I was in the thick of a stream of plaintive ‘ow’s when there was a knock at the door.
Jasper stopped, brush tight in fist, face frozen, eyes meeting mine in the mirror.
‘Who is it?’ he called.
‘Your cab’s outside, Mr Jay.’
‘It’s a little early.’
‘Shall I ask him to wait?’
‘Well, I would think so, wouldn’t you? We’ll be ten minutes.’
‘Very good, sir.’
We waited thirty seconds or so to be sure he was gone before speaking.
‘He must have heard,’ I moaned.
‘And?’
‘Oh, God.’
‘It’s none of his business, is it?’
‘He’ll know.’
‘You don’t even know who that was.’
‘Every male member of staff I see in this place …’
Jasper smiled.
‘They’ll know what’s happened to you, won’t they? Never mind, it can’t be helped. Come on, bum up. I haven’t finished with you yet.’
‘But the cab …’
‘The cab,’ he said firmly, ‘can wait.’
I think he carried on spanking me longer than he would have done, just to prove that he was in charge and no waiting cab was going to come between him and my bottom.
A minute or two, and countless rapid-fire strokes, later, he put down the brush.
‘Turn around,’ he said softly. ‘Look at yourself in the mirror.’
My bottom was deep, dark red all over, with blotchy areas that would become bruises in due course. It was swollen and the skin felt as if it would crack if stretched.
‘There,’ he said, sighing happily. ‘What do you say?’
‘Thank you for correcting me, sir.’
‘It was a pleasure.’ He bit his lip. ‘Fuck, I don’t want to go out now. I want to stay here and have you every which way till Tuesday.’
I looked at him from underneath my heavily mascaraed eyelashes. ‘Well …’ I said.
‘No, don’t tempt me, you minx. We’ve got to go. Come on, I’ll help you with that dress.’
I needed the help. It was like a geometry puzzle, trying to work out which bits were meant to cover which body parts. Eventually, I was dressed enough to avoid certain arrest for indecent exposure, but only just.