Her eyes fixed on that gleaming label again, glancing around the shop, she reached out to touch the dress. Her hand felt the perfectly smooth swish of real silk. She checked the inside label: yep, 100% silk. And the colours! Turquoise, indigo, deepest purple, bound together in a subtle pattern that would look perfect draped against her pale, pale skin.
“No!” She muttered, turning away. She blinked at the midday sunlight glaring at her through the wide shop windows. What was she even doing here? She was meant to be returning a book to the library, not trawling for bargains.
She pushed her way through the crowded rails and strode purposefully back onto the high street and into the comforting roar of midday traffic.
She would just have to put the dress out of her mind. They couldn’t afford it and that was all there was to it.
But that label had other ideas.
It taunted her every day for the next week as she hesitated by the shop windows on the way to the coffee house or the library. The bright red banners screaming SALE! called out to her, as did that wondrous word REDUCED, scrawled with reckless abandon in thick black marker all over the shop. Scrawled on that label.
How had no one else bought it already? It was gorgeous. Not too long, not too short. Unobtrusive sequins and embroidery detail. A cut to show off any woman’s figure to perfection.
On Tuesday, her resolve snapped. She marched into the shop and then scurried out holding the bright red SALE! bag close to her front, as though she could make it disappear into the fabric of her brown coat. She couldn’t wait to try it on with her one remaining pair of heels. Better to go home and do it early, before he got home from work.
She bit her lip at the thought of what Jay would say if he found out. Well, everyone deserves a treat once in a while. It was only £27, after all. Nothing, really.
She wandered into the coffee house, ordered a hot chocolate with extra cream and sank down into her favourite tub chair to read through some lecture notes.
“It says here that £27 went out of the joint account on the 4th of May. Any idea what that was?”
Tessa turned away and busied herself at the sink. Her mind immediately turned towards the new dress now wrapped tightly in a bundle within the inner recesses of her wardrobe that had stayed hidden and unworn for the past three weeks. “Err…I dunno…phone bill?”
“No, this says it was withdrawn from a cash point. Do you remember buying anything on that day?”
“Umm, I can’t, uh, remember right now babe. That was a while ago.”
“Could you check your receipts?“
“Look, I told you it wasn’t me!” She exploded suddenly. “God! Is money all you care about?” She tore out of the kitchen and slammed the door behind her.
Once in the cool, semi-darkness of their bedroom, Tessa immediately started to regret overreacting like that. It would look very suspicious. She wrung her hands and turned on the spot. The package hidden in the back of the wardrobe filled a fire-edged hole in her mind. She was no longer so sure that her perfect dress was really so perfect after all.
And then it came to her: the solution. She could take it back. Get a refund. Put the money back in their account and… well… find a way of explaining it later.
She opened the wardrobe door. It creaked slightly on its ancient hinges. She knelt down and felt inside. Her hand brushed over the old sweatshirt and the shoebox full of old photos and then…nothing. She froze. Where her tightly wrapped secret had been, there was now just a cold empty space.
“Looking for this?”
Tessa spun around, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Jay was stood silhouetted in the light from the hallway, holding out her new dress by its silken straps as though inviting her to try it on.
Tessa stayed kneeling on the scratchy carpet, utterly lost for words. Her eyes were wide and fixed on Jay, she noticed that she was trembling slightly.
“Well?” His voice was cold and stern. She knew what that voice meant.
There was no point in lying anymore. That was a relief in itself. She nodded slowly and looked up at him. “How did you - “
“Find out? You forget that I can always tell when you’re lying.”
“But why didn’t you say - “
“I thought I’d give you some time to think better of it, to come clean. I was hoping you might have learned since last time.”
Tessa finally lowered her eyes, her face burning. Yes, last time had certainly been memorable, in more ways than one. She realised that she actually half-wanted what was about to happen.
Jay was still stood in the doorway, still holding out the dress. “This dress must be something special for you to have put this much effort into getting it and hiding it. Maybe you should put it on and give me a twirl.” His hard voice didn’t match his words.
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. She didn’t even feel able to look at that dress anymore, let alone put it on.
“Tessa,” said Jay. “You have spent money we don’t have, you have lied to me, I gave you the chance to tell me the truth and you kept on lying.”
“But I was going to take it back and…”
“And then lie to me some more?”
The streetlights came on outside, bathing the room in a soft orange glow. Tessa took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Jay. I didn’t tell you because I thought that if I did, you’d say I couldn’t have it.”
“And you kept on lying because?”
“Because I didn’t want you to…er…”
“Didn’t want me to what?”
Tessa blushed furiously, her fingers twisting in her lap. “I didn’t want you to spank me,” she whispered.
“Didn’t catch that, sorry.”
“Spank me.” She repeated more loudly.
Jay let out an exasperated sigh, “Tessa, when have I ever spanked you for wanting something?”
She stared at him in confusion.
“The answer is never. You could’ve talked to me about it. It’s ok to want things. But it’s not ok to lie to me. We promised we’d always be honest with each other, remember?”
She nodded miserably.
“You’ve broken that promise. Again.” Here it came: the standard pre-spanking speech. “We both decided on the rules before we got married. And we both decided what would happen if those rules were broken. I’m doing this because I love you and I know it’s what you need. Now come over here and put on this pretty dress.”
