Prima was too sleepy to ponder the meaning of his words. They sounded nice, and his voice soothed her, despite what his hands could do to her. She fell asleep with his gravelly tone resounding comfortingly in her ears.
Chapter Eight
Joseph didn't even allow her out of bed until two days later because he was worried about her. When he did let her up, she was as cautious as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs around him, all big-eyed and nervous every time he came near her. Joseph supposed it didn't help that he'd declared that she wasn't allowed to wear anything that covered her wonderful derriere for a while – not that she really wanted to have rough fabric scraping against her abraded skin, anyway, but Prima's sense of modesty ran deep. But he liked to look at her bottom, even though its ravaged condition pulled at something inside him, making him feel somewhat guilty, though he knew there was no need of it.
Joseph was a man who'd been raised to curb his tremendous strength around women, to lend it if it was needed, but to never deliberately hurt a woman. His spanking tendencies in the Before Time conflicted with this philosophy, but then any spanking was entirely consensual or he was very careful not to do proceed. That road would have lead to a numbered orange jumper and an affectionate roommate named Bubba.
Things were radically different now, however. He had resisted a lot of the changes that he didn't agree with and had ended up wealthy enough, somehow, that he could do so with relative immunity. But Prima…Katherine's…presence in his life had changed things again, brought out things in himself – and not pleasant things – that he didn't necessarily want to recognize, like the fact that gazing at her well punished bottom kept him perpetually stiff and horny.
Even with several big, fluffy cushions he'd put on her chair, she couldn't sit down to eat. Joseph made sure she only did light duty – really, only cooking for him – for several days afterwards, drank lots of fluid and took expensive Vitamin E capsules to help speed the healing of her rounded nates. Despite his somewhat clumsy attempts to care for her, Prima was skittish at best. Joseph felt like he was trying to coax a feral creature to eat out of his hand; she very carefully hadn't disobeyed any order he'd given her, but every time Prima had to get close to him, she looked like a frightened rabbit, ready to flee at any second – not that there was anywhere for her to go. Conversely, he touched her more often – he probably had sex with her more when her bottom was sore than when it wasn't – hoping it would settle her. Joseph also consciously spent more time with her, reading to her and just holding her on his lap or playing cards with her as he let her stretch out on the couch on her tummy.
To his delight, he discovered that she knew how to play cribbage. Few men knew the game, anymore, and even fewer women. She royally skunked him the first game, then gave him a deer in headlights look that blatantly said that she hadn't even considered the idea that she should let him win.
Joseph leaned over and caught her chin, tipping her face up to his so that she had to meet his eyes. "If I'd wanted a lapdog, I'd have bought one. Beating the pants off me at cribbage is not disrespectful," he reassured her. "It's just humiliating!" he added with a rueful smile that he was glad to see her tentatively return. Katherine had been so subdued around him; he'd missed their lively conversations at dinner. Hopefully, this was a sign that she was getting back to normal.
At breakfast one morning, he hit his head with a loud slap. "Dammit all to hell!"
Katherine looked at him questioningly. He didn't usually use any sort of profanity – well, except the word 'fuck' around her…usually while he was doing it to her.
"I forgot that some of the guys I used to hang around with – they're coming over tonight for poker. We alternate monthly or so, and this is my night. Son-of-a-bitch!"
As she cleaned their dishes, she croaked, "You don't sound very happy about it, Sir."
Joseph leaned against the counter next to her, frowning and gulping down the last of his coffee. "They're old friends and business partners, some of them. I can't really cancel it, especially not on such late notice." He looked down at her critically. "Are you up to it?"
Prima shrugged her shoulders, pleasantly surprised that he'd even asked. "I'm all right. What will you need, Sir?"
His gaze didn't waver as he looked into her clear hazel eyes, his own narrowing thoughtfully. "Are you telling me the truth, Prima, or what you think I want to hear?"
She gulped hard, but answered, "I'm telling you the truth."
Joseph seemed to consider this carefully. "Maybe it would be best if I just did this myself and put you to bed early, but I really did want to show you off." He put his mug down and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, guiding her gently back against him until he heard the hiss of breath through her teeth when her bare bottom came in contact with his jeans. "Sore, baby?" Joseph pressed his lips against her temple tenderly.
Squirming a little and blushing a lot, Katherine answered primly, "Yes, Sir." Oh, God, she wished he wouldn't treat her so carefully sometimes – the contrast between the man who was holding her now and the man who lit into her bottom savagely two days in a row was too much for her to reconcile. Which one was the real man? Why, when he was affectionate like this, treating her like he cared just a little bit about her, did she melt so quickly, forgetting the torment he'd put her through a short time ago? Her body remembered, and she was reminded in spades every time she tried to sit down. Her mind forgot almost instantaneously, it seemed. She couldn't even keep a decent grudge against him, to the point where it wasn't even him she was angry at – it was herself and her damned willingness to fall for him every time he did anything towards her that smacked of niceness and decency.
Maybe it was Stockholm Syndrome, but then she hadn't been kidnapped. This was her life.
