Thwap.My hand landed on her denim-covered ass, hard enough that she felt it, but nowhere near a true spanking. And then I did it again.
I gave her one last spank and rested my hand on her lower back.
“Are you going to let me speak now?” When she didn’t respond, I gave her another tap.
“Oh, am I allowed to speak now?”
“Are you sure that’s the attitude you want to have right now, Charlotte? That doesn’t seem like a good choice.” I waited as she took a few deep breaths. “Are you ready to listen to what I have to say without interrupting?”
She stiffened, and I thought she’d argue, but she surprised me when she said, “Yes, Tobin.”
I lifted my arm off her back to release her, and she kicked her legs and started to push up.
“I can’t believe you did that—”
As soon as I heard the shrill tone of her voice, I pushed her back down across my lap and secured her with my right leg and left hand before making sure she understood I wasn’t fooling around anymore.
“You need to listen to me, little fairy. I’m trying to be patient, but you are being rude and argumentative for no reason,” I said while spanking her clenched cheeks. “I will keep doing this until you can sit across from me and have an adult conversation.”
She struggled and squirmed, but I had a firm grip and wasn’t letting go. Up and down, my arm lifted and lowered until she finally lay still and cried out.
“Okay, okay, Tobin. I’ll listen to you.” Her breath sawed in and out of her chest from her futile attempts to get away, but she wasn’t crying or in pain. “Please stop.”
I helped her up and nodded towards the chair across from me. “Go sit down.”
She wouldn’t meet my gaze even though I kept my eyes glued to her as she stepped away, righted her chair, and lowered herself into the seat. I watched for a wince or any sign that the spanking had hurt more than her pride and saw nothing.
“Now, as I tried to explain when I got here, I paid Pastor Brown a visit first thing this morning and the check in this envelope is what he owed you for the rest of his bill.” I picked up the envelope and pushed it to her side of the table.
She glanced up at me before grabbing it and ripping it open, finding a check from the church’s account in there for the full amount, I hoped.
“How did you get him to pay?” she asked, staring at the small rectangle of paper like it was the key to her happiness. Though judging from the bills I saw, it might be just that.
“I just stopped by and had a word with him.” As I said the words, I realized that was the wrong approach. It made me sound like a pompous fool, and I was determined to quit behaving that way. The spark in Charlotte’s eyes reinforced my thoughts, and I quickly corrected myself. “Unfortunately, Pastor Brown is the type of man who only respects other men and thinks women are beneath him. I told him if he didn’t pay, I’d make it known to everyone else in town that he had a habit of not paying his bills, which would make it difficult to get anything done around the church. It took him a minute, but he realized it would be better to pay the bill than deal with me ruining his reputation.”
“Ugh, that’s so frustrating,” she said, running a hand through her hair. “I hate it when men treat women as lesser people who don’t deserve respect.”
“Me too,” I replied firmly, prompting her to finally look me in the eye. “Speaking of not paying bills, I think we should talk about all these right here.” I set my hand on the stack I’d held earlier. “Are you going to be able to catch up on these with that money? Is your rent behind, too?”
“That’s none of your business,” she replied, with much less force than earlier. She looked dejected now, and embarrassed, but I wasn’t backing down.
“I’ve made it my business and I want to help you. As a friend. I got that money for you, and I want to make sure it’s enough.” I started going through the pile and mentally adding up the amounts she owed.
“Tobin,” she protested, “that’s private.”
She complained but didn’t try to stop me. I suspected deep down she’d be relieved to have my help, but we had to get through her stubbornness and pride first.
“It looks like this is about fifteen hundred dollars. Is that check enough to cover that much?” I asked, ignoring her weak protests.
“You didn’t look at it?” she asked, curiously.
“No. It’s your business. I just told him it better be the full amount or else there would be consequences.”
She didn’t speak for a moment, and I could almost see the wheels turning in her brain, though, I didn’t have a clue what she was thinking. I knew what I wanted it to be, but she wasn’t giving me any hints of where her mind was at.
