To Love a Man Read online

  Now Cal didn’t have any problem with that at all. He was finding that he thoroughly enjoyed taking care of her. He was excruciatingly aware of the disparity in their incomes, and he didn’t want anything they decided to do to negatively affect her bottom line, nor did he want her lack of funds to prevent them from doing what they wanted to.

  So when they had both reached for the bill this evening at a particularly nice restaurant, and he had tugged on it gently, he had been somewhat surprised when she had flatly refused to let go.

  “No. I want to pay for dinner tonight.”

  If the bill was less than a hundred and fifty dollars he would have been amazed, and he knew that she didn’t have that kind of money to throw around. He knew exactly what the school board had set as a salary for new, untenured teachers and it was an obscenely low amount, considering the work he knew she did in her spare time, not to mention the fact that she was teaching the next generation of Americans.

  He didn’t want to hurt her pride, though, either. “Ellie, no. You don’t need to.”

  “I know I don’t need to, I want to. You pay for everything. I want to pay my fair share.”

  He felt as if he was walking a fine line here. He liked that she wanted to make the effort to pay. For so many women he dated, if they didn’t come into it expecting that they weren’t going to have to spend dollar one of their own money because it was him that they were dating, they seemed to come to that realization somewhere down the line.

  But not Ellie. She was giving him what he’d come to think of as her stubborn look, eyes narrowed, not looking away from him but instead leaning towards him, until they were looking at each other over the table, noses nearly colliding.

  “I said no, Ellie,” he repeated softly, and that should have been her first clue that he was dead serious about this.

  And he should have realized that, when she capitulated so easily, she was up to something.

  And she was.

  She got up to go to the bathroom, and he didn’t notice that it had taken her a bit longer. Who could tell how long it was going to take a woman in the bathroom? She’d taken her purse, but then women often did. There was nothing unusual about that.

  She was really, really good. Ellie even pretended to wait for the server to come take his credit card, but when he did, he didn’t even so much as reach for the little notebook that contained the bill, with Cal’s card sticking visibly out of the top. Except to take the card out and hand it back to him. “You won’t be needing this. The bill’s been paid already.” He glanced at Ellie, who was busy trying to look innocent, and for once she wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

  Cal didn’t say anything at first, nothing at all, and that left Ellie on pins and needle, quite sure she’d managed to piss him off by her little deception. But then he got up and put his hand out to help her out of the booth, and when she stood, he was quite close to her and he didn’t move out of the way in the least.

  Instead, he tugged on her arm and she fell a bit against him, his arm sneaking around her waist to hold her there. “That, my dear, was a very naughty thing to do when I’d already told you not to. While I appreciate the sentiment, I, above all, expect you to obey me, most especially when you don’t want to. So you’ve earned your first spanking, which I will administer at my place when we get home.”

  She could hardly fume at him. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t been talking about this for quite some time now – heck, he’d told her on their first date that he was going to spank her eventually. It had been fodder for her masturbatory fantasies – the ones he kept asking her to tell him about – for quite some time.

  And now it was going to happen. It was actually going to happen! She was so nervous she was shaking.

  He seemed to sense her understandable unease and, once he’d helped her into his car with the old world manners she adored, then had gotten them under way, he’d reached for her hand. “You’re cold,” he’d said, frowning and turning up the heat.

  “I’m... I’m just nervous.”

  Cal brought the back of Ellie’s hand to his lips, then laced his fingers with hers again, holding her hand against his thigh, hoping to warm it for her. “I know, and I know this is stupid to say to you because it’s not going to do any good, but I think I’m contractually obligated to do so: you don’t need to be.”

  “I know.”

  “I know we haven’t been together for too long – at least as far as you’re concerned,” he teased her, hoping to get a smile out of her, but the corners of her lips barely rose at all. “But do you have enough of a sense of who I am to trust me?”

  “Oh yes. It’s just nerves at something new, not a lack of confidence in you, Cal.”

  He gave her a wink. “I’m glad to hear you say that. This is the right pace for us to proceed?” he asked, hoping to get her mind off what was to come.

  “Yes, perfect. You’ve been amazingly patient with me. You must be so bored, not to mention so frustrated?” she murmured under her breath.

  “Not at all.”

  It wasn’t as if they hadn’t explored each other’s bodies, they had. But she had told him that she would be much more comfortable if they started with him, realizing, he was sure, that he was damned unlikely to turn an offer like that down.

  So as much as he adored watching a woman explode in his arms because of what he had said and done to her, he was more than enough of a hedonist to enjoy teaching her exactly what it was that pleased him about her, and how she could please him.

  And she had been a very quick, eager study, with her hands and her mouth. He was much less frustrated now than he would have been if she’d asked that question a couple of months ago.

  They were going at a glacial pace, and he was quite amazed that he’d been so blasted happy to do so, even though the blue balls were likely to kill him first.

  Tonight, though, after her punishment, he intended to take things just a bit further than they had before.

  And he wasn’t going to let her say no to him, either.

