She tried in vain to reposition herself in the chair as she discreetly peeked over the little laptop at him. His self-confident smirk without so much as a glance her way told her she’d been seen…both peeking and squirming in her chair. She dropped frustrated back into her chair realizing too late that quick descent was a foolish move. As she gasped with the physical reminder, an audible chuckle came from across the room. She bit her lip against the comment that tried so hard to escape. If she had just been paying attention to what she was doing instead of letting the excitement of his arrival overtake her, she wouldn’t be in the predicament she was in now.

She arrived a day earlier than he, as they’d planned. She wasn’t fond of travel and needed the extra time to accustom herself to the new surroundings. His meeting had been canceled at the last minute, so he was able to take an earlier flight and looked forward to surprising her. The reservations were made in his name. Obtaining a keycard to their room hadn’t been a problem. He quietly let himself into the room and listened for the sounds of her presence. The bathroom door was slightly ajar and from where he stood he watched a seemingly unattached hand drawing the razor carefully over the calf of an extended leg. He watched a few more minutes until the orphaned hand set the razor aside, then crossed the room without a sound and stuck his head inside the door…”Hi there.” She jumped and turned in the huge tub splashing bubbles everywhere. Her features brightened from that initial fear to smiles almost instantly. “You’re early!” she exclaimed as he stepped through the doorway. He picked up her towel and bathrobe and sat down on the top step. He leaned over the water to deposit a quick kiss on her forehead. “The meeting was canceled, I thought I’d surprise you,” he grinned. “I guess it worked.” “All too well,” she blushed. He chuckled and brushed a wet curl away from her face. “You finish your bath. I’ve got a few papers to take care of and then I’m yours for the rest of the week.” As he stood and turned to leave he laid her towel back down on the step. “Take your time,” he admonished with a wink and then he was gone.

Had she listened? No…of course not, she hurried through the rest of her bath. He was here! She dried off too quickly…then powder and lotion. She thought she was being careful…but if she had been she would have noticed. She cleaned up the bubbles on the floor, giggling at the spectacle she must have presented when she jumped at the sound of his voice. She brushed her hair dry…brushing until it was silky and shining. She did take her time with her make-up. He was adamant about that. He allowed her to wear it, but only to enhance…not to alter. He preferred the softer, more natural look. She took one last look in the mirror, satisfying herself that all was as it should be. Turning back to the step she reached for her bathrobe…?! She darted a glance at the hook on the back of the door…not there, either. She knew she’d picked it up when she gathered her things: the shampoo, the lotion, the towel…and then she realized…he was sitting right there. He took it out the door with him and she hadn’t even noticed. Laughing at herself again, she picked up the damp towel and wrapped it around her. Stepping out into the room she saw her bathrobe under his elbow on the arm of the recliner. His paperwork finished and put away, he smiled broadly when he saw her. “Umm…can I have that?” she said pointing to her robe. “Uh uh,” he said shaking his head. He stood and motioned for her to come closer. He tugged at the corner of her towel and it dropped rapidly to the floor. She knew the commands well but he rarely used them these days. He had trained her well…she knew what he expected and most times it took only a look from him to direct her into position.

As the towel dropped, so too, did her eyes from his and lowered her head in deference to what had to be. She laced her fingers together behind her neck and spread her legs to shoulder width. She closed her eyes as if to shut out the humiliation of the inspection. Even the word sounded cold and sterile. He would have preferred that her eyes remained open, but he understood how difficult this was for her. He allowed her this small attempt to cope with it in her own way. This was the only moment with him that she wished with all her heart wasn’t a part of their time together. It was required of her…he’d made that clear from their beginning, but that didn’t make the vulnerability-the invasion, any easier to bear. If she stayed as still as possible and no part of her body protested against it, it would be over quickly and they could move on.

The stance itself was designed to present the female body at its best. Arms up and behind the head forces the shoulders square and offers the breasts at their fullest. His fingers played lovingly around the rings set through each nipple. They’d been pierced at his instigation and much to her own pleasure, as he recalled. His hand caressed randomly over various points of her body…across her back…over her hips…grazing over her stomach. She wasn’t perfect, by any means…but she improved each time he saw her…as much for her own self-esteem as for him. THAT was the goal here…not perfection. Her body trembled involuntarily as his fingers caressed her inner thigh. He knelt down to see more clearly as he lifted the ring atop her clit with his finger. This one he hadn’t asked for. He had even told her no at first but when she pleaded with him…he consented. He was glad he had. The little ball caressing her most intimate pleasure point kept her perpetually ready for him. Not that she needed any help in that department…but it certainly didn’t cause any harm.

