Her mouth flattened into a straight line, and her eyes clouded. “I just don’t see why we have to do dinner. We’re not dating, we have an arrangement, and this seems pointless,” she replied sullenly.
Josiah was not backing down. “We do dinner because I would like to get to know you. I do many things for you, and it would be nice if you could do this one thing for me without having an attitude and making me and everyone around you miserable. I’m not really asking for much, Lannea. This was part of the arrangement that you agreed to. If you really didn’t like it you should have said something then. This is the agreement you made, and this is the agreement you will keep, at least for tonight. How would you feel if I acted like this when it came to keeping my end of the arrangement? It’s time you thought of someone other than yourself, Lannea. I know you’re better than this spoiled, selfish little act you put on.”
Laney scowled at him as she realized she really had no good comeback for that. As always, Josiah was unflappable, and reasonable, and no matter what potshots she took at him, he refused to act in kind. It drove her crazy that she couldn’t get to him that way, yet the straight forward dominance with which he handled himself no matter what she threw at him went to her heart, and then straight down to her aching sex.
The man was an enigma. So dominant and yet so innocent. Almost too much, and yet not quite enough. She couldn’t decide if she wanted him to bend her over and screw her brains out or if she wanted to run away and find a real dominant man with no past emotional baggage, whose nice side didn’t melt her heart every time he opened his mouth. Not that it mattered one bit what she wanted. They agreed to a platonic arrangement, and that was what they had. Anyone could see Josiah was bound and determined to stick to each and every item on their original agreement. He would spank her, and discipline her and help her deal with her issues, but he undoubtedly wanted a woman who was more like him— innocent and sweet, and not laden with responsibility issues like she was. He would want a woman who could take care of herself without having to find some handsome stranger to spank her out of her issues. She was practice for him, a place holder and nothing more. The thought brought tears to her eyes. Josiah had barely been in town a week. Soon word would get out about the hot single new policeman, and the single ladies of Corbin’s Bend would swarm. Then where would she be? No self-respecting woman would let her new man keep up a platonic spanking relationship with another woman. Mac’s girlfriend sure hadn’t.
It was best for all involved, if she didn’t get too attached. She had to keep in mind that this was undoubtedly temporary. She considered backing out now, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Their arrangement actually was helping her after all, and she wasn’t ready to lose that yet. I’ll just have to keep my guard up, she told herself.
“Lannea, Lannea, Laney!” Josiah’s voice shook her from her thoughts and she realized that their food had arrived. “Are you okay?” he asked, never anything but thoughtful and considerate.
“Hmmm?” she murmured, slowly coming out of her trance. “Yes, I’m fine, Josiah. I’ll be okay.” Her voice sounded far off and distant even to her, and she could only imagine what Josiah would think.
His features were laced with concern as he gazed at her. “Lannea, I’m sorry if I upset you at all. We don’t have to have dinner if it bothers you that much. I just thought it would be nice to have some sort of relationship beyond spanker and spankee. I didn’t think dinner once a week was too much to ask, but if I was wrong, please tell me, and we’ll go right now.”
“No, Josiah, please don’t apologize. I was wrong, not you. I’m struggling with a few things, and I am taking it out on you when you have done nothing but be kind and helpful to me. If there’s anyone who needs to be sorry, it’s me. Please, accept my apology, and let’s move on and enjoy this lovely dinner, which I assume, you’re paying for, since it was your stipulation.” She winked and gave him a snarky half smile as an attempt to lighten the mood.
Josiah’s eyes twinkled in response. “Oh, of course,” he said graciously, winking back at her. “I accept your apology. Now, let’s eat!”
Dinner had not gone as smoothly as he had hoped, especially in the beginning, but after he had laid down the law with Lannea, she had snapped out of her bad mood and they had actually had a decent time. Conversation had lagged at times, but overall, it had been everything he had hoped for. And now, it was time for Act Two of the evening. Laney’s Maintenance Spanking.
Josiah had never conducted a maintenance spanking before, of course, as he had never had anyone to spank, but how different could it be from any other spanking? It was all pretty basic and self-explanatory, he told himself. Raise hand, bring hand down on bottom, and repeat process as needed. Nothing to it.
