“Fine.”
“Glad we agree. You’ll need the diversion and stress release.”
She grumbled and turned back to her desk.
See if I relieve anything of yours now. Hmph.
Chapter Nine
Saturday night came, and Lisette was in a foul mood. When she arrived, he was lounging on the couch, talking to another Dominant, and as she approached, he turned to her. “Lisette, have you met Master Mark?”
Without looking at him, she muttered, “Nice to meet you.”
Ryan’s face hardened for a moment, but then he dropped a cushion on the floor. “Kneel.” Ignoring her after she did so, he continued his conversation with Master Mark. She began to fidget. Almost without breaking stride in his conversation, he barked, “Stop.”
“Sir, I—”
“Hush.”
What am I, a dog?
Ryan looked back at Master Mark. “Thanks for the talk.”
Master Mark left. Ryan crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her. Ryan did not look happy, but that wasn’t her problem. She was exhausted and cranky and not in the mood to deal with his evasiveness.
“Pick an implement out of my bag.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Actually, now you can pick two.”
“You’re going to spank me?” Her voice betrayed her incredulity. Here he’d been a saint all week long, helping her and keeping her sane, and now he wanted to spank her? What, for some cheap thrill?
“Yes, and if you don’t start treating me with respect, we’ll try three implements.”
Lisette suppressed a huff of outrage and began to dig through his toy bag, shoving things aside as she searched.
“Three, girl.”
Lisette took a deep breath. She needed to calm down before things got any worse. “Yes, sir.”
She selected a hairbrush, medium paddle, and a small strap and placed them next to him, her head down. Berating herself for letting her temper get the better of her again, just like she had the other night at the office, she waited. And waited. Finally Ryan nudged her chin up.
“You need a spanking. Not because of tonight, though you certainly could’ve handled yourself better, but because of how stressed-out you are. You’re wound like a clock, and a cathartic spanking will help. I know what you need, girl.”
He was right, but she couldn’t admit that, couldn’t look him in the eye.
“Eyes on me. Now.”
Lisette’s gaze snapped back to his as she shifted on the cushion.
“I’m not spanking you because I want to. If I did, that would be fine and part of our play, but I’m not. I want this clear. I’m spanking you because you need it, and part of a Dom’s job is to give a submissive what he or she needs, even if they don’t always want it.”
Nodding, she answered, “Yes, sir.”
“Do you understand, or are you going to continue to glower and pout?”
“I understand.” And she did, which made her feel even worse.
“As you know, the point of a stress-relief spanking is simple—literally, to relieve stress. The way you do that is through crying. This isn’t going to be a short, sexy little spanking. It’ll be similar to the one I gave you a few weeks ago at the end of our play session. After your spanking is done, I’ll hold you and we’ll talk.”
A tear escaped, rolling down her cheek. “I’m sorry I acted like a bitch, sir.”
“You’re under a ton of stress. I can make that better, but I need you to work
with
me, not
against
me.” He patted his lap. “Now get over my knee.”
Lisette lowered her body, and he moved her around until he was satisfied. As her skirt was lifted and Ryan tucked the hem into the waistband, a little breeze of cold air hit her, and she shivered. Ryan chuckled.
“Don’t you worry about being cold, girl. I’m going to light a fire on your ass.”
“I don’t doubt that, sir.” He laughed again and then hooked his fingers in her panties and pulled them down.
“I’ll spank until I think you’ve had enough. We’ll begin.”
The first sharp stroke with the hairbrush came down, and she gasped. That first one was always the worst. Ryan kept spanking her, moving to the paddle after a little while. He covered every inch, including her entire ass and halfway down her thighs. It hurt like a bitch. Finally the dam broke, and she pushed out a sob.
“Don’t fight it, sub. Let it out,” he told her as the paddle descended again. “You need this.”
A groundswell of feeling washed over her. Anger, betrayal, depression, anxiety, they all took a turn until Lisette was crying hard, tears running onto the couch, her mouth open and taking in gulps of oxygen as she released the things that had been weighing her down.
