Chapter One

‘Am I getting through to you?’ Marcus raised the leather tawse to shoulder height and brought it sharply down across the girl’s bare bottom.

She squealed. ‘Yes, yes, please sir!’

‘Please what?’ he demanded and lashed her again.

‘Please sir, don’t smack me any more, it’s hurting!’

‘It’s supposed to hurt,’ he said, and laid the tawse across her bottom again, slightly harder than the previous time. He pulled her skirt higher up over her waist. Her knickers were down to her knees. She tried to wriggle free, but he pushed her firmly down onto the desk with his left hand before once again whacking her across the rump.

‘I’m going to teach you a lesson you won’t soon forget,’ said Marcus.

‘No, please, no more, sir. I’ll be good,’ the girl cried.

‘Dirty little slut,’ said Marcus. ‘I’ll teach you to keep your fingers out of your knickers.’

He hit her again. Her bottom was bright red now. She had stopped wriggling. He thought she might have reached the stage where the warmth caused by the stinging leather strap was spreading into her loins. He smacked her with several more carefully measured blows. She moaned each time. Her breath was coming in short gasps. He paused again, then thought, six more strokes, hard ones, would just about do it. Best to err on the side of caution with a novice.

When he finally laid the tawse down she was trembling. He put one hand on the back of her neck, a firm but gentle pressure. With his other hand he softly stroked her bottom. It felt hot to the touch.

‘Well done,’ he said. ‘Are you going to be a good little girl now?’

‘Yes, sir,’ she said. ‘Thank you, sir.’

‘Excellent,’ said Marcus.

He crossed the room and put the tawse back in the drawer.

‘I’ll give you ten minutes to get your breath back and get dressed,’ he said. ‘Then perhaps you’ll join me in a glass of wine?’

‘Yes, okay,’ she answered.

He went out, closing the door behind him. He took out his phone and made a couple of calls. Then he went to the kitchen and took a bottle of wine from the rack. Picking up a corkscrew and a couple of glasses, he walked back to his study. She was seated on a chair, applying lipstick with the aid of a small mirror.

‘Red wine okay?’ he asked.

‘Mmm, yes,’ she said. ‘Something full-bodied.’

She gave him a knowing smile. Petra was a well-built girl with large breasts and a well-proportioned bottom. He found her comely rather than beautiful but she was undeniably attractive. And he liked her. She had a sense of fun, and she spoke her mind.

Marcus raised his glass to her. ‘I always find it helpful to have a bit of a de-briefing afterwards. It helps to get some feedback for next time. If there is to be a next time.’

‘Oh, yes please,’ she said. ‘It was good.’

‘You weren’t tempted to use the safe word?’

‘No, not at all. We could go further. But I wanted to ask you about that.’

‘Yes?’

‘There’s a contradiction. I’m not sure how to resolve it.’

He thought he knew what was coming, but he let her continue.

‘The real buzz, the real excitement, comes from the feeling of losing control, of being totally in another’s power. Of course there’s pleasure in the pain too, after a while, when the endorphins kick in. But what gave the whole thing its edge was the fact that however much I resisted it made no difference. I knew that you would deal with me as you saw fit. And that was very arousing.’

Marcus smiled. ‘So, what’s the problem?’

‘At the same time I had a safe word. You insisted on it. And I think I see the necessity. I needed to feel safe, to be sure that things would not get out of hand. But this means I’m trying to have it both ways, to be