Joseph turned her around within his arms, his lips caressing hers, teasing them into a soft, hot kiss. His next words amazed her. "I'm going to allow you to decide for yourself. I don't care one way or another; I would like to parade you in front of my friends because you're the most beautiful thing I've ever owned."
Katherine forgot herself and snorted when he used the word 'beautiful' in relation to her, and Joseph wasn't going to put up with it.
He looked down at her from his towering height, frowning in that terribly intimidating manner he could adopt in a second. "Katherine Marie, you know how I feel about you denying that you're beautiful. You know that's naughty behavior, and it could get you a spanking. You don't want a spanking, do you?"
Prima shook her head emphatically. No way did she want his broad palm blistering her bottom! But she could already feel her traitorous body preparing itself for him, just at those words. At the idea of being owned by him. At the way he treated her like a little girl when she was twenty-nine. Because he could spank her any time he wanted – and did – that her bottom and her pussy and her breasts were no longer her own, no more than her pleasure or her pain was her own now.
"I can't hear you shaking your head, young lady," came the sharp reprimand.
"N-no, Sir. Please, I don't want a spanking!" Her words only confirmed that she had been regressed to the level of a five-year-old, pleading not to be punished on her bare bottom.
Joseph relented from his stern demeanor and hugged her to him, rocking slightly back and forth as he rubbed her back. "I don't want to have to spank you either, Katherine, but I will if you're naughty again." He moved away, only enough to catch her cheeks between his palms. "You are my beautiful Prima." Joseph turned her head up so that she had to look into his eyes, then he kissed the tip of her nose.
"I don't care which one you pick – I'm thinking maybe you need to be put to bed early to do some more recovering rather than staying up way past your bedtime, running around and filling up everyone's beer mug all evening. What do you think?"
Katherine bit her lip, wondering if somehow he was trying to trick her into something. "May I ask you some questions?"
"Yes."
"If I choose the
wrong thing, will I be punished?" Her eyes darted to his then down, fearfully.
Joseph sighed hard, running a hand through his hair, then caressing her cheek with his index finger. After a long, silent moment, he bent and picked her up in his arms, carrying her out into the den to sit on his lap with her cheek pressed against his chest, one hand stroking her hair, as always, the other lying possessively on the middle of her thigh. He set them to rocking, and she instantly relaxed a notch. His reaction to her innocent query was another surprise. Prima waited for him to speak.
He seemed to be having some difficulty doing so. When he finally began, his voice was deep and hoarse. "The answer to your question is no. I know you may find this hard to believe, considering what I've put you through recently, but I'm not always looking for reasons to punish you. And I won't trick you into it getting a spanking, either. If you don't want to do this, then I'll just put you to bed early – which wouldn't be all that bad an idea. No negative consequences whatsoever, I promise, baby."
Much less tense now at his reassurances, Prima asked, "What would you need me to do?"
"Just serve – make sure everyone's got whatever they drink, keep the snacks comin', maybe make some sandwiches or something. That's all I ever do for these guys."
"How many of them are there?"
"Five, plus me."
She was quiet for a few minutes, then asked, "May I help, please?"
"You're sure?"
"Yes, Sir."
Joseph's lips met her forehead in a delicate kiss. "Thank you," he said gravely.
They worked well together for the next several hours getting things ready. Prima whipped up a dip to go with the thousand-year-old cans of Pringles he had in the pantry, and made some pretty hors d'ouevres, using several cans of Spam. She was just a few steps from deluding herself into feeling like they were an old married couple that was doing some entertaining this evening, instead of a woman and her owner. Joseph was scrupulous about making sure that she didn't do too much – he polished the big dining room table himself and brought in wood for the wood stove.
He did put her down for a nap about an hour and a half before the men were due, even though he had to practically pry her away from arranging the napkins and glasses and trying to make things all pretty.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat loudly, but she was so involved in what she was doing that she didn't even acknowledge him. Smiling slightly, Joseph tried again. "It's naptime for little girls in this house."
"Yes, Sir," she agreed, not looking at him once. She was still engrossed in the arrangement she was trying to create.
Not about to get angry at her when she was doing her best to help him, Joseph just grabbed her wrist and literally dragged her down the hall, a hunk of napkins still in her fingers, which he extracted as soon as they got to his room and threw on the dresser. In record time, she was tucked under the covers in the darkened room, and he was just about to put her pacifier in her mouth when she caught his thick wrist and turned her head.
"Sir?"
"Yes?"
"What should I wear tonight?" Katherine was thinking that she really didn't have anything that was particularly appropriate. He had given her some clothes – probably from a long lost girlfriend – but nothing that would impress his friends at all.
Joseph already had that covered. He stroked the hair away from her eyes. "I have something I think will be appropriate."
She toyed with the cuff of his shirt, trying but not succeeding to appear indifferent about the next question. "Will I have to be bare-bottomed in front of them, Sir?" Her voice faded to nothing on the "Sir" as her throat clenched tightly with nervousness. The idea of having to wear something like what he'd been having her wear lately – shirts that ended at her waist and left her entire bottom hanging out in the wind – around strange men…
"The no underwear rule remains in effect always, Katherine, you know that." Her worried eyes met his for a second as she bit her lip. "But I think you'll like what you're going to be wearing."
