MissManaged

“What? No. Of course not.” He sounded so concerned that I turned towards him and forgot why I was facing the other direction. “Ugh.”

I whipped my head back the other way and pulled my shirt up over my face. I’d barely broken a sweat, so the fabric still smelled of detergent and softener, muting out the distinctly goaty smell coming from the other side of the vehicle.

“Charlotte. Why are you being so weird?” This time his question was sterner and followed by a demand. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

No one had ever told me how to gently and tactfully tell my boyfriend he stunk, so I clamped my mouth shut and shook my head.

“Little fairy, we agreed to communicate, and that means being honest with me if I’ve done something to upset you. We can’t have a relationship if you’re refusing to speak to me and tell me—”

“Argh!” I pulled the shirt down and quickly barked, “You smell, Tobin. You stink like goat piss.”

It felt like the noxious fumes filled up my mouth, making me gag. I pulled the shirt back up and waited for him to get angry. To start yelling. But he started laughing, instead.

“I smell, huh?”

I looked over at him and found him grinning from ear to ear as he rolled down our windows.

“Yeah,” I said, through the shirt this time. “It’s really bad. Can’t you smell it?”

“I hate to break it to you, Charlotte, but I usually smell worse than this.”

“Oh.”

It made sense, now that I thought about it, but he’d never smelled anything but clean and woodsy, even when I met him at the farm.

“Why don’t we go to my house instead? Then I can take a shower and put on clean clothes.”

I nodded, but he was already turning toward his farm.

“You’re cute. So sensitive. Just like a little fairy should be.”

I scowled at him but didn’t speak, not wanting to risk exposing myself to the stench anymore.

We rode in silence for the next fifteen minutes until he pulled down a road I’d never been on before. It wasn’t the main driveway to the farm, but I knew we were close to the property, so it had to be another entrance that led right to his cabin.

It was kind of strange that I’d never been here, but we’d always met at the main house or my apartment. I couldn’t see anything through the darkness except the fence that ran along either side of the narrow, but well-maintained, gravel road. The tires crunched over the stones as I strained my eyes for a glimpse of something. The moment felt important and the air in the truck suddenly felt heavy and laden with meaning.

“Here we are,” Tobin said as he parked in front of a two-car garage attached to a two-story house.

“I thought you said you lived in a cabin?” That’s what he’d always called his home, but the building in front of me in no way fit my definition of a cabin.

“It used to be a one-story, three-room cabin, back in my grandfather’s day. Then he added on to it when my father and mother married. They lived here until my grandparents moved to a condo in Ellicottville. My parents overhauled it after about five years of living here and built what you see now, which isn’t anything close to what it originally looked like, but we still call it the cabin.” He shrugged and smiled at me. “Let’s go in and you can explore home sweet home while I take a shower.”

The goat smell had faded while we drove, but it came rushing back now that we were parked. I scrunched my nose and nodded in agreement before opening the door and jumping out of the truck.

“Come on, Charlotte,” Tobin said as he opened the front door. “Welcome.”

I stepped into a large, open room. To my right was the living room with comfortable leather couches and an enormous stone fireplace with a television hanging above. To my left was a dining room with a rustic six-person table. A half wall that had a breakfast bar on the kitchen side separated the kitchen from the dining room.

Tobin took off his boots and I did the same, leaving them on a mat by the front door.

“Normally I pull into the garage and come in through the mudroom connected to the kitchen, but I wanted you to get a grand entrance and not have my work clothes and laundry area be the first things you saw.”

He seemed nervous, and I realized he was waiting for my reaction.

“It’s beautiful, Tobin. Not at all what I expected.”

He let out a breath and appeared relieved. “I’ve updated the appliances and counter in the kitchen and painted. The bathrooms are next on my list for an upgrade.”

I nodded as I continued to take in the space. He’d chosen a soft green for the walls, which added color without being overwhelming. Area rugs echoed the green while adding in some blues and browns. Pillows and a few blankets gave the living room a cozy, lived-in feel while the family photos and wildlife pictures on the walls added to the ambiance. It all added up to give the impression that this was a home, not just a place to sleep. And that was something I hadn’t had in a very long time.

“Go get clean,” I said. “I’ll wait here for you.”

“Help yourself to a drink or anything in the kitchen. I’ll be quick.” He walked down the hallway directly in front of us and disappeared behind the last door on the right.

I walked past the dining area and into the kitchen, pausing to take in the modern appliances, gray-blue walls, and white cabinets. There were stairs in the back of the room on the right and a big window above the sink that probably had a magnificent view of the farm. The fridge held water, beer, the normal condiments, and a few containers that appeared to hold leftovers. Not surprising, since I knew Tobin usually ate lunch with his parents and often had dinner with me.

I grabbed a bottle of water and returned to the living room, taking a seat on a very comfortable couch. The silence allowed me to reflect on the last few hours, especially Mellie’s comment about “funishment”. I’d read about enough spankings in our book club books to understand the concept, but I’d never considered how it would be in real life. Fiction was one thing, but knowing my friend was probably, at this very moment, getting a spanking that would lead to some hot and kinky sex made me feel… something.

Curious?

Intrigued?

Turned on?

It was difficult to admit that last one to myself, but I needed to stop hiding behind my past. The one thing I wasn’t was concerned for Mellie’s safety. I wondered what a “just for fun” spanking might look like if Tobin gave me one.

Would we just pretend I was in trouble? Or not even engage in any role playing and go straight to a spanking? The latter didn’t appeal to me at all, which surprised me.

“You find everything all right?” Tobin asked as he entered the room dressed in a fresh pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt with the farm logo on the front.

“Yeah. Your fridge is pretty empty, so the water bottles weren’t hard to find,” I replied with more sass than was appropriate for the situation.

“Okay,” he said as he sat down next to me, giving me a strange look.

I tried to shake off this weird feeling I had but kept speaking without fully considering what I was doing.

“How come you never brought me here before?” I demanded.

“It wasn’t on purpose. Your house is more convenient and that’s where all your work stuff is,” Tobin replied. “What’s going on, Charlotte? Did I do something to upset you?”

“No.” I sighed. This wasn’t going the way I wanted it to.