At least that’s what he hoped. The expectant way Laney was looking at him was making him a bit more nervous than he had been in their previous sessions.
He shook his head quickly as if to clear it. She was just waiting for him to take charge, he told himself. It was up to him, not her, to get things underway.
“Lannea,” he called, patting the couch beside him. “Come here please.”
He was almost shocked when she obeyed quickly, just because she had seemed so contrary tonight.
“It’s time for your weekly maintenance,” he told her stiffly.
She just nodded and looked at him quizzically.
“Why, erm, why do you need this weekly spanking?” he asked her simply because he honestly had no idea. It was one of those things he had added, and it had seemed like a good idea at the time. But now, he struggled to remember why it had seemed so.
Luckily for him, Laney had a quick response. “Because a weekly spanking centers me and reminds me of the things I need to work on. It calms me from all the stress of the past week, and helps me get ready for a busy weekend.”
Josiah had nothing to add, so he just nodded encouragingly, and hoped she would continue.
“It brings into focus the things I struggle with and reminds me throughout the week to pay attention to what I am doing, and to remember that my actions have real consequences beyond the physical pain my backside may experience.”
It was a good answer. Josiah breathed a little easier now. He had a good idea what maintenance meant to her, and that helped him know how to proceed.
“Stand up, please, and remove your panties.” She wore a light flouncy knee length skirt that drew attention to her long, sexy legs. He had barely been able to keep his gaze from them all night, imagining flipping up the floral slip of fabric to reveal the creamy white flesh beneath. Having her remove the panties, and not the skirt was a move entirely for his own benefit and pleasure.
She gave him an odd look but complied, and stood awkwardly before him, waiting for further instruction.
“Go upstairs to my bedroom, and wait for me in the corner.”
He watched from his spot in the living room, as he had done before, giving her time to obey and have just a little wait before he joined her upstairs.
As he watched her, he considered his options, and it struck him that he really had no plan nor any idea what he was doing. Should he have her on the bed, bent over his knee, a chair? Should he have her bend over and touch her toes? So far, he had been changing it up each time, should he continue to keep her guessing? Or would they eventually find something that worked for them and stick with it? He really had no idea, and the whole quandary was simply over position. What about implements? That was a whole different problem of its own. What did one use for a maintenance spanking? Hand, belt, spoon, paddle? The possibilities were endless and as usual, he was clueless. He decided to wing it for tonight as he really didn’t want to keep her waiting too long less she somehow become privy to his inner dilemma. Maybe before next week, he would hop online and see if he couldn’t so a little bit of research. Were these even things one could find online he wondered. What did one do, simply google ‘How to properly spank your girlfriend?’ Surely that wouldn’t work. Mayb
e he should just talk to Matt. Yeah, that’s what he would do, he decided. He would talk to Matt. After all, Matt was his mentor, and to Josiah’s understanding this sort of thing was exactly what he was there for. On a whim, Josiah grabbed the paddle from its trusty hiding place in the kitchen before heading up the stairs.
Feeling brave, he walked up behind Laney and lifted her skirt with one hand, resting the cool wood of the paddle against her bare skin. Testing her reaction, he watched in awe as a delicious little shiver went down her spine.
“Do you know what I have here, Lannea?” he asked, giving her bottom a little tap with the business end of the paddle.
“Is it…the Corbin’s Bend paddle?” Her voice caught on the last word, her breath ragged and her tone almost reverent. Was that, a hint of desire he heard?
He tapped again, still holding her skirt up with one hand, admiring the luscious curves of her rear end. There it was again, that little shiver. Josiah watched as it started at the top of her spine, and worked its way down to the tips of her toes. It was the oddest thing really.
Letting go of her skirt, he crossed the room and dropped the paddle on the nightstand. Her reaction to the wooden implement was intriguing, but he didn’t think he would be using it tonight. To him, a paddle seemed more serious, not quite the right implement for a simple maintenance spanking. He didn’t know why he had grabbed it other than curiosity.
