He sped up and I clenched again.
‘That’s another stroke of the brush,’ he said.
I wailed and tried to wrench my hands from his grip so I could protect my bum, but he just told me that was yet another stroke of the brush.
‘You’re like a robot without any pity,’ I complained and he laughed.
‘This is what you wanted, girl. This is what you’ve got.’
He knew I would be disappointed if he showed any sign of weakness. I supposed I ought to be grateful for his strong resolution. But gratitude wasn’t finding much room to squeeze in between the harder and harder smacks.
When he stopped I let out a huge gusty sigh of relief. I was warm all over.
‘There, that’ll do for a warm-up,’ he said, stroking and rubbing my bottom. He pulled the waistband of my shorts tight, peeking inside. ‘You’re a lovely shade of bright red. It suits you. Now I want you to go and stand in the corner with your hands on your head while you wait for phase two.’
‘Oh, what? Why?’
My combative tone probably wasn’t a good idea, but somehow the idea of hanging around facing the wall was worse than the actual spanking.
‘What do you mean, why? Haven’t you read that book?’
‘Only the hot bits,’ I admitted in a rebellious mutter.
‘In other words, just the bits about spanking? So you didn’t read about corner time?’
‘No. What’s hot about that?’
‘The point is, my love, it concentrates your mind on what you have done and what is about to be done to you. It’s supposed to deepen your sense of shame and penitence. And we want that, don’t we?’
I didn’t reply.
Since I was still bare-arsed over his lap, he gave me an encouraging smack.
‘Hmm?’
‘I guess so.’
‘No, you don’t “guess so”, Philippa.’
Another smack. How did he get so hardcore so quickly?
‘Yes.’
‘Yes. So up you get and over to the corner.’
It felt like crossing the desert. I couldn’t believe I was voluntarily placing myself in this humiliating position, but eventually there I was, nose pressed to the wall, hands on my head, back to the room.
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Now, you’re going to stay there while I have my breakfast. If you move a muscle while I’m out of the room, I will know, and I’ll punish you for it. Are you going to behave?’
‘Yes.’
‘While you’re there, I want you to think about why you’re being punished, and how you’re going to avoid suffering the same fate for the same reason in the future. Yes?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you might consider adding “sir” to that.’
‘God, seriously?’