Page 18 of What About Love

Some onlookers heard and laughed at her newbie response.

“On a padded bench before you’ve had the first swat? I seriously doubt that’s true, darlin’. Besides, any discomfort moving forward is intentional. Your knees hurting while on the floor and your feet falling asleep were unintended and your dom needed to know that. This will be a reminder to be more forthcoming in the future.”

Delaying no longer, his hand descended on her right bottom cheek. It repeated on the other side then in an alternating pattern several more times.

Although mortifying, it was tame compared to what she had witnessed the other subs undergo. Given over her panties—skimpy as they were—it wasn’t all that bad. More than tolerable, in fact, and her bottom cheeks had become pleasantly warm and tingly by the time he moved on.

Next came a dozen from a black suede flogger. Also mild, although he gave the final few strokes a bit more zing, which she discernibly felt through the thin lace barrier. Even more so when a few of the tails collided with the bare skin of her lower cheeks.

He followed that by a dozen more from a nylon lash, consisting of a bundle of thin corded blue loops. Tensing for more of a bite, when it felt like a caress more than punishment, she was oddly disappointed. It was deceptive, or her dom was lulling her deliberately, because once Dan got into a rhythm, the multi-tailed flogger landed with more thud than caress, each blow making her grunt. Still, it wasn’t horrible.

He paused again, his big hand gliding over her tenderized bottom, which she had to admit felt nice. Just as she was relaxing into it and let out a muffled groan, he stopped.

“Maybe not so vanilla as I thought, eh?” He murmured low for her ears only with a light pat on one tingling cheek. “This next one probably won’t be as pleasant. The first two were sensual implements, intended mostly for play. This one, not so much. It still falls into the beginner’s category, considered by most practitioners as a mild tool appropriate for minor offenses.”

She felt something smooth and firm rub over her warmed behind. Unsure what it could be, she glanced back.

“Eyes front, sub,” Dan ordered in a stern tone, as a resounding smack landed across both cheeks. With a yelp, she immediately obeyed.

That she had responded to his firm command without hesitation, as if by instinct, not once thinking about disobeying, startled her. Her trainer didn’t give her time to figure out what was behind it before he continued.

“You’ll get twenty and you’ll count every stroke. This is for your earlier misbehavior. Afterward, we’ll find a quiet corner to talk about your first trip over the spanking bench. Ready?”

She wasn’t. Far from it, still trying to comprehend twenty swats on top of the good warming she’d already had. Then the first crack sounded, and stinging heat exploded across her tender skin. There was a brief pause before Angie squealed, forgetting her role altogether.

“Oh my god, what is that?”

He held a round leather paddle where she could see it. The tool he claimed to be mild was the size of her head. It also stung like the dickens.

“You call that mild? My ass is on fire.”

Evidently, the term mild had a wide breadth of connotations, or Dano needed to brush up on his vocabulary. Foolishly, she told him so in no uncertain terms.

“I believe there is a chasm as wide as the Grand Canyon between your definition of mild and mine... sir.” She barely remembered to tack on the honorific at the end.

A bare-handed slap fell across her upper thigh, followed by Dan’s scolding words. “Curb that tongue or before you’re ready for them, you’ll get acquainted with my definitions of moderate and severe.”

Angie swallowed, her throat gone dry as a ripple of approval hummed through the observers. As a dominant, he couldn’t let her sarcasm slide. Angie decided Dan had missed his calling. He would have killed on Broadway the way he played to an audience.

“I beg your pardon, sir. Please disregard the Grand Canyon remark, but not the one about my ass. You could fry eggs on it. No joke.”

He laughed outright this time, as did the highly amused crowd.

“Angie, my dear, you are precious and almost make me forget the task at hand. But soon, you’ll know the difference between a spanking for punishment and one given for pleasure. Mind you, that first swat we’ll have to repeat because you forgot to count.”

Dutifully, she remembered to call out a number as the next stroke fell, and the next. By the time he’d administered five with the paddle, moving it all over her tenderized butt, she’d figured out the difference Dan had alluded to.

“Good girl,” he encouraged as she yelped out the numbers. She forgot on stroke number six and again on nine, so when she called ten, it was actually twelve in total. He paused there, and his much cooler hand assessed her cheeks, one at a time.

“Nice and warm. You’re doing so well—aside from the math. Are you sure you haven’t been over a dominant’s knee before?” He chuckled at the vehement shake of her head. “I ask because even though I’m going easy, most novices would be in tears by now or begging my forgiveness and asking me to stop. I’ve had scenes with newbies who thought this was what they wanted then screamed red at the top of their lungs after the first warm-up tap, and hightailed it back to their vanilla world for good. Not my intrepid, Angie.” He patted her lace-covered cheek. “We’re halfway through. Pick up the count at eleven.”

She barely remembered her name, let alone what number came after which as the damnable paddle descended for another short set of five. This form of punishment was certainly effective in ending sass or snarky remarks because it was all she could do to breathe as her punishment continued.

“For the last five, the panties are coming down.”

Murmurs of appreciation didn’t remind her she was being watched. She’d been fully cognizant of the observers the entire time, ever since he’d led her behind the velvet ropes. There had been a half dozen members lined up then, but their numbers had swelled to twice that in the few minutes it had taken him to adjust the bench to his height. By the time she’d knelt on the padded knee rest, her black-lace-covered behind aimed at the spectators, they numbered four deep.

Excitement rippled through the onlookers when he peeled down the lace. She felt cool air on her fiery cheeks and between her thighs where the proof she wasn’t entirely immune to her first scene in public had trickled, leaving her skin damp. Her face flamed with heat equaling that on her ass, knowing everyone would see how turned on she was.

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