  He had taken his time responding to her suggestion that she be over his lap when he spanked her for the first time, and she had waited for his decision quite patiently, not fidgeting at all or craning her head to look back at him.

  “No, Ellie, I don’t think so. This is where I want you. In this position. Although with a lot fewer clothes.”

  She was very modest, and had often earned a swat or two when her little hands deliberately got in the way of him trying to peel a layer of clothing away from that creamy skin of hers.

  This time he wasn’t going to allow her to be coy.

  His hand rested on the top of her dress, right on her bra strap as he spoke. “I want you to remain in this position until I tell you that you have my permission to get up, Ellie, no matter what I do to you.”

  She squealed at that last bit, but he handed her a pillow and she clutched it to her like it was a lifeline.

  “I’m also going to spank you on the bare.”

  Her head came up all of a sudden, and he saw her open her mouth, but then, long seconds later, he saw her close it and lower her head. He made no comment about what was obviously an inner struggle, but instead lifted up the hem of her very pretty pink flowered dress so that it was folded quite neatly over her back, revealing her pretty pink flowered panties – that almost matched the dress – and matching pink garter belt and hose.

  “Did you plan to be spanked tonight?” he asked as he stared down at her, his already full blown erection growing to epic proportions, such that he had to reach down and adjust himself or he was sure he was going to break right through the wimpy zipper.

  Ellie laughed softly. “No. I’ve been wearing them the majority of the time since you said one night while we were talking that they turned you on.”

  Damn, he was glad he hadn’t known that or he wouldn’t have been able to be nearly as well behaved!

  Swallowing hard, he lost his train of thought there for a moment as he star
ed down at her before he took himself in hand and cleared his throat loudly. “Now, as I intend to spank your bare bottom, I don’t think that the garters pose a problem, but these,” he slipped his finger beneath the elastic of her panties, “definitely do. I don’t want any barrier between my palm and your lovely rear end.” He began to tug them down, bending down behind her as he followed their descent, hearing her whimper and just barely being able to keep himself in check enough to leave them at her ankles.

  He knew from that moment on that there would be no – technical – need to check her arousal. The crotch of her panties was darkened, damp with that damning evidence.

  Cal allowed himself the luxury of trailing his fingers, the slightest tips of them, anyway, up the backs of her calves, the delicate backs of her knees, then up those beautiful thighs and over the curve of her luscious booty.

  “Well, I believe there’s no need for further delay. Do you understand why you’re here, Elise?”

  She nodded and received a swift swat.

  “Answer me out loud, love. I’m going to be tending to your bottom and I might miss a nod.”

  He’d said, “Tending to your bottom.” She practically orgasmed right then and there!

  “Elise!” His sharp rebuke was accompanied by two more horrible swats.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  It just slipped out of her mouth automatically, the lovechild of both her own fantasies and nights spent trolling the Internet for stories with which to titillate herself.

  “I like that. I like that a lot. Very good initiative, Ellie, not that it’s going to help you this evening.”

  Damn – she had a horrible feeling that she was going to need all the help she could get tonight, if the way he was smacking her was any indication of how things were going to go.

  And they definitely were.

  She never thought a spanking would hurt that much, really. Granted, she had nothing to compare it to. Her parents hadn’t touched her – she had been the Queen of Time Outs. Was this worse than usual? Better? God forbid!

  She had always thought that she wouldn’t cry – it wasn’t something she did easily anyway – but she lost that illusion almost immediately, within the first ten swats or so, and it certainly didn’t end there.

  It felt as if it went on forever, and the horrendous sting whenever his hand connected with her flaming flesh was absolutely unbearable.

  Her feet began to venture up first, her leg bent at the knee, tentatively then much less so, until eventually, she actually kicked back with one whole leg, narrowly missing him.

  She learned that night not to do that, ever again, because it just earned her twenty or so swats to the backs of her legs, which – Ellie was truly horrified to discover – were a thousand times more sensitive than her bottom ever thought of being, and that was bad enough.

  When he’d finished spanking the backs of her thighs, he put his hand on her rear and it nearly covered all of it at once. “No kicking, Elise. That’s very naughty, as is deliberately disobeying me, which is why this spanking is a little more severe – despite it being your first – than it might have been if you’d done something that I consider to be a lesser crime. When I tell you not to do something, I expect you not to do it.”

  That hand emphasized the heck out of his last sentence, and all Ellie could do was sob into the pillow he’d given her as that same hand trailed deliberately down her rounded nates, covering her cleft, until his fingers hovered over that area where butt met thigh.

  “Open your legs for me, Ellie.”

  It as no more than a whisper, but intoned so that there was no way she could have missed it, strong and firm and deep.

  And an order she was quite unlikely to ignore, considering what she’d just been through – and that was exactly what he was thinking.

  It did have her sobbing more loudly than she had been. Her cries had died down to snuffles, but they rose in volume and frequency at his words.

  But he did not relent.

  And, just before he would have commenced spanking her again, she began to walk her feet apart, stopping entirely too quickly, as if she thought he wasn’t going to notice.