That last part wrong-footed her slightly. “Umm, why?”
“I want you to wear it while I spank you. We’ll see how much you like it after that.” Tessa gaped at him. “Now come here.” He flicked the light switch on.
She stood up stiffly, her knees clicking and shuffled towards him warily, as though he were a jack-in-the-box at the end of his tune.
“Take off your clothes.”
She pulled her blue t-shirt over her head and let it fall onto the floor, followed by her jeans. She hooked her thumbs into the sides of her panties and looked up at him. He nodded. She slipped them down past her knees, they fell to her ankles and she stepped out of them.
“Hold up your arms.”
She obeyed and he slipped the dress over her arms and her head, and then allowed the silken material to glide down over her body.
It fell beautifully but Tessa couldn’t bring herself to look at it; instead she stared at a space a few inches above Jay’s left shoulder.
“Come on, let’s get this over with.” He took her by the hand and led her over to the bed. On the way, he picked up her wooden hairbrush off the dressing table.
“Aww, no. Please, you don’t need that. Please.” She tried to pull away but he had a firm grip on her wrist and, sitting on the edge of their unmade bed, he pulled her effortlessly over his lap. She knew it was pointless to try and fight but she tried anyway. She knew how much that hairbrush hurt.
Jay held her down patiently while she wore herself out. “You deserve this punishment,” he said firmly. “And the sooner you accept that, the sooner this will all be over with.”
He was right, of course. She did deserve it. And after all, hadn’t she wanted a relationship where she’d have to take responsibility for her actions?
Jay sensed the subtle change in her and brought the palm of his hand down hard onto her silk-covered bottom. She gasped at the sudden sting; it looked as though she wouldn’t even be getting a warm-up tonight.
He spanked her steadily over her pretty dress, hard, while she squirmed and whimpered on his lap, thinking about all the plans she’s had for her new dress and how this had definitely not been one of them.
After what felt like hours, he stopped and slid the dress up over her pink bottom. She tensed up but slowly relaxed as he began stroking and caressing her hot skin, giving her the occasional squeeze.
Is it over? She wondered. But what about the hair -
“Oww!” He’d brought the hairbrush down with a CRACK on her exposed bottom. SMACK! “Ooh!” CRACK! “Please!” SMACK! “I’m – CRACK! – sorry.”
Ignoring her cries for mercy, Jay spanked Tessa fast and hard with the hairbrush until her bottom turned a violent shade of crimson.
Tessa started to feel dizzy with the pain; everything seemed brighter and harsher than normal. The blue-striped pattern of the bed sheet seemed to dance and quiver in front of her red, wet eyes. She moaned softly and tried to focus.
“Stand up.” Tessa blinked in confusion. She’d barely registered that he’d stopped. She stumbled up on unsteady feet, the cool silk of her dress sliding over the swollen fiery flesh that had once been her bottom. She clasped her hands between her breasts to keep from rubbing it.
Jay stood up and she watched in horror as he started to undo his belt. He’d never used worse than the hairbrush.
“Please, Jay, no! Please, I’ve learned my lesson.”
“That’s what you said last time.” He replied calmly. “Maybe six with this will get it to sink in better this time around. Now bend over the bed.”
Tessa stared at his belt like a baby rabbit stares at a hungry viper and couldn’t bring herself to offer up her poor bottom to its bite.
“Bend over now or it will be seven.” His stern tone softened slightly as fresh tears mingled with the old on her damp cheeks. “Come on, the sooner you bend over, the sooner all this will be over.”
Tessa realised he was right. She did want all of this to be over. The guilt over the past couple of weeks had eaten away at her but now she could feel that tension slipping away.
She gritted her teeth and found herself face to face with the striped blue bed sheet once again. She felt Jay place his right hand firmly on her lower back. She held her breath.
SMACK! She cried out. This flimsy dress offered absolutely no protection for her already-ravaged bottom. The second and third followed in quick succession with no time to breath – or yell – in between. Then he paused and moved around to her left side. Hand on her back again. Big deep breath again.
CRACK! The fourth hit her exactly where her bottom met her thighs and she screamed. Her body tried to escape the pain but Jay’s hand held her steady.
“Only two more then we’re done,” he said softly.
Tessa was sobbing now, the silky dress sticking to her sweat-dampened skin. Why oh why had she ever bought it?
Number five landed in the centre of her bottom and elicited another scream. Jay knew that she was past her limit but he had to make this last one count.
He pulled her dress up and landed number six on her badly bruised bare flesh. Tessa collapsed down onto the bed and lay there crying.
Jay looped his belt back into his jeans, put the hairbrush back on the dressing table and picked up a jar of cooling gel.
“It’s all over, baby. It’s forgotten,” he soothed as he gently rubbed the gel into her burning skin. Her sobs gradually subsided to just the occasional sniff and then to soft moans as the pain in her bottom turned into an altogether different feeling.
“You know, you really do look pretty in that dress,” he murmured, sliding his fingers between her legs. He wasn’t surprised to feel the warm wetness there; her last punishment had ended in an equally satisfactory fashion.
In fact, later on, as he slid himself deliciously inside her, he wondered slightly if maybe she hadn’t planned all this from the start…
