Taken by Surpise

by Shanna Handel

  Lila was getting more and more agitated by the minute. When was he going to talk about the elephant in the room? He was the one that barbarically threw her over his knee, then left her to fend for her own coffee and wake up alone, two mornings in a row. The waitress came by, interrupting Lila’s thoughts, and they placed their orders. “Oh, and I’ll have another glass of Riesling as well, please,” Lila added, looking over at Luke to gauge his reaction. Seeing as wine had led to the spanking, maybe this would force him to open up.

  “Lila,” Luke said in a very low, very stern voice, looking at her with one eyebrow raised. The waitress looked from Luke to Lila, confused.

  “What is it, honey?” Lila said, while raising her eyebrows innocently at him. “You wanted a coffee?” She turned to the waitress. “My husband would like a coffee as well. Thanks.” The waitress, still looking a bit confused set off towards the bar area for the Riesling.

  “Lila, you knew exactly what I meant,” Luke said.

  Lila was furious. She leaned in and whispered, “What, you spank me one time, and now you think you own me?”

  The same look that she had seen in their living room crossed Luke’s face. He leaned forward as well, and quietly said, “I do own you. You are my wife and I have vowed to care for you and cherish you. There will never be another woman for me and you know that I am the only man for you. We own each other, heart and soul.”

  Luke’s words stunned her. She loved this man and everything he had just said was true. He had always taken incredible care of her and gone out of his way to make her feel loved. And there was no other man for her. She had known that from her first conversation with him, years ago at his sister, Elizabeth’s wedding. Luke’s quiet, kind nature, and handsome looks initially drew her to him. But as she talked with him that night, she was taken by his intelligence, steadiness, and warm heart.

  “But, Luke, why did you… you know, do that thing to me?” She looked down, folding the corner of her linen napkin, feeling incredibly embarrassed and couldn’t even say the word again. She continued, “And then leave me alone for two nights and stay away in the mornings? That really hurt, Luke.” Lila looked at the table, all confidence gone and couldn’t meet his eyes.

  He reached over the table and gently lifted her chin with his fingers. “Lila, I am not sorry that I spanked you.” She felt an involuntary wave of attraction, mixed with confusion and blushed. Luke smiled at her blushing cheeks then continued, “I am sorry I that I left you alone. I was confused and needed time to think. I have been unhappy in our marriage lately and didn’t know how to tell you. The other night when you thought you were joking, I felt totally emasculated by you and it kind of brought everything that I was feeling to a head. I love you exactly how you are and I know that your job is a big part of that, but ever since your promotion, you just seem so self-centered. And our decisions seem to always be what you want. It took me a while to realize that the way we have set up our marriage works for you, but it doesn’t really work for me.”

  “What do you mean by that? Not working for you? Luke, that really scares me. What are you trying to say?” Lila blurted out, terrified by his words. She had noticed he had been distant lately, but it was true, she was too wrapped up in herself and her work to even think about it very long.

  He shook his head sadly. “Lila, I love you and will remain faithful and committed to you until the day I die. Everyone knows what opposites we are, and we do complement each other. But I am wired to be the kind of man that is the head of the household, and take care of and protect my wife. In order to do that, I need to be the one in charge at home. You can be the boss at work, but no matter how much money you make, or how successful you are, I want to be the leader in our relationship. And, I need to tell you, that we are going to try doing things my way for a change.”

  This was a lot for Lila to take in. She thought Luke was happy with her running the show. She wondered how she could have misinterpreted things so badly. She must have been really wrapped up in herself since her promotion. “Luke, what do you mean by doing things your way?” Lila asked. The waitress came by, and seeing that they were deep in conversation, quietly placed the Riesling in front of Lila, the coffee in front of Luke, then quickly walked away.

  Luke placed a hand over the top of her wine glass. He looked deep into her eyes and in a low, serious voice said, “For starters, if you take one sip of this wine, I will cancel our dinner, pay the check and take you home for a good, sound spanking.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

  Lila had a quick debate in her head. She had always been good at making tough decisions, and sticking to them. She really wanted to give Luke what he needed and focus on him, not herself for a change. Also, the calm, commanding way that Luke had spoken to her turned her on so much she could barely think.

  “Well, here goes nothing,” she thought to herself. Never breaking eye contact with Luke, she slowly lifted the wine glass to her lips, took a huge swig, and set the glass down.

  Her favorite, slow grin spread across her husband’s beautiful face as he said, “Check please.”

  On the car ride home, they were both completely silent. Luke kept a firm grip of her upper thigh with one of his hands while he was driving. The pressure from his hand, with the anticipation of what was to come, was driving Lila wild. She was nervous and excited at the prospect of being over Luke’s lap again, as this time he seemed playful and not angry. Lila was surprised how attracted she was to the idea of Luke being in control of her.

  When they arrived at the house, Luke came around to her side and opened her door, offering her his hand to help her out of the car. His smile was confident, and his eyes full of desire for her. She followed him up to the house, where he unlocked the front door and opened it wide for her.

