‘Amazing,’ I said. ‘It still does. It feels amazing.’
‘You aren’t embarrassed or ashamed?’
‘Not at all. That’s weird, isn’t it?’
‘Is it?’
He kissed my cheek and my ear, saving them from freezing solid.
‘I thought I would be. I thought I would be mortified. But I knew they understood, so …’
‘Oh, yes. They understand.’ He hesitated. ‘And Trix? You don’t mind …?’
‘No. It felt so unfair that she was left out of things.’
‘You weren’t jealous?’
‘I trust you.’
‘Well, in that case, we’d better untie you and get you inside, because I’d hate for that trust to be misplaced and for you to freeze to death on my watch. Come on.’
He unknotted the rope, then put my clothing right with the same gentle deftness. I told him there was no point keeping my bra on and he unhooked it and put it between his teeth while he pulled up my jeans. This caused the welts from my whipping to sting afresh and I cried out, but more with afterglow than real suffering.
Jasper folded me into an embrace, holding me against his body. His warmth seeped into me, heating my blood and bringing sensation back to my extremities. All the same, I was shivering like mad and had to be supported on the walk back to the kitchen.
When we entered into heavenly hot and steamy air, our three guests applauded. I escaped upstairs to change into something less hard on my bottom than the jeans – it was going to have to be a soft cashmere-knit dress with hold-up stockings and no knickers – and lay face-down on the bed for a while, pondering.
Eventually, the clatter of pans and scent of bacon lured me back downstairs.
‘What is it, the plan for today?’ asked Dimitri, bent over an unfeasibly crowded plate of everything imaginable.
‘Well, you know, I don’t think I have one,’ said Jasper, sipping coffee. ‘It looks as if more snow is on the way, so not much chance of getting out anywhere. Perhaps we could read through the movie? I don’t know.’
‘As long as it’s just reading,’ I piped up quickly. My first public scene had been wonderful, marvellous, but it was going to take time before my bottom was ready for another.
Everybody laughed.
‘Couldn’t we make a movie?’ Rosie suggested enthusiastically. ‘Like one of Trix’s? That was so good. Imagine what it would have been like directed by Jasper.’
‘And you are actor in this movie?’ said Dimitri with surprise. ‘Or you watch?’
‘I … don’t mind,’ she said, flicking her eyes down to her porridge.
‘What?’ Dimitri shoved his plate next to her bowl and leaned in to her, his bright-blue eyes wide. ‘Yesterday you are shy, today you are in the movies? Is that right?’
‘We’re all friends here,’ she said, looking around at each of us. ‘Right?’
‘Right,’ confirmed Jasper. ‘And, you know, if we did this, I wouldn’t distribute it. It would be a private little pleasure, just for us. No leaking on to the internet.’
‘I mean, everyone here has seen …’ She twisted her spoon around in her porridge.
‘Can we be clear on what’s being proposed here?’ said Jasper. ‘We’re talking a spanking movie, plain and simple? Nothing more … intimate … than that?’
Dimitri, Rosie and Trix all exchanged looks. I wanted to hide, but my feet wouldn’t move from their station by the toaster.
‘If it was just Dimitri,’ said Rosie. ‘I suppose I … I might. Not mind.’