Pausing to ponder position once more, he came to rest on the bed in a sitting position. He really needed to get more furniture up here. A nice high back chair or a loveseat maybe. He made a mental note to add furniture shopping to his to do list. For now, he would work with what he had.
He called Laney over to him, beckoning her to stand in front of him. When she was there, her eyes wide with fear of the unknown, he turned her around so that her back was to him.
“Bend over and touch your toes.”
Josiah’s words sent a little thrill to her nether regions at the same time as they sent a flush to her cheeks. Asking her to assume this vulnerable position was so undeniably dominant, and at the same time so horribly embarrassing, especially without her panties. She knew he would be able to see everything from that angle, and she would be more exposed to him than she had ever been before. He lifted her skirt to rest upon her back, and she felt the cool draft of the fan blowing air onto her most private areas. The sensation, combined with Josiah’s unexpected act of dominance caused her to gush the telltale juices of her own arousal. Bent over, hands on knees, completely prone to his inspection, and she was wet already. He hadn’t even started spanking her yet, and without the protection of her skirt or panties, he was sure to notice eventually. She cursed softly under her breath. Josiah must have heard her because he responded with a resounding smack to her left bottom cheek.
She hissed in pain, and realized that in her prone position, her skin was pulled taut, with no give anyway, and each swat he would give would be felt ten times stronger than it would if she were simply bent over his knee or across the bed, and even as dread pooled in her belly with the thought of what was to come, the thrill of pain sent the familiar throbbing sensation to her swollen bits.
Speaking of what was to come, she thought to herself, why hasn’t he done anything yet? What was he doing anyway, staring at all her exposed womanly glory? “Hey, dude, I can’t stand like this forever! All the blood is rushing to my head!”
“Hmmmm, I don’t think I should let you call me dude,” he told her laughingly. SMACK! “My name is Josiah,” he reminded her firmly just as her tender bottom crease exploded in pain.
Good Lord, the damage that man could do with just his hand! He smacked her again, across her sit spots, and she flew up to grip her knees, stopping short of standing altogether.
“Touch your toes.”
Her mouth went dry with arousal as she willingly obeyed. No sooner did her fingertips make contact with the tops of her feet, then the next barrage of punishing blows landed. One after another, a flurry of sharp, quick slaps upon the taut stinging skin where bottom met leg had her crying out in pain and struggling to keep position.
His hand was hard and paddle-like and she thought for a moment that the spoon or even a belt would be less punishing on her poor tenderized flesh. Josiah picked up the pace, each hard swat landing in a different spot than the one before, until she was sure every last inch of her poor behind was flaming red and mottled with bruises, and it was all she could do to stay in position. Just when she thought she would collapse, he stopped and held her, supporting her waist with one arm, allowing her to sag against him while he rubbed her aching backside with the other.
Her knees shook, weakened from holding herself at such an angle against the force of his hand for so long, but she remained bent over until he told her otherwise. When he finally let her up, she nearly fell, her legs were shaky and numb. Josiah, ever the gentleman, righted her skirt, pulling the soft cotton over her throbbing cheeks and gently carried her to the bed. She almost wept with relief, until he lay her out across the bed, legs still dangling off the side, and she heard the unmistakable sound of a belt being pulled from its loops.
She gasped when she felt her skirt rise once more, coming to rest at her waist. She started to sob even before the first whip of the thick leather struck her skin. It was too much. He wasn’t speaking during her spanking like he usually did, because it was maintenance. There was nothing to say. But without his words to focus on, the pain overwhelmed her.
She flew up from the bed, covering her bottom with both hands to protect herself from further chastisement. She couldn’t take it anymore. She turned, and sat upon the bed, blocking him from delivering any further spankings.
“Stop! Josiah, you have to stop!” She was almost in a panic, and she had no idea why. It truly made no sense. He had barely started spanking her, and she knew she had gotten much worse from him just the other night. But this felt off, and for whatever reason, she didn’t like it. Maybe it was the stress of knowing this was a temporary arrangement, or maybe it was the lack of connection or intimacy, or just the lack of words. All she knew was it felt wrong, and if she had a safe word, she would have used it.