  She stepped into her beautiful living room, the soft light from the table lamps next to the couch giving the room a romantic glow. Luke placed a hand on her lower back and firmly lead her to the same white couch where he had punished her earlier in the week. The sight of the couch brought the memory back and Lila suddenly felt nervous. What was she doing? Was this crazy? But then Luke was behind her, moving her hair back and kissing the back of her neck. He leaned down, his lips softly grazing her ear, and whispered, “I love you, Lila.”

  He then started to unzip the black silk dress, slowly, and let it fall to the floor. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. Luke’s eyes drank her in from head to toe. She was wearing her favorite black lace bra and matching thong, and still had on her four-inch leather heels. “You are so beautiful, Lila, inside and out,” he said, then kissed her lightly on the lips.

  Luke slid his hands down her arms, clasped one of her hands in each of his, then sat down on the sofa, bringing her into a sitting position next to him. It felt strange and thrilling to be wearing almost nothing while he was fully dressed in a suit and tie. He rose and took his jacket off, carefully and slowly folding it over the back of the couch, then sat down next to her again. Lila took a deep breath and smiled at Luke nervously.

  She hadn’t spoken since they left the restaurant, which was definitely some kind of record for her. She felt so small, vulnerable, and feminine next to her man. Luke placed a finger under her chin and gently turned her face up towards him, then said, “Lila, I want you to lay yourself over my lap now.”

  Lila giggled nervously and started to stammer, “Luke, I…”

  He interrupted her with a low serious tone, and commanded, “Now. Lila.”

  Every muscle in her lower body tightened at his words. She slowly laid herself over his legs, with her upper body resting on the couch. Her bottom was totally exposed and she was mentally kicking herself for wearing a thong.

  She found the position she was in to be comfortable and incredibly erotic. Luke took a hand and pressed down between her shoulder blades so that she was lying flat on the couch, with her face turned towards Luke. He brushed her hair back away from her face.

 
Then, he leaned down and whispered, “Are you going to be a good girl, Lila, or do I have to hold your hands behind your back again?”

  “I’ll be good,” she whispered. Whack! He spanked her hard on the center of her bare right cheek. She took a deep breath, but didn’t cry out.

  Luke leaned down and whispered again, “You will address me as, sir when you are in this position. Is that clear?”

  “Yes- sir,” Lila stammered.

  “Good girl,” he said as he lightly rubbed her bottom. Lila couldn’t believe that she was actually laying here, over Luke’s knee, calling her husband, sir and wanting him to spank her again. Luke stroked her hair softly and said, “Lila, I made it very clear that I did not want you to order a third glass of wine. You were being a naughty, disrespectful wife. Weren’t you?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, actually feeling a little ashamed for having ordered the wine. Whack! Another hard spank landed on the same spot as the first one. “Yes, sir,” she quickly corrected herself.

  “What did I say I was going to do if you drank that wine, Lila?” Luke softly stroked her bottom as he chastised her.

  “You said, you said that you were going to spank me. Sir.” She could feel her face get hot and knew she was blushing a deep red. She couldn’t help it but started to squirm a little as he rubbed her bottom. She was more turned on than she had ever been before.

  “That’s right. You are drinking far too much wine. It is my job to keep you safe and protect you, even if that means from yourself. From now on, you are only allowed two glasses of wine, and they may only be poured by me, at my discretion. Do you understand?”

  She was shocked. Not pour her own wine? What about when she went out and Luke wasn’t there? Oh, well, they could sort that out later but right now he had her so tied up she would probably agree to anything that he asked. “Yes, sir,” she whispered.

  His hand stopped stroking her and he started to softly spank her all over her bottom. Her bottom felt warm and tingly and so did everywhere else. He then started spanking her harder, alternating cheeks. Sometimes while he was spanking her he would stop for a second, then administer a slap right where her bottom met the top of her thigh. When he did this, she drew a sharp intake of breath. He kept spanking her until every inch of her bottom was stinging. Then he gave her bottom one last swat, and sat her up next to him.

  He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Well, what do you think of doing things my way?” he asked shyly. Lila could not contain her desire for him. She immediately grabbed ahold of his shoulders and kissed him deeply. Luke returned the kiss, muttering, “I should have spanked you, years ago,” and carried her off to their bedroom.

  Chapter 3

  Lila felt totally refreshed at work Monday morning. She and Luke had an amazing weekend together. They had taken a few hikes on Saturday, and on Sunday went to look at a Corvette that Luke wanted to purchase.

  Luke was no longer distant, and after sharing a new side of himself that he had been hiding, seemed more confident than ever. Lila, on the other hand, was feeling vulnerable, but content in a way she had never experienced.

  Slight changes in Luke’s behavior toward her had brought about characteristics in her that she didn’t know existed. He spoke with a firmer tone when he asked her to do something and she was quick to oblige, wanting to please him. She talked about her job less than usual and listened deeper as he described his work and interests.

  He had even taken up the habit of slapping her on the bottom playfully while they cooked in the kitchen together, something that he had never done before. And when they were looking at the Corvette, Luke had casually wrapped an arm around her waist and rested a hand firmly on her bottom in clear view of the owner of the car. She was totally turned on by him the whole weekend and they had ended up in bed, a lot. She was almost sad to go back to work.

