie stopped to study the space across the aisle from hers. Their setup was basic. Almost too basic with a notebook computer open in the middle of the table and two stacks of papers and a pile of pens on either side of the table. The black banner pinned across the front of thetable had the stylized logo for D4R with no other explanation as to what the company was or did or provided.
Intrigued, Lottie stepped up to the table and waited for the three men huddled together in the space behind their table to finish an intense conversation that involved several rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors. When they finally arrived at a winner, they broke apart. Turning her way, they appeared surprised to find someone standing in front of their table.
While all three were the definition of tall, dark and droolworthy, it was the sky-blue eyes and black hair with a touch of gray at the temples of the tallest one who snagged her attention. He smiled warmly as he stepped closer. That smile had her slipping her hand into the front pocket of her jeans to wrap her fingers around Wilbur, the tiny worrisaurus Carri had given her a couple months before when things had grown really stressful at work. Wilbur was a two-toned dinosaur with a peach head and body and maroon spines who was supposed to eat her worries, thus his genus as a worrisaurus.
He was tiny enough to fit into her pocket perfectly, unlike Molly Moo, the cow stuffie Carri had given her the previous Christmas. Molly slept with her each night and was the holder of her secrets and dreams while Wilbur got her worries and stresses.
Glancing at the three men once more, Lottie thought two of them looked familiar, but she could not attach a name to their faces. Giving up before she asked who they were and why she knew them, her gaze returned to the black-haired one. He stood in front of his friends and his being pulled at more than just her gaze. Her entire body wanted to round the table and throw herself into his arms, claiming him for her Daddy. But that couldn’t happen. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
Taking a breath, she waved at the front of their table. “What does it stand for? D-four-R. What does it mean?”
The blond standing to the right raised his fist and lowered it in a happy win motion. “I told you being mysterious would draw people in. You both owe me fifty bucks.”
“Yeah, right. Now shut up and go get my lunch,” the black-haired man said with a grin. “And a large iced tea.”
