“I’m not safe now?” She started squirming, desperately trying to escape, but he held her close to him, tightening his grip.
“Of course you’re safe,” he said in a calm, soothing voice. “You’ll always be safe with me. I’m a protective person by nature, especially of the people I’m very fond of, like family. But I’m extremely protective of you, the lady who’s quickly stealing my heart. In time you’ll see that, and feel it in your heart.”
She calmed down, even looked at him with a smile.
“But one way I have of protecting you is by not allowing you to do things that can be dangerous to you, like what you did a little bit ago. The way I protect you is with a spanking to deter you from doing it again in the future.”
“Whoa, wait. How is losing my temper dangerous? Are you saying you were afraid those boys were going to beat me up?”
“No, but losing your temper repeatedly can cause lots of other problems. It can cause a loss of friends, a loss of jobs, a loss of self pride, for starters. I know it’s already cost you one job. If you don’t get a handle on it soon it could cost you another one. I don’t want to see any of those things happen to you, so to protect you from it, I need to help you get over them. Does that make more sense?”
“Yeah, I guess, but…”
“But?”
“But they still hurt.”
“They do, as you’re about to see,” he said as he quickly flipped her over. Once again, she suddenly found herself over his lap, with her skirt tossed up over her back. Their talking time was over, at least for now, as his hand made its mark on her already sore bottom. “Now, where were we? Let’s start with, what do you think would have happened this evening if those two little boys had gone back to their parents crying because of Mrs. Claus?”
“I probably would have lost another job,” she said through the tears that had already started again.
“And that’s not what either of us wants,” he said as he continued the spanking. He asked how she would feel if the parents came to her and confronted her, and watched as her tears started falling faster. He was happy that she was listening and his words were having an effect on her.
He started to bring the spanking to a conclusion by reminding her what he’d said earlier, as he slowed the spanking. “I was serious when I said I hope we can have a serious, long-term relationship, honey. If we do, though, I can’t just sit back and watch you hurt yourself like this. You already mean too much to me to allow it.”
With that last thought he stopped the spanking and helped her back up and into his lap, again wrapping his arms around her. This time he also encouraged her to lay her head against his chest, and was happy when she readily did so. He even found it endearing when she grabbed onto his shirt and clung to it. “Okay, it’s over now, and you’ve been forgiven. It’s over and done with and we don’t need to talk about it again, unless you want to.”
He handed her a couple tissues from the coffee table, then started rubbing her back gently as he kept his arms wrapped around her. “Cry it all out, honey; get it out of your system. I think you have a lot of feelings you’re holding inside you, and that’s not good. Let them all out. You’re safe here, and I’ll hold you while you cry. We can talk about them if you want; that often helps. Take your time, though, there’s no hurry. When you do calm down and you’re ready, I’ll answer any questions you may have, just like I promised.”
He kept talking to her softly like that, just over a whisper, with his mouth close to her ear. He also kept rubbing her back, or her arm, or playing with her hair gently, while he held her. As she slowly got her tears under control, he watched her carefully. Her first words surprised him.
“You were right, Nick, I do feel safe right now. I’m not sure I understand it, but I like it. Can we stay like this?”
“For as long as you want,” he assured her. “I like it too. Sometimes feelings are hard to explain, but they’re real, and you experience them. I think part of why you feel safe is because in your heart you understand that spanking you is one way I try to protect you. It’s one way I show you how much I care about you. Maybe you can feel that.”
“Maybe it comes through your arms,” she said, still fighting back a few tears. “I don’t know, but I do know I feel safe, just like you said I would. I also feel very calm, or content, even though that doesn’t make much sense to me right now either.”
“Maybe it doesn’t have to make sense,” he said. “Maybe you should just go with your heart, and the feelings you have in your heart. They’re real, and you should never ignore them.”
“I think maybe you’re right,” she said, snuggling in against him. “You’re a smart man, Nick, the accountant and department store owner.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around that one,” he admitted.
“You weren’t counting on inheriting it?”
“Not at all. If I had, I certainly would have spent more time here and learned what I could from my grandfather before he passed away.”
“I’m sorry you lost him,” she said, still leaning against him.
“Thank you. I am too; he was a good man. That’s one reason I want to run this successfully, as a tribute to him. I feel like a fish out of water though. I don’t know much about department stores.”
“I might be able to help you there,” she said with a bit of a giggle. “I’m a bit of an expert on department stores and shopping. Or at least I was when I had a job. What do you want to know about them?”
He laughed along with her, but said, “I’ll keep that in mind. Expert advice is often helpful.”
They talked for another fifteen minutes with her encased in his arms. He answered her questions, which weren’t as many as he’d expected. Mostly they talked about them and their budding relationship. He was happy to hear she was, in fact, interested in it going beyond work. She admitted she wasn’t angry with him for spanking her, although she wasn’t sure why. She was willing to trust her feelings, though, like he’d suggested. “Remember,” he said, “it doesn’t have to make sense. If it feels right, trust those feelings.”