  That evening, over salmon, a green salad, and a generous glass of white wine that Luke had poured for her, they chatted about how amazing the weekend had been. Lila had never seen Luke talk so much over one meal. He went into the kitchen and came back with her favorite dessert that he had picked up from the bakery that afternoon, as a surprise. Lila clapped her hands excitedly and smiled. Luke always did little things like that for her.

  As he sat down, he said, “Lila, I want to talk to you about something. After connecting this weekend, I’ve realized that we need more time together. And we need to visit my family. We haven’t been back to my hometown since the wedding. It’s time for you to take a week off from work, for us to take a trip.”

  Lila looked down at her plate. Time with Luke sounded great, and she loved his family, but work was busy. True, she was due to take some time off and still had all of her vacation days for the year, but couldn’t imagine leaving things out of her control for a full week.

  In the past Lila would have laughed and told Luke a flat out “No way.” She wanted to try things his way though, so gave a more thoughtful reply than she would have before the events of that past week. “Luke, you know this isn’t a good time for me to take off. I’ve only recently been promoted and things are hectic there. Why don’t we go away for a weekend?” Lila smiled brightly, pleased with herself for being so cooperative.

  Luke put his fork down gently by his plate and reached out to touch her hand. “Lila, you trust Cecilia totally and you haven’t taken off any time this year. I have thought about this a lot. I need you to look at your calendar at work tomorrow and pick a week to take off this month. You are going to obey me on this. I want the dates by five o’ clock tomorrow.”

  Whoa! Since when did Luke use words like obey. She remembered being sure to choose more modern wedding vows to intentionally weed that little old fashioned word out of the way. They were so happy doing things Luke’s way though. She didn’t want to give up on it, yet.

  “Five o’clock it is, sir. Cheers!” Lila smiled and clinked Luke’s glass to celebrate their upcoming vacation.

  The two weeks leading up to their trip flew by. Lila had spent a ton of time getting things in order at work. Luke was right about leaving Cecelia in charge. She was excited for the opportunity to take Lila’s responsibilities for a week and even more excited as a friend, to see Lila taking a week for herself.

  Luke had taken care of all of the travel arrangements. They would take his convertible and cruise with the top down, making the four-hour drive to his mother’s house. His mother, Grace, and sister, Elizabeth, still lived in the small town that they had grown up in. His older brother, David, and his wife, Heather, lived in a bigger town a little way away.

  Lila knew Luke missed it at times, but he was very supportive of moving with Lila when she got her job after graduating college. It was a sacrifice for him, but he had told Lila he knew he had the joy of being able to do his work from anywhere and wanted her to be able to work at the company of her dreams.

  Lila had also been spending time, before the trip, buying a whole new wardrobe for any occasion that might come up. Luke had gotten the convertible in tip top shape and was loading her luggage into it. He didn’t even bother to mentioned how much stuff she had packed. He knew her very well, and accepted that she loved clothes just as much as she loved being prepared.

  Lila did a final sweep through the house and locked the front door. Sunglasses in hand, she slid into the convertible and mentally prepared herself for a week of being Lila, Luke’s wife, instead of Lila, the boss. It was going to be strange visiting Luke’s family with this shift in their power dynamic. What would they think if Luke admonished her with that stern voice of his? Or, if they somehow found out that he had spanked her.

  She couldn’t even imagine it, but over the past few weeks Luke had been making it very clear that he expected her to respect him as the head of household and that there would be consequences if she didn’t. She cringed at the recent memory of him using the word “obey.”

  She pushed the worries from her mind. She trusted Luke, loved his family, and had never been mor
e content in her relationship than she was right now. She was going to enjoy this time, and do her best to try out her new role.

  Chapter 4

  Lila stood at the gleaming wooden counter in Elizabeth’s kitchen, admiring Cole’s craftsmanship. He had redone the entire house in a rustic, country theme. The cheap vinyl flooring had been replaced with heart of pine planks. Cole had built the kitchen’s custom countertops and cabinets in his workshop behind the house. The house had a cozy feel but was also a work of art.

  The twins, Jacob and Abby, chased a puppy around the house laughing as the furry bundle jumped up to nip at them. Elizabeth stood by the stove, stirring a simmering pot. After replacing the lid, she went to the fridge and pulled out trays of appetizers that she had made earlier. Elizabeth was a domestic goddess in Lila’s eyes. Lila knew how to throw together a great party, but only by using a phone to call her favorite caterers. Elizabeth and Cole did pretty much everything for themselves, and it always turned out impressive.

  “Wine, Lila?” Elizabeth turned toward Lila with two cobalt blue glasses, and a chilled bottle of Lila’s favorite Riesling, one with a small blue elephant printed on the label.

  Lila clapped her hands,” You remembered!” Elizabeth and Lila met when they were placed together as college roommate’s junior year. They had taken an instant liking to one another. Elizabeth was studying to be an elementary teacher, and Lila was getting her degree in business and marketing. They didn’t get much time together as they had different classes and separate circles of friends. Elizabeth also visited Cole on the weekends, but when they did both have a free night, their favorite thing was to sit on the stairs in front of their dorm and sneak a few glasses of white wine.