"Yes, Sir," she whispered.
The pacifier was pressed into her mouth, and Joseph dropped a kiss on her forehead before he left the room, saying, "Sleep well."
Katherine always swore she wouldn't fall asleep during one of those babyish naps, but she always did anyway. His warm hand against her cheek woke her gently.
"Time to get up, Prima."
Rubbing her eyes, Katherine sat up and pushed the covers back. Next to her on the bed was a very simple, pretty hunter green velour dress. It was done in the easy, comfortable swing style that was popular in the years before the Change, and it had a scoop neck and short sleeves.
"This is what I want you to put on."
She fingered the beautiful fabric. "Yes, Sir," she agreed, still sitting there.
A busy eyebrow rose. "Now."
Prima glanced up at him, and, not liking that look, quickly took off the short blouse she'd been wearing, standing in front of him nude and blushing as always. The dress settled over her like a velvet cloud. It had been a very long time since she'd worn anything this nice. Joseph sat her down in front of him and brushed out her long hair till it shoneand she was almost asleep again. "Stand up."
She stood next to the bed as he looked her up and down, his hands running from shoulder to flank with obvious pride of ownership. Although the dress was naturally full, it was only about as long as a baby doll nightie, just barely covering the under curve of her bottom cheeks. The material folded onto his masculine wrist as one of his hand crept up under the skirt to explore her bare mound while the other kept her in place by its mere presence on her butt cheeks.
"Spread for me, Prima," came the husky command.
Like an obedient little girl, she did as she was told, moving her bare feet well apart, not wanting to have to be told a second time, despite the deep sense of shame his casual handling of her could still inspire. A finger sought and found her little clitty, rubbing it with her own juices until she had to steady herself with a small hand on his broad shoulder.
"That's it." He adored watching her succumb to the demands he placed on her body. Flick, flick, flick. Dip down a little to get more of her honey, revel in her sharply drawn breaths and throaty moans. Joseph brought her close, very close, then stopped and smoothed down her dress as she gave him a glassy-eyed, unfocused look. "That's the way you should always look, Katherine, like you're two strokes of your owner's finger away from satisfaction."
When his guests started to arrive, Prima stayed in the background as much as possible. They were not, as she had been imagining a few hours ago, lovers who were entertaining. She was surprised that he hadn't had a list of rules about how she was to behave in regards to his guests, but maybe that was because her role in tonight's event was clearly defined: serve, keep quiet, make yourself useful but not noticeable. She heard him greeting them at the door, then they all trooped in to the dining room where the game would be played.
Katherine immediately brought artfully arranged trays of snacks to the room and put them out around the men, surrounding them in a perimeter of food using the ancient TV trays she'd found in the den. She heard the conversation stop when she entered the room the first time, and all eyes settled on her with great interest, which made her feel extremely awkward. The men settled into their chairs, but Joseph stood, pointing to each man as he spoke to her. "Prima, Mr. Bancroft will have a Bud, Mr. Kelly will have a glass of white wine, Mr. Randolph will have a Bud, and Mr. Rodriguez will have a glass of what's in the pitcher at the back of the refrigerator. I'll have some of what Mr. Rodriguez is having."
Having been a waitress for several summers in her previous life, she was able to remember correctly without having to ask him to repeat anything, dashing to the kitchen to serve them as quickly as possible. Prima half heard the conversation they were having, her ears perking at the mention of her name. The men congratulated Joseph on finally getting himself a woman, despite the fact that she was kind of 'ripe.' She frowned. Ripe? W
as that good or bad? She tried to sniff her own under arm, wondering if she had body odor and didn't know it. When she returned to the gathering, the problem that was going to rise again and again during the evening became apparent from the start: every man she stood next to felt it was his right, no, his duty to feel her up. And Joseph either didn't see it or didn't care. Sometimes, he had the manners of a gentleman. This apparently wasn't one of them. The last man she served, leaning over to putting his white wine down in front of him, was Mr. Kelly, a fat, balding little man with a perpetual cigar stub in the corner of his mouth and small, pudgy fingers that groped her breasts painfully while Joseph's back was turned for a moment.
When she stood up, he forcibly turned her around and pulled up her dress, displaying her healing backside to everyone at the table, much to Prima's mortification. Not that they all hadn't felt it up – and more – already. "Looks like someone's bitch had to be taught a lesson fairly recently." Letting go of her, he reached over and slapped Joseph on the arm. "Way to go, man!"
"Yeah," everyone at the table seemed to agree.
"You got to make sure they don't get any uppity ideas in their heads right from the beginning, 'specially the older ones. They come with a lot of ideas beyond their place from the Before Time. Have to beat it out of them," Mr. Bancroft advised. "Or fuck it out of them." He looked around the table and winked big. "Or both."
Mr. Randolph's eyes roamed up and down her in a way that made her shiver. "You got yourself a looker there, though. Despite being long in the tooth."
"I don't fuck children," Joseph stated unequivocally.
Katherine congratulated herself on not rolling her eyes, thinking these men were what passed for powerful men nowadays? She shuddered, looked over the table again to make sure everyone's glass was full, then tucked herself into a corner of the room, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible.
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