“It should be enough with a few hundred dollars left over,” she finally replied.
“Is there anything else you’re behind on that’s not in this pile?” I asked, then repeated my earlier question. “Is your rent current?”
Her cheeks reddened in embarrassment as she stared at the check again. I couldn’t let myself feel bad, though. I didn’t want her to get evicted.
“My rent and my car insurance are current. I’m not that stupid.” Defiance crept back into her tone with that last statement, but it was the words she said that pissed me off.
“You are not stupid, Charlotte. You just need to get more clients, and ones who pay on time,” I said firmly, already thinking about people I could introduce her to. “I’m assuming that’s what happened here, right?”
Her eyes flicked up to mine. She looked wary, and slightly cagey, which made me backtrack.
“What’s going on? Is there another reason you don’t have enough money? Are you spending too much?” As I fired questions at her, her cheeks turned pink, and she became very interested in her fingernails. After a minute, it became clear she needed a bit more persuasion to answer. “Do you need another trip over my knee to get you talking?”
“No!” Her head flew up and her eyes widened, then narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I chuckled at her reaction. “I think I just proved I can, and I will. Now, what is going on with your money? Do you have other bills besides your living expenses? Student loans?” When she remained silent, I added, “I’m really just trying to help, Charlotte.”
She studied me, then sighed.
“I need to cut back on my spending, and I need to get over my fears of working with my friends. Kenny keeps asking me to design a website for her and I keep putting it off because I’m afraid she won’t like my work and will be disappointed. I don’t want charity. I want to be successful on my own.”
I considered what she said and decided to come back to her spending habits later.
“Having gone to school with Kenny, I know she would be honest with you, probably brutally honest. Unless she’s changed drastically, she’s not one to dance around something.”
Charlotte chewed on her lip for a second before agreeing with me. “She’s still like that. Kenny always tells it like it is. You’re right.”
“That makes her perfect to be your first friend you take on as a client. You know she’ll be truthful,” I said, earning a nod in response. “Now, let’s talk about your spending habits.”
She sat up straight and stiffened. “I have it under control.”
“You obviously don’t, Charlotte,” I replied and waved to the stack of bills. “Your finances are seriously mismanaged, and it just so happens that I’m excellent at money management.”
“I don’t need your help, Tobin,” she insisted and by the set of her jaw I knew she wouldn’t be giving in, so I tried another approach.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to worry about bills and having enough money? Let me help you get caught up and create a plan to keep you current on everything.” I leaned forward and met her gaze. “We can work on building your business while we work on growing mine.”
I didn’t add that I wanted to do this to show her how we could be partners in life, but she’d figure that out, eventually. When this worked out to her benefit, she’d realize what a good team we’d make.
“I don’t know,” she replied, hesitating. “I’m really trying to be independent and take care of myself.”
I bit back my initial thoughts, knowing they’d come out wrong.
“I think,” I said gently, “that everyone can use a little help, and that if you have friends who are willing to help, you should let them.”
“And that’s why you’re offering to help me? Because we’re friends?”
Her hesitation and questioning made me furious with whoever hurt her badly enough to question my motives so thoroughly. Suspicion like Charlotte’s came from a place of fear and mistrust, and it became clear why she’d reacted so strongly to my initial clumsy attempt at disciplining her. I was still wrong to try it in the first place, but someone had made this woman downright afraid of allowing a man into her life.
“Yes, we’re friends,” I replied firmly, leaving my thoughts and questions unsaid for now. “Let’s go through these together and make a plan to get you caught up. Maybe even start to save.”
She bristled at my assumption. “I have a thousand dollars in savings, I’ll have you know.”
“Then why are all these unpaid?” I asked, picking up the stack of papers and waving them in the air. This woman was confusing, and her attitude made my palm twitchy.
She gave me a stubborn stare but deflated when I returned it with my own. If she thought I wouldn’t sit here all day waiting for an answer, she was sorely mistaken.
And she would certainly be sore if she didn’t give me an explanation soon.