  A warning pinch on her behind got her to widen them a bit more, but her feet were still entirely too close together, so he stood behind her and kicked them rudely apart, making her squeal in surprise.

  “If you value your backside you won’t move them again until I say you can get up. Am I making myself clear?”

  “Y-yes, Sir.”

  He could hear how her voice trembled, but he didn’t let it deter him in the least. A little fear wasn’t such a bad thing, especially not in this kind of relationship.

  Cal didn’t bother to move but remained very close behind her, the fingers of his right hand beginning to disappear into that moist grotto between her legs, and the closer he got to her more private place, the more high pitched her cries became.

  “Quiet,” he said, almost gently.

  She clamped her mouth shut and her over-eagerness to please brought a small smile to his lips.

  “Oh, dear, Ellie, I believe I have determined that you have another spanking coming.”

  “No, please!” She wasn’t at all too proud – she was dismayed to realize – to beg. Not at all. She didn’t think she could take another spanking on top of the one she’d already endured.

  “Not right now, silly. But within the next few days. I don’t like too much time to elapse between a misdeed and the subsequent punishment. Do you remember what it will be for, Ellie?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “And what is that?”

  She out and out sobbed as she admitted, “I-I told you tha-that I wasn’t a submissive.”

  One big finger found her opening and dipped into the cream that dripped out of her. “And that was a lie, wasn’t it?”

  “Ye-yes, Sir!”

  He withdrew his hand abruptly, and, as she lay there, Ellie could clearly hear the sounds of him licking his fingers clean behind her.

  She was well aware that she was not to get up, but she was surprised when she felt him step up behind her, caging her legs closed with his own, pressing himself against her very sore bottom.

  And then she could feel it, she could feel his erection pressing against her, and she could feel the knuckles of his hand – the same hand that had disciplined her – rubbing against that swollen, inflamed skin as he stroked himself.

  She wiggled and twisted and tried to get away, but he had her legs clenched between his and a hand on her lower back, keeping her in place, making her lie there and submit to him as he came – in embarrassingly short order – all over her back.

  Ellie had to admit she felt not a small surge of power when he groaned loudly and she didn’t even mind that it hurt when his hips bucked up against her behind.

  When he was done, he cleaned her up with a tissue then collapsed over her, his hand twining into her hair. “Don’t ever cut this, by the way,” he breathed, and his stern tone – even as he panted raggedly – made her lower body contract.

  “Yes, Sir,” she sobbed.

  “Good girl.”

  When he finally let her up, after he’d brought her panties back up and smoothed down her skirt quite primly, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her hungrily. “God damn, woman, that was... it was amazing!”

  Her cheeks were still wet with tears and he reached down to offer her a Kleenex.

  Ellie dried her tears and blew her nose, snuggling right back into his arms.

  “Well, I should probably get you home,” Cal offered, fishing in his jeans pocket for his keys.

  Her lower lip hitting the thick pile carpeting as she looked up at him, Ellie asked, doing a dance that was surprisingly like the ‘I need to potty’ dance little girls did, locking her legs tightly together against the ache he had created between them. “But what about me?”

  Cal looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. “That’s quite a bold question for a miss who just got her hide tanne
d, isn’t it?”

  “But—”

  “I’m not about to pleasure a girl who’s misbehaved, Ellie. I don’t want to send you mixed messages. If I’ve had to punish you, then you can hardly expect that I’m going to reward you minutes later.”

  “Yes, I can!” she whined.

  He caught her hand in his and headed for the door, saying in a no nonsense tone, “Well, you can expect it all you like, honey, but you’re not going to get it.”

  Chapter 6

  Ellie had been amazed at how beautifully things progressed between them – except of course the spankings. She didn’t think she’d ever quite get over just how much they hurt! And once he’d begun spanking her, it seemed she was always getting it for something, and how badly it went for her depended entirely on what she’d done.

  He didn’t try to trap her into anything; oh no, she was fully capable of getting into quite enough trouble without him having to resort to any machinations.

  But Cal didn’t want her to feel picked on or that she was constantly being punished, either, so he did his best to counterbalance the discomfort he knew he brought to her. No matter how much a sub craved to be punished, she also craved release.

  She had a worse punishment coming than her first one had been. And for that one he had gone admittedly quite hard on her, figuring it was better to give her a bad first impression and see if she decided, as some did, that this just wasn’t for them, rather than to start out easy and have her expect that that was how it was always going to be. So he was just as happy that the first thing she’d done wasn’t something more trivial.

  Her obedience to him was not something he was willing to overlook or downplay.

  He’d decided that the next Friday night would be when she would be punished, so that Wednesday – he was still insisting that he wanted to see her as much as he could, so they were still going out, or rather staying in more often lately, three times a week – night would be the right time to introduce her to the fact that he could give her so much more than pain.

  Although, he was definitely going to have to keep himself on a very tight rein. Doing this for her was going to make him at least as crazy as it was going to drive her, and he wasn’t about to allow himself to break any of his promises to her, especially not ones that were so important – so intrinsic to their relationship.