Ryan stopped and gently rubbed her ass. He pushed her legs apart, and soon two of his long fingers were in her pussy, moving in and out without mercy. His thumb connected with her clit, and another type of sob escaped her. Ryan worked her until her entire body bowed, and she came with a scream torn straight from her throat. A few moments later, she went totally limp over his lap. He gathered her up and threw a fleece blanket around her. She winced as her well-spanked ass rubbed against his jeans.
Holding her tight, he whispered little nonsense stuff into her ear, kissing her hair and rocking her. She would’ve given up a limb for a comfortable bed right that second. Going back through her sluggish brain’s memories, she tried to remember if she’d ever felt like this before, both exhausted to her core and strangely peaceful and taken care of. Ryan had been right. She’d needed a spanking. She’d needed to cry.
Lisette was afraid to look up at him, terrified he’d see a whole gamut of emotions in her eyes she wasn’t even ready to finish processing, much less share with him. He seemed content to continue to rock her, and she let him. After several minutes she took a deep breath and centered herself.
She reached out of the blanket to pull his face close. “Thank you, sir,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome.”
“You were right. I did need that.”
His mouth fell open in mock surprise. “I was right?”
“Yes, you were, sir.” Lisette started as she realized something. “Um, sir, I have no idea why I’m telling you this—apparently I have a death wish or something, but I think you forgot the third implement.”
“I didn’t forget. You’ll get ten strokes with the strap right before you leave tonight. That will be a punishment for your behavior toward Master Mark, and I wanted it separate from this.”
She nodded, chewing the inside of her cheek. It would be a well-deserved punishment, but she wasn’t looking forward to adding ten strap strokes to her already scorching ass.
He motioned toward the cushion again. “Back on the floor, sub.”
Lisette scrambled off his lap, her ass now exposed to the club as he hadn’t pulled up her panties. Ryan stood and unzipped, pulling out his hard cock.
“Thank me properly for your spanking, girl.”
It felt like forever since she’d had him in her mouth, and she concentrated on pulling his release out using every trick she could think of. After one particularly powerful suck on his cockhead, he grabbed her hair and began to fuck in and out of her mouth. Lisette held on, keeping a tight suction around his shaft as best she could. A few moments later he erupted, spilling cum onto her tongue, and it was all she could to swallow him without letting any drip out. When his cock was spent, he sighed and pulled out before sitting again.
“I know how tired you are, and you don’t have to stay. I didn’t expect you to, but it was important you got your needs taken care of, even if you didn’t realize what those needs were.”
“Yes, sir, I know, and I understand.”
“Good. Don’t get all huffy if I tell you to do something in the future; assume I have a good reason for my order.”
Lisette ducked her head. “Yes, sir.”
“I want you to lie over the arm of the couch for your strokes with the strap, and then you’ll be free to go.”
She pushed her torso over the wide couch arm, resting her face on the cushion, still damp from her earlier tears. Ryan stepped behind her, holding the strap, and measured his stroke several times. “Count and apologize, then ask for the next one.”
“Yes, sir.”
Fire exploded across her ass, and she bit out, “One. I’m sorry, sir; can I have the next stroke?”
They continued on through the next several strokes, Ryan igniting her skin again and again. He laid another one down, and her fists balled. He waited and then said gently, “Count, sub.”
“Oh! Um.” Lisette racked her brain trying to remember which stroke they were on. “Um, eight, sir. I’m sorry, sir; can I have the next one?” It came out in one long, continuous string, and she’d barely finished the sentence when the next stroke landed on the sensitive curve where buttock met thigh. “Ugh! Shitshitshit.”
“Sub…”
The word was a clear warning this time, and Lisette shook her head. She couldn’t do it. He leaned down, his groin pushing into her back and making the burn even worse.
“Do as I say, or I’ll add extras. You have one extra stroke coming right now.”
“Shit.”
What is
wrong
with me?
“Now two.”
“Nine, sir. I’m sorry, sir; please can I have the next one?”
He straightened, and she felt something skate over her ass. Several seconds later, the tenth and what should’ve been the final stroke landed. Leaning over her again, he said, “Two extras. Then you can go.”