He might choose to take her at any time. As if to reinforce this point he slipped a finger deep within her. She shuddered and tightened reflexively around his finger. He rose to his feet slowly pulling his finger out of her heat and dragging her wetness over the shaven mound. He stopped suddenly…she knew what she had neglected at the same instant he discovered it. It rarely grew past the point of even being called stubble, but in her haste earlier she had completely forgotten to check. He immediately broke the contact and she opened her eyes in time to see the disappointment cloud his features. He took one hand from behind her neck and with it led her back into the bathroom. Situating her on the side of the tub he gathered the things he would need. He knelt on the floor between her legs. “Sir, you…” he pressed a finger to her lips with a reproachful look and she knew her excuses were best kept to herself. “And you actually wonder why I still insist on these little inspections,” he said quietly, but that was enough to cloud her eyes with tears. She hated to disappoint him. He was so dear to her…she wanted so much for him to be proud of her.

Quickly and efficiently he shaved the tiny little growth. He cleaned her up and checked his work; nodding his satisfaction. “Well done, even if I do say so myself.” When he was done he leaned in and left a lingering kiss on that little ring. She risked a small smile and when it was returned felt as though her transgression, small though it was, had been forgiven. He put away the things he had used and extended his hand to her. She took it…her guided her to her feet and back into the main room of their suite. They stopped just at the foot of the massive bed.

The top of the mattress fell just about level with her waist. It was a beautifully crafted, mahogany structure with 7 foot posts at each corner. The bed stood at an angle in the center of the spacious area allowing easy access from any point around it. On one wall was a tremendous chifforobe-it’s drawers and shelves filled with their toys and “tools”. Hotels such as this were not commonplace. This suite, indeed, the whole floor as well as the basement had been designed for people like them. People of different tastes, of…alternate lifestyles. The suites were soundproof with all the necessary modifications to accommodate the various and often extreme, tastes of the guests there. The basement…aptly renamed “The Dungeon” by its patrons was a well-equipped, expertly designed area suitable for public play as well as rooms set aside for those who preferred less visibility. Everything the creative Dominant might want or need was available here-from Crosses and Wheels to the tiny cages and lock boxes used for training and/or punishment. Although he had allowed others to play with her from time to time…under his own strict supervision…he had never allowed anyone to place her in the enclosed boxes. He himself had only caged her once and then, just long enough for her to experience it. He freed her only moments after he locked it. When he took her, trembling, into his arms afterwards he promised her that he would never again put her there. Knowing fully the fragility of trust he rarely made promises and absolutely never broke them.

He left her standing at the foot of the bed, pondering her premature presumption of forgiveness, as he strolled over and opened the doors of the chifforobe. “Face the bed, please.” “Please…let me…” He silenced her with a look and she turned her back to him as instructed. He selected the items he needed and she knew he was behind her even before he touched her. She watched helplessly as the blindfold moved closer and closer to her eyes. The darkness enveloped and subdued her. A strong hand in the middle of her back pressed her forward onto the bed and then it was gone. His gentle voice cut through her darkness several moments later… “First…in spite of my not-so-subtle reminder to take your time…you let your own excitement take precedence. In doing so, you neglect the care of a vital part of our pleasure.” She felt the leather cuff placed around her right wrist…heard the small snap as the lock clicked closed. Several more long minutes passed and his voice came from the other side of the bed as he repeated the motions with her left wrist. She felt her arms tugged upwards and knew that they’d been restrained to the corners at the head of the bed. “I could have easily forgiven you given my surprise arrival had you remembered and admitted it before I discovered it. But you didn’t, did you?”

