False Pretenses (10 page)
Emma nodded. “Yes. Dan spanked me."
Melania hooted. “I knew it!"
The waitress delivered Emma's wine and a basket of hot wings with ranch dressing. She departed, and as Emma picked up her glass, Melania clinked hers against it. “To sore buns,” she toasted.
"I hope it's not that obvious.” Emma's glance slid around the room.
"Depends on who's looking. After you've been spanked a few times, you recognize the signs. Most vanilla people won't notice, but it would be hard to fool the people here."
"What do you mean?” Emma dipped a drumette into the ranch dressing and bit into the chicken wing.
"The owner of Bottom's Up is a member of Rod and Cane. This bar is a hangout for members and other spankophiles."
Emma choked. “You're kidding.” She took in a neon sculpture in the shape of woman with her backside posed provocatively. The bar's name, Bottom's Up, was another neon sign, the lettering contained within an outline of a...paddle.
"I must be the densest person who ever lived,” Emma said with disgust. What kind of reporter failed to notice the obvious? “I thought Bottom's Up referred to, you know, drinking.” She lifted her wineglass.
"Don't be so hard on yourself,” Melania said. “It takes awhile to assimilate into the DD lifestyle. You know I love submitting to Jared. I wouldn't feel complete in any other kind of marriage but a DD one. But I'd be lying if I said being spanked didn't take getting used to. I almost left Jared after he spanked me the first time."
"You did?” Emma's jaw dropped. She'd assumed Melania had been happy with domestic discipline from the onset. Her parents also belonged to Rod and Cane, and she had signed a marriage contract giving her husband authority to spank her as he saw fit.
"You helped me come to grips with what I was feeling."
"
I
did?"
Melania nodded. “Remember when we met at the Rod and Cane Wives Auxiliary new-member lunch? That was right after Jared had paddled me for the first time. I was so confused. But I heard other women testify how much domestic discipline had improved their lives, and I met you, a single woman who wanted a DD marriage, with everything it entailed."
Emma dropped her gaze, guilt scissoring through her. Her cover story—that she wanted a DD marriage—had influenced another person's decisions.
"I had no idea. I don't know what to say.” Emma rolled the edges of her cocktail napkin, unable to look at her friend, fearing her guilt would be written all over her face. “Mel, I have to tell you something...” Emma lifted her head. “Until Dan spanked me last night, I'd never been spanked before."
"But you joined the Auxiliary.” Melania frowned. “I don't get it. What would make you think you wanted a domestic discipline marriage if you'd never been spanked?"
"I was drawn to the concept and wanted to know more about it. I had a yearning I couldn't quite explain.” Emma's conscience nipped at her as she tiptoed through a morass of truth and lies. “But...the point is, I'm new at this. Please don't make any decisions based on what I've done or what you think I believe.” Her shoulders slumped.
"Hey, Emma.” Melania patted her hand. “It's okay. I didn't do anything because of anything you said. You gave me food for thought, that's all. After I got a little experience under my belt—or should I say Jared's belt—I could tell you hadn't been spanked much, although I didn't know you were a spanking virgin."
Emma jerked and widened her eyes in alarm. “Jared uses his belt on you?"
"Figure of speech.” Melania shook her head vigorously in denial. “No, he uses a paddle or his hand. Some people do use strops, though. There are many implements and several kinds, different purposes of spankings."
"You mean like disciplinary or erotic or maintenance."
"Yeah, as well as degrees of intensity. The same experience can be totally different depending on the mood. I love it when Jared paddles me for fun. But when I'm being punished, it's different. A spanking can be painful and humiliating or sexually stimulating depending on where your head is."
Her own spanking had been erotic rather than punitive. “I know what you mean.” Emma nodded.
Melania grinned. “So...spill it, girlfriend. I love hearing ‘how I got spanked’ stories. And how does one get spanked on a first date? Don't leave out any details."
Emma's face flooded with heat.
Melania giggled. “Your face is bright red. I'll bet it's redder than your butt was after the spanking."
"I doubt it.” Emma's lips twitched with amusement. “When Dan brought me home after our date, I accidentally let Jinx escape again. Dan suggested a spanking might teach me the consequences of negligence.” Emma laughed. “But that was an excuse to get his hands on my ass. It was amazing. Intense and intimate."
