“Then make me proud by picking a suitable punishment for yourself.” It was an excellent punishment, Guilia realized. It would make Tay really think about what they’d done, and inorder to wipe the slate clean, they wouldn’t be able to half-arse it either.
“I will.” Tay looked determined. “I’ll do the best job ever.” Then, suddenly shy again, they added, “And… about us?”
“Si, Tay?”
“Do you think that we could… that you could… I mean…” They went to tug their sweater up and over their head, but Guilia tugged it straight back down calmly.
“Use your words. Come on, tesore, you can do it.”
“What does that mean?” asked Tay curiously. “Tesore.”
Guilia felt herself flush. She’d been using the endearment all morning, without even really realizing what she was doing. “It means treasure,” she said.
“Treasure?” Tay’s voice sounded awed. “I’m your treasure?”
“Of course you are,” said Guilia, and she could hear herself slip into her no-nonsense head-chef mode. “You make excellent pasta, for one thing. And for another, you are very kind to your friends.”
“Treasure,” Tay repeated again. There was a soft smile dancing on their lips. “If you have a nickname for me, do I get one for you?”
There was another question there, under the one that they’d asked, but Guilia wasn’t going to push them into saying that one out loud. That would be asking too much of them.
“I think that’s an excellent idea, mi tesore. I was thinking that Daddy might fit quite nicely.”
There was a long silence in which Guilia thought she might have misread the situation entirely, and when she met Tay’s eyes, they were filled with tears. “Cazzo; Tay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“No no,” said Tay. “Please don’t apologize. I just… I would like that. I would like that very much.”
“I’m not sure how that would work when we’re working together; we should go and speak to Signore Derek about that.”
Tay nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, please.”
CHAPTER 5
Tay
Tay stared around Master Derek’s office, looking everywhere other than at the person sitting behind the desk. When they accidentally caught his eye, he raised an eyebrow.
“You look suitably chastened,” he said, and Tay winced.
“Chef Guilia says that I have to pick my own punishment.”
Master Derek looked amused. “That’s not a bad idea, that. I might have to purloin it for my own use. You’ll be pleased to know that Holly and Sadie managed to clean up sufficiently.”
Tay felt awful that they’d dragged their friends into punishments like that, and it must have shown on their face, because his look softened slightly.
“We’re here, Signore Derek,” said Chef Guilia, “because Tay and I would like to consider entering a dynamic. Caregiver/Little. But, of course, they work with me, and I couldn’t do without them in the kitchen—they make some of the finest pasta I’ve ever seen.”
That made Tay glow with pride, just a little bit.
“Ah, I see,” said Derek.
“And I’m Big when I’m at work,” said Tay. “I don’t think that I could really do the whole dynamic-y thing when I’m in thekitchen. I need to be able to answer back and disagree and be my usual argumentative self.”
Guilia and Derek just looked at them. “Well, maybe I don’tneedto be, but being free to express my opinions is part of how I work. I don’t mind having a work argument, as long as it doesn’t drag into my personal life, and vice versa.”
Derek looked thoughtful. “It might be tricky,” he warned. “We have couples and throuples here at the Ranch who do work with each other, but most of them are in their dynamic most of the time. The two of you would have to set out some very clear boundaries between work and… well, and play.”
Guilia’s pixie cut was short enough that Tay could see that the tips of her ears were going pink.