“No, Sir, I didn’t.” She answered quickly and respectfully knowing it would be just that much easier for her if she did as he expected. She answered maybe a little too quickly. Her answer should not only have admitted her mistake but stated the mistake. After all…if she didn’t know what she was being punished for…what was the point? Grasping her ankle, he placed a cuff around it and locked it. It always happened this way…some teeny little transgression and she compounded it with mistake after mistake. Chancing it anyway… “Sir?” she queried in a small voice. He paused before locking the last cuff into place, almost as if trying to decide whether to allow her to correct this last mishap or not. “Go ahead, love.” And she heard that final “snap.” “I didn’t just skip over it, Sir…I just rushed through the remainder of the bath and completely forgot.” He locked the ankle cuffs to a steel bar. The ends of the bar locked into the posts at the end of the bed. She felt the denim against her backside as he leaned over her…the mattress depressed around her head as he supported himself on his hands. His mouth so close to her ear that she could feel the heat of his breath. He whispered as he nuzzled the back of her neck…”but that’s not all you’re being punished for. Is it, Pet? I told you…that little thing alone I could forgive. What’s a fair punishment…” he continued to kiss her neck and shoulders as he questioned her “for compounding a small oversight with the disrespect offered by attempts at excuses…not once mind you, but a second even after you’d been silenced the first time?”

She pulled against the ropes that bound her arms wanting to press herself back against him…but he knew just what was required to keep her firmly pressed against the bed. The bar at her ankles allowed her legs no movement at all. She thought his question over silently…if she suggested too many he would agree without negotiation. If she suggested too few, he was just as likely to double it. It mattered, too, what he would be using, but she was rarely allowed that knowledge until the first stroke landed. If there was ever a single correct answer, she had yet to get it and there was no second chance. He always told her later what he would have considered fair…but that did little good after the fact. “5 Sir. 3 for not paying attention and one for each time I tried to make excuses for it.” “And?” Damn…she’d done it again…”An extra one to remind me to not let it happen again. 6, if it please you, Sir.” She could almost hear the smile in his words as he said, “It always pleases me to help you learn your lessons, my love.” The first stroke of the thin cane landed swiftly and she felt every millimeter of the stripe it left. If she’d thought for second that he had that cane in his hand…*crack*…a second stripe burned into her ass parallel with the first. She knew she never make 6 with the degree of silence he demanded during punishment. She anticipated the third…pressing as much as she was able into the mattress…but it didn’t fall. Instead she felt a pillow being forced between her and the bed…taking away her last little bit of mobility. The third landed before she could think about it and the tears sprang into her eyes. He leaned over her again to untie the blindfold…even his favorite faded jeans rough against the burning welts. He kissed her cheek and pulled the blindfold away. Her expressions completely bared to him now…he depended on her face and her breathing to gauge her limitations. The cane was an especially wicked tool…this one slightly thinner than most…more flexible. Wielded cruelly such a cane could inflict severe damage…in his hand…he would give just enough to remind her for the next couple of days.

The fourth stroke elicited a strained gasp…the tears flowing freely. He was proud of the strength she showed under this punishment. She knew he expected only the best of her and she did try her hardest to give him that. The fifth took her breath away as she moaned audibly. He used the cane to caress the five parallel ribbons of angry red flesh…she might forget other things in the future…but never, never would she allow his probing fingers to be stabbed by tiny little hairs again. He doubted seriously if she would even consider offering an “excuse” for anything. The final stroke sliced through the air and he effortlessly laid the sixth and fully the worst at an angle across the previous five. The fire from it refueled the others inducing from her an open-mouthed cry…something he rarely allowed…but was this time fully warranted. Tears streamed in rivers down her cheeks. He released the ropes from her wrists and her ankles from the bar and left her in that position. He knew she wouldn’t move until he told her to do so. She lay exactly as he left her, still sobbing into the comforter when he returned to her several minutes later. His hands guided her movement up and to “her” side of the bed. The same hand that shortly before had inflicted so much agony on her ass now applied thick, cool cream to the swollen stripes. When he’d finished he crawled up on the bed beside her and gathered her in his arms. He cradled her head against his shoulder and rocked her gently as her sobs renewed themselves. She was in a place where even his words were out of reach. Still he whispered the reassurances of his love as he rocked her…safe in his arms. He whispered and rocked until the sobs subsided and her breathing returned to normal…he continued to cradle her against him and whisper as the rhythm of her chest slowed even more. He stroked her hair and watched her as she slept in his arms.

– The End –