"The pain magnifies the pleasure, and the pleasure makes the pain desirable."
"Exactly.” Emma bobbed her head in agreement. “I've always thought of myself as an independent woman in charge of my destiny.” She leaned over the table and lowered her voice. “It sounds antifeminist, but I
liked
surrendering to him.” Emma thought of Summer. Her mother would flip out.
"I know what you mean,” Melania said. “The conflicting feelings take longer to accept than the actual spanking."
Emma picked up a cold chicken wing and nibbled it. “So how do you reconcile the emotions?"
Melania's face relaxed into serenity. “You do it by recognizing you have the right to be happy and fulfilled. And if spanking does that, then it's nobody's business but your own. Now,” she said, her eyes sparkling, “what do you say we go shopping? Since you've discovered the joy of spanking, I want to introduce you to another great pleasure—shoes."
Chapter Ten
"Tell me what you did today.” The deep, deceptively calm timbre of Dan's voice sent a shiver up Emma's spine.
Though he stood behind her and wouldn't know if she peeked, Emma kept her gaze downcast as he'd instructed and stared at her feet. The silver stiletto mules Melania had talked her into buying hurt her feet, but Emma had to admit they were a good purchase. As were the filmy white thigh-high stockings through which her hot pink toenails were visible.
Dan had told her to strip naked, but after he caught sight of her stockings and a balconette bra constructed of lace and air, he countermanded his order and told her to keep those items on. She wasn't wearing panties. When he'd called and asked her to dinner, he'd requested she omit them. She did, but withheld comment about her surprise unmentionables.
"I went through a red light this morning,” she admitted. She'd overslept and had to race to work, but since there were no cars coming anyway, she only slowed before scooting through the intersection on her way to the office.
"Very dangerous,” he said. “You've earned five swats."
Dan appeared in front of her, and she eyed the sizable bulge between his legs and the leather-covered paddle he slapped against his denim-covered thigh. Moisture trickled from her pussy.
He closed the distance between them until her pebbled nipples brushed his bare, muscled chest, a delicious violation of her personal space that tempted her to rub against him, not only for the pleasure of doing so, but for the punishment spanks he would undoubtedly mete out.
She was considering her next move when Dan's warm breath stirred the hair at her temple. “How many swats are you up to now?” he asked softly.
"Fifteen, sir,” she answered like a good soldier. She'd been sentenced five for not returning her mother's phone call promptly, and another set for not checking the oil in her car until the little light in the dash came on.
Dan stepped back and drew a finger over a hard bud exposed by her naughty bra, then plucked and rolled the nipple to even greater hardness. Emma squeezed her eyelids shut and pressed her lips together, trying not to whimper. He'd bet her twenty dollars he could make her scream with pleasure; like a fool, she'd accepted his wager.
He trailed the rubbery yet firm hilt of the paddle across her breasts, and Emma's eyes flew open. Holy crap. The phallus-shaped handle doubled as a dildo. A dual-purpose toy. Her breath caught in her throat as he dragged it down her abdomen and between her thighs to nudge her clit.
"Spread your legs,” he ordered.
Emma complied, scrambling for self-control as he tormented the nub with sure swipes of the phallus, sliding it back and forth in her wetness, making sure to tease her clit on every upstroke. Emma moaned.
He smiled.
She glared. Whimpers didn't count.
Dan's triumphant grin melted into mock dominance, and he ceased stroking. He eyed the wet handle as if it displeased him. “Do you think this is a game?” he asked menacingly.
That was exactly what it was—a role play he'd suggested and that she'd eagerly agreed to. “No.” She inserted a trace of petulance into her tone, bratting a little.
"Did you forget how to address me?"
"No, sir!” she replied quickly and nervously moved to push up glasses she wasn't wearing. He'd taken them from her.
"I think you did. Five more swats for failure to address me with respect, which I'll double because you lied about it."
"Thank you, sir.” Emma pursed her mouth into a serious expression, although she wanted to grin with glee.
He shoved the paddle's hilt up to her face. Her nostrils flared at the scent of her arousal, her moisture coating the shaft.
"Clean this off,” he ordered.
"Yes, sir."