They were still sitting on the couch, with her in his lap, enclosed in his arms, when her stomach alerted her to the fact that she hadn’t had dinner yet. When she admitted she hadn’t eaten lunch that day, he helped her to her feet.
“Go on and get changed then, young lady. We need to go eat. We can talk about why you skipped lunch today and why you won’t be doing that again, while we eat.”
She started to argue, but looked at his expression, including a raised eyebrow that seemed to her like a challenge, and decided against it. “I’ll hurry,” she said as she headed for the ladies room.
Dinner that evening was different. They talked and acted more like a couple than simply two coworkers sharing a meal. There was a bit of flirting mixed in, as well. By the end of the evening it was clear to both of them that they had definitely moved beyond the realm of coworkers, into the exciting phase of a young new relationship.
That young love excitement showed through when they worked together, as well. Comments started coming in concerning the Santa and Mrs. Claus kids were seeing when they went in the evenings. When she said she was willing to work all the hours she could get, he’d expanded their schedule. He insisted it was good for the store to have the pair that brought in by far the most compliments working as much as possible. Happy parents tended to do more of their shopping there. In his heart he knew it was true, but he also knew the main drive behind their expanded hours was to help her financially. Either way, it was a win/win in his eyes. Spending the extra time with her was an added bonus.
Watching her with the kids was like another Christmas gift for him. She was good with them, and they seemed to like her. When the child waiting in the next up circle would get nervous, she’d tell a funny story about something that had happened up at the North Pole, and they were soon laughing and wide-eyed, asking her questions. It successfully got rid of the nerves, and by the tim
e they got to see Santa they were happy again and excited. He got to hear several of the stories and was amazed. She came up with some of the cutest things, most often about the elves as they made toys.
One time she told a nervous set of twin boys about twin elves that decided to pretend to be the other one and trade jobs for a day. One of them normally painted trains, while the other made candy canes. The one that made candy canes for that day thought it was a shame to have them all be red and white, so he added other colors, like he did when he painted trains. They didn’t look very tempting, though, and when people came in for their treat at the end of the workday no one took his oddly colored candy. The one that painted trains for the day was fond of red and white, but at the end of the day his red and white striped trains didn’t look very nice. None of the children elves that got to play with the toys and test them out wanted to play with any of his trains.
She told them that at the end of the day the elves learned that even though they may be twins, they each had things they were especially good at and liked doing, and they couldn’t wait to get back to their own jobs.
The boys laughed at the story and asked Noelle what they did with the things no one wanted.
She explained that the next day they repainted the trains, and Santa had one of the candy canes in his pocket when he went to check on Rudolph, and it turned out Rudolph loved them. So now every now and then they paint some of the candy canes different colors as a treat for Rudolph.
When the boys went to see Santa, they told him all about the story Noelle had told them, and asked if he still gave some specially colored candy canes to Rudolph sometimes for a special treat. He assured them he did, and the boys left happy as could be. After talking with Santa a couple more minutes, Nick watched them give Mrs. Claus a hug and thank her for the cookies, before running out to meet their parents, anxious to share their secret story with them. He looked back at Mrs. Claus and the smile on her face, and was proud of his little wife. He couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if she truly were his wife.
Since they’d been spending time together she seemed happier, which he hoped would mean less temper tantrums. For the most part it had. There had been a couple times when she’d been close to blowing up, but he was able to pull her aside and remind her what would happen if she didn’t get things under control. She’d always been able to pull it together, and things had been fine.
The more time he spent with her, the more he was certain there was something that was bothering her. She kept it hidden most of the time and was fine, but when she started thinking about it her temper reappeared. He knew if she didn’t talk about it and get some kind of resolution to the problem she was like a ticking time bomb. Try as he might, however, he couldn’t get her to talk about it. She didn’t deny there was a problem, but she wouldn’t talk about it. Unless she shared it with him, he didn’t know how he could help her and it worried him.
They were calling for snow the next day and Nick was a little concerned about Noelle driving in it. She’d said she couldn’t afford to get new tires before winter, so she’d just have to be careful. That worried him, but she was a proud lady, and offering to buy her a set of tires would probably just upset her, which he didn’t want to do.
Instead, he told her he wanted to get a better look at something in her apartment the next day, so he wanted to take her home after work. Therefore, he would be sending an Uber driver over to pick her up and take her to work. When she asked what he wanted to look at, he told her it was Christmas, and not to ask so many questions. She laughed, but agreed.
While they were talking a few minutes before starting their Santa shift the next day, she approached the subject again. “So what did you say you want to look at in my apartment?”
“I didn’t say, Miss Nosy, but that was a nice try. It’s Christmas. Don’t you know you aren’t allowed to ask silly questions like that at Christmas?”
“No, I never knew that,” she answered with a chuckle.