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”
“I know you are. No need to count these.” Seemingly as soon as his weight lifted from her body, the first stroke landed, followed shortly by the second. She felt something wet and cool on her ass, and then Ryan came around the front of the couch. “I applied aloe vera lotion. That should help. You can have the tube.” Going behind her once more, he gently, slowly pulled her panties up, and she gingerly rose to her feet. She was folded into Ryan’s embrace, and she leaned heavily on him, allowing him to hold her up while she regained her equilibrium.
“I feel so much better, sir. My ass is going to feel that spanking for a couple of days, but I totally needed that. Thank you for dealing with my brattiness. You didn’t have to explain why you were doing anything, but you did, and I appreciate it. I finally saw the forest through the trees, you know?”
Tilting her face up, he kissed her and then drew back. “I want to give you what you need. But just so we’re clear, I won’t hesitate to give you another spanking if I think you need it.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I appreciate that, sir.”
“Let’s get you home. It’s only eight thirty; maybe you can get a solid night of sleep for a change.”
“That sounds heavenly.”
* * * *
Ryan left the club right after Lisette. There was no reason for him to hang around, though he considered doing so to watch more scenes. But truth be told, the long days brought about by him helping Lisette in the office at night after a full day at his own job were taking their toll on him too.
On Sunday morning Ryan went out for the paper. It was, of course, filled with ads for the holiday season. He was halfway back up his driveway on the way to his house when he stopped so suddenly, he skidded on an icy patch and nearly went down.
“I need to get her something for Christmas. We’re dating, and that means gifts on holidays.”
No one was around to hear his proclamation, but that didn’t make it any less of a revelation. At this point there was no other word he could think of for what they were doing other than dating. Sure, they were still playing, but he’d spent several nights with her over the past week just taking care of her and helping her out. They were exclusive. Yeah, they were dating. And if Lisette was his girlfriend, he reasoned, swallowing hard past the lump in his throat, he had to get her something for Christmas. But what?
His hands started to shake so badly the paper rattled. He’d never been good at giving gifts, and his ex had hated pretty much every present he’d given her. Maybe a gift certificate, so she could get whatever she wanted? Ryan dismissed that idea. Too cold. Why was this always so hard?
He decided to call Lisette, since he needed to check in with her anyway.
“Hey, it’s Ryan. How did you sleep?”
“Like the dead. Ten hours.”
“Good. Glad to hear it. Listen, we need to talk about something.” Ryan could practically feel her stiffen up over the phone line.
“What?”
“Don’t get crazy; nothing’s wrong. I just thought we should agree on what we were going to do for Christmas.”
“Oh, jeez, I have no idea. I have to see my family—”
“I meant gift giving.”
“Gift giving?”
It was tempting to laugh at how stunned she sounded, but since he’d only stopped his own freak-out moments before, that wouldn’t have been fair. “Yes. I hope you agree that at this point, we’re more than a Dominant and a submissive who play together. I’d go so far as to call what we’re doing dating. Can you argue with that assessment?”
Lisette blew out an audible breath. “Yeah, I guess we are.”
“Don’t sound so excited. You’re making me blush.”
“Right,” she answered with a laugh. “So does that make me your girlfriend? That always sounds so funny when people our age say it.”
“It does, but what would you prefer? Lover? Partner?”
“Ick, no, neither one of those.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to settle on girlfriend. How do you feel about that?”
“I’m good with it, but that makes you my boyfriend, you know.”
“Yes, I was aware of the reciprocal nature of these things.”
“And it doesn’t freak you out?”
He took a moment to think about it. “Not a bit. Now that we’ve got that squared away, what do you want to do for gift giving?”
“How about, say, a fifty-dollar limit?”
“That sounds reasonable.”
“Okay, good. I’m glad we had this discussion.”
Her voice was laced with mirth, and he was happy to hear her sounding less stressed. “How’s your ass this morning?”
“Whoa, non sequitur.”
He smiled. His girlfriend knew some dollar words.
Cool.
“It’s not bad. I put more stuff on it this morning.”