Emma gripped the paddle as if it were a cock and swirled her tongue around the bulbous knob, tasting the tang of her juices. Locking her gaze with his, she sucked the shaft into her mouth, demonstrating what she could do for him—if he'd allow it. After she licked it clean, she ran her tongue over her lips and handed the paddle back to him.
Dan's eyes blazed. “You're a very bad girl."
He moved behind her again, his bare feet silent on his thick living room carpet. She flinched when he grazed her naked buttocks with the cool flat paddle, then tensed in anticipation.
Please, one little swat.
He chuckled softly, so she knew he received the message, but he ignored it and stopped touching her altogether. “Tell me what else you did today. You're so naughty, there has to be more."
Emma improvised. “I was rude to a coworker.” She'd actually been as polite as a charm-schooled debutante, even though the irritating woman had wasted her time. However, she'd had rudeness in her heart, and she'd run out of infractions to confess. If she wanted a good spanking, she had little choice but to lie.
"That wasn't very nice,” Dan agreed. “How many swats do you think you deserve for that?"
Would he give her more or less than she asked for? Emma wet her lips. “Ten, sir."
"You must have been very rude."
"I was.” Emma nodded enthusiastically. “Very rude. A bitch, almost."
"Very well, then, let's make it fifteen,” he said, and Emma sighed with pleasure.
"And how is your other job going? The important one? Have you sent in your big story?"
"No.” Emma stiffened, the levity of the game slipping away. She didn't want to ponder the dilemma in which she had mired herself. She had six months’ undercover work invested in Rod and Cane. Trouble was, she now believed what she'd written was false. Oh, she'd gotten the basic facts correct, but the tone, the heart of the story was distorted.
"What's the delay?"
"Laziness, sir.” Emma fibbed to force the issue from her head and rejoin the fun.
Dan sighed as if seriously disappointed in her. If he knew the truth, he would be.
"I'm going to spank you good and hard for that."
"Thank you, sir. I deserve it,” Emma said honestly. She
should
be punished for the Rod and Cane story, but not for the reasons Dan assumed. “How many will I receive?"
"Indeterminate. I'll decide after I've administered the punishment you've accrued so far. But I still won't tell you. I'm going to let you wonder if each spank will be the last."
His delicious Machiavellian threat lured Emma back into the game. She sucked in her breath dramatically and pasted an anxious expression on her face.
"Before I discipline you, is there anything you'd like to say for yourself?” Dan tried to sound stern, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
"Please, sir, can you give me another chance? I promise I'll do better.” Emma peered up at him beseechingly. “I'm so sorry.” Her trembling added to the effect, but it was desire, not fear, that caused her shaking.
Dan cupped her cheek and caressed her face with this thumb. “I know you will, Emma. Because I'm going to spank you long and hard so that you remember the next time you act rudely or run a red light. But first...” He unzipped his jeans. He'd gone commando, and his engorged cock sprang free, the head leaking with arousal. “First, I want you to demonstrate how sorry you are."
EMMA SANK TO her knees and engulfed his erection with such eagerness, Dan feared he might explode in her mouth right there. He hadn't planned to engage in any prespanking sexual activity—other than to tease
her
, of course—but after the way she'd given head to the dildo, he couldn't wait.
As she blew him, she watched him with taunting eyes. The witch knew exactly how to torment him, but he planned to turn the tables. He'd win his bet.
Using both hands, she gripped his cock around the base with a soft but firm touch while she sucked. Her mouth was like a tight furnace turning his insides molten, drawing pleasure from deep inside his body.
The dart and flicker of her tongue against the crown of his cock sent sensations traveling down its length. She kept a firm seal around his shaft with her lips as he slid in and out of her mouth. He'd never been so fucking hard.
Dan tucked the paddle into his back pocket to free his hands. He'd purchased it as a joke—who needed a fake cock at the end of a paddle? But teasing Emma with the dildo, then seeing her lick her juices off it caused his desire to boil over.
He held her head and stroked her hair and hollowed cheeks with his thumbs. She popped the head of his dick out of her mouth and licked his shaft, following the thick vein on the underside with her tongue. Up and down, up and down she ventured, pausing each time she got to the head to draw just the knob into her mouth.