“Well, now you do, so stop asking.” He had a sparkle in his eye as he leaned in to give her a kiss.
“Okay, okay,” she said as she rolled her eyes. The two of them went out and had the kids laughing when he gave her a little kiss again before they got down to business. After their shift was over and they were out of their Santa suits, he led her out to his SUV and helped her in. They stopped and had dinner before he took her home.
They’d barely gotten in the door when she turned to him. “Okay, we’re here. What is it you wanted to see?”
“I wanted to see where the best place is to put a Christmas tree in your apartment, and how big a tree we can get.”
She quieted down quickly and turned away. When she turned back to look at him she had a rather blank look on her face. “I don’t put up a tree.”
“You said that before, but you never said why.”
“No, I didn’t,” she said in a manner that let him know she didn’t plan to talk about it. He didn’t say anything, but kept his eyes on her. “You may as well stop staring at me because it’s none of your business. It’s none of anyone’s business.”
“Honey, I’m not trying to pry, but I care about you and I hate that something’s affecting you like this. I don’t think it’s Christmas in general that bothers you, because you make the best Mrs. Claus I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s a job, and I need a job, in case you hadn’t noticed. Oh, that’s right; you do know. You’re the one that fired me from my last job.”
Nick’s eyebrows shot up and he looked over at her, choosing his words carefully. “Noelle, watch your temper. I’m not trying to upset you, but—”
“But you will, anyway. Damn it, Nick, just let it go. I don’t want to talk about it. Just leave it the hell alone.”
“Noelle, stop using that kind of language. We’ve talked about this before. You only use it when you’re getting angry, and it doesn’t serve any purpose. It upsets the other person, and it gets you going more. You need to learn to sit down and talk to people without swearing and getting upset.”
“Or what?” She stood and stared at him. “What are you going to do if I can’t learn how to do that?”
“Then I’ll help you learn how,” he said calmly, leading her into the living room. He sat down on the couch and had her over his lap quickly. He noticed she didn’t put up a whole lot of fight this time. In fact, she didn’t object much at all until he reached underneath her, unfastened her jeans, then pulled them down.
When her panties followed, she seemed to find her voice quickly. “Wait, what are you doing? You didn’t do that before.”
“You’re right, I didn’t, because it was the first one. Spankings are most effective when they’re on the bare bottom. I allowed you to leave your panties on the before because it was your first spanking, and we hadn’t talked about a relationship yet. Now that I know you’re interested in more than just a working relationship, you need to know this is how they will be from now on.”
Her panties were lowered to her knees and he laid his hand on her bare bottom, trying not to stare at the adorable sight before him. She had about the cutest little bottom he’d ever seen, but he forced himself to focus on his task at hand. “Now, we need to have another talk.” He started the spanking, not using as much force as he had the first time. He was pretty sure what was going on here, and if he was right, he didn’t need to use as much force.
She started verbally complaining and squirming shortly after he started, which to him pretty much proved his theory right. “Settle down and listen to what I’m saying. I care about you a great deal. I know something’s eating at you, preventing you from enjoying Christmas. I’ve realized you’re normally a very friendly little lady with a big heart that gets along fine with everyone. But then you start thinking about something, I’m guessing something from your past, and you change. That’s the person coworkers and clients complained about.”
He’d been spanking while he talked, but not putting any oomph beh
ind the swats. It was just enough to keep her focused on what he was saying, and he could tell it was working. She’d started out tensed up and angry, but was now slumped over his knees. “Noelle, I can tell when you start thinking about it again, because that’s when your temper, angry mood and cuss words all come out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I believe you, but it’s going to keep happening, keep getting you in trouble until you talk about it. Trust me, honey, if you tell me what it is, you’ll feel better. I may be able to help you. Even if there’s nothing I can do to help, talking about it and sharing it with someone will help. I’m not a psychiatrist so I can’t tell you why that is, but I know it to be true. It’s kind of like what I told you about your feelings about spanking. Even if your mind can’t explain why a spanking calms you down and makes you feel better, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have to make sense. If you feel better and calmer, and in your heart you know I’m doing it because I care about you, that’s all you have to know.”
“I did feel a lot better after the first one, when you were holding me.”
“And you’ll feel better after this one, too, when I’m holding you again afterward. But you’ll feel a whole lot better, as will our relationship, if you tell me what it is that keeps upsetting you.”
“I’m not sure I can talk about it,” she said rather quietly.
He looked at her, watched her for a few seconds, and made a quick decision. “I’ll bet you can. In fact, I hope you can, because this spanking isn’t going to end until you do. Honey, I’ve realized the last couple days that I don’t just care a great deal for you; I love you. It took me a couple days to realize it because I’ve never fallen for someone this quickly in my life, but I know my heart, and you’ve already managed to wriggle your way in there and have stolen it. But having admitted that, my protective instincts have kicked into overdrive with you.”
12 Naughty Days of Christmas 2018 Page 23