“Lannea! Laney! What is it? What’s wrong? Talk to me!” Josiah was instantly at her side, the belt falling to the floor as he gathered her in his arms and tried to calm her.
He kept asking her what was wrong and urging her to talk to him, but she couldn’t get the words out to explain the torrents of emotion overwhelming her very core. Finally, he gave up trying to get answers and just held her through her sobs.
After a while, her sobs quieted to soft cries, her eyes closed, and she fell asleep in his arms.
Chapter 9
I can’t do this.
Josiah had fallen asleep holding Laney last night after her unexpected breakdown, and when he awoke the next morning, she was gone, and all that was in her place was a short and cryptic note.
I can’t do this.
Groggy from sleep, Josiah read and reread the note until the meaning of its words sunk into his sleep addled brain.
“Shit!” he yelled, jumping out of bed, still fully clothed from the night before. A quick glance at the clock told him there was no time to get to the bottom of this either. He had to be at work in fifteen minutes.
He replayed the events of the night before in his head as he rushed to get ready. A five minute shower— thoughts of Laney picking a fight with him during dinner. Brush his teeth— remembering how adorably sweet she looked when she apologized for freaking out on him. Run a comb through his hair— visions of her standing in the corner of his room knowing that she was bare beneath her skirt. Even as he put on his uniform and rushed to his motorcycle, she was on his mind. Her standing before him, bent over in front of him, hands on her toes, yelling at him to begin already. The pool of arousal on her pink mound. The sound of leather on her skin. Her crying for him to stop. Him begging her to talk to him, to tell him what was wrong. Sobbing in his arms until she fell asl
eep, overwrought and exhausted.
He somehow made it to work in record time with a few minutes to spare. He called Laney’s phone, but it went straight to voicemail. Not knowing what else to do at the moment, he called Matt.
Laney made it to work on time, and threw herself into preparing for the busy weekend. Anything she could do to take her mind of Josiah and the hasty note she had written him this morning. Truthfully, she didn’t really know why she had done that, or if it had been the right thing to do. Ever since she had woken up to the sunlight streaming into Josiah’s cozy loft bedroom, and found herself curled up against his chest, she had been at war with herself. She really liked Josiah, and every minute she was with him, she found herself wanting more. He was much more dominant than he had seemed to her at first, but in some ways, he was still so innocent. It was the innocent part that bothered her, and she knew it shouldn’t. Before Corbin’s Bend all she knew of spanking was what she had with Mac. Plain straight up spanking. No muss, no fuss. That’s what Josiah was used to too, and she should be okay with that. But after Mac, she had had an awakening. It only took a little bit of research for her to learn that spanking could be a whole lot more than hand meets butt. There were paddles and spoons, and pervertable implements, and corner time, and plugs and ginger. And heaven help her, she wanted to experience it all. As crazy as it seemed, and as much as she was sure she might come to regret it, she wanted a man who could show her every hot bit of it. And she was completely sure that Josiah was not that man. That was the problem. Which was just as insane as her wanting the things she wanted. None of it should bother her at all. Her emotions shouldn’t even be a part of this. All her and Josiah had was a platonic arrangement like she had had with Mac. She shouldn’t be comparing him to Mac, or any other man for that matter. But no matter how many times she told herself that, she couldn’t seem to stop. If she could just shut up her crazy inner spanko voice and tell it to stop wanting the things it wanted, and just be happy with what it had for the moment, everything would be fine. Platonic or not, she had a hot, sexy, dominant alpha male cop with a smile that could melt hearts and hands that could set butts on fire. And she liked him, even though she didn’t want to, and even if he couldn’t give her what she really wanted. She was falling crazy head over heels in love with him. That was the real problem. She wasn’t sure if she had broken it off because she really wanted to, and it was the right thing to do, or because waking up in his arms had felt so perfectly amazing, and she had panicked knowing it could never be that easy or right between them. If she was really honest with herself, she suspected it was the latter, rather than the former, but what was done was done, and it was probably for the best.
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