‘Yes,’ I mumbled.
‘So, we’re going to deal with this, and let’s hope it’ll help you remember to schedule in time for eating in the future.’
He rolled up his sleeves to the elbow.
My knees gave way – just as well I was sitting down. The carpet was suddenly of immediate and enormous interest. Did it need vacuuming? I wanted to put my head between my knees and breathe deeply, but Dan had risen to his feet and now held out his hand to me.
I took it uncertainly and he pulled me upright and turned me to face the bed, keeping his hands on my shoulders.
‘Your book recommends a warm-up before I begin properly,’ he said into my ear. ‘So that’s what I’m going to do.’
He took my former place on the edge of the bed and brought me down over his lap. It wasn’t the first time I’d been in this position, of course, but it felt so different now. Not simply exciting and sexy, but really quite humiliating. I felt small and ashamed of myself and genuinely contrite. Perhaps I would tell him and he might spare me.
‘I’m really sorry,’ I blurted.
His hand rubbed up and down my cotton-clad backside.
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ he said. ‘But we have to make sure it doesn’t happen again, don’t we?’
‘Oh,’ I whined. ‘It won’t.’
‘You need this. You told me yourself that you need it. Didn’t you?’
Defeated, I sighed, ‘Yes.’
‘And I’m here to give you what you need, aren’t I?’
‘Mm hmm.’
‘Now, this is just to prepare you for the real punishment. But it still isn’t going to be easy to take. Think about what you’ve done and how you plan to improve.’
He started to spank with slow, steady strokes that made their impact without being unbearable. The loud smacking sounds were almost more embarrassing than the pain in my behind. Our elderly neighbours were obviously hard of hearing, judging by the racket their TV made, but in the still of the early morning, one never knew how far the sound might travel.
‘I want you to try and keep still,’ he said when I started to wriggle. ‘Your book recommends that, you know? You’ve read it, have you?’
‘A bit,’ I said, sucking in a breath. He was speeding up and it made stillness very difficult to achieve.
‘It says it’s important to expect good behaviour when you’re administering punishment. It’s a good idea to insist on stillness and silence. I’m not going to insist on silence yet, but it might be something to aim for in future.’
Oh, God. He was getting right into this. He envisaged it as being part of our marriage dynamic. This was what I’d hoped for … wasn’t it?
I made the most of his not-enforcing-a-silence rule and began to whimper and moan as heat flushed the skin of my bottom.
‘So, yes, you can make as much noise as you like, within reason. But you can stop that kicking right now.’
He smacked my bare thigh, very hard. I put my legs back down immediately.
‘Do you know what else it says?’ he asked me, spanking away.
‘Lots of things,’ I snarked.
I curled my toes and tried to keep my muscles rigid, working to deflect my brain’s attention away from the increasing hurt and heat of my rear.
‘It says you should stop clenching your bum cheeks. If you clench them, you get extra strokes of something much nastier than my hand. What do you think of that?’
‘It’s mean,’ I gasped, unclenching my glutes and feeling the extra sting accordingly.
‘It’s effective,’ he said. ‘Ah, yes, this feels much better.’