by Jenny Plumb
Rummaging around in one of the drawers of his big mahogany desk, her father retrieved a small plastic folder, from which he extracted a slip of shiny cardboard. He held it out to her. “Your ticket,” he told her. “You leave in the morning.”
Virginia gasped again. “In the morning?” she echoed his words, expressing her horror at the news she was travelling so soon. Picking up the ticket, she scanned it quickly. “And you’re flying me commercially?” Looking at the ground, she perfected her pout, before willing herself to cry again, wanting her father to see just how miserable he was making her. “What about your private jet?”
Her father shook his head firmly. “No.” He delved into the little plastic folder again, withdrawing another small slip of glossy cardboard, which he handed to Shane.
Looking at the ticket again, Virginia was too shocked even to cry. Economy. The word jumped off the page at her, mocking her. “You’re not even flying me business class?” she whispered, unable to even find her full voice.
Her father shook his head. “I think treating you like a normal person instead of a celebrity will be good for you.”
Virginia felt all the colour drain from her face as she balled the ticket up in her fists, forming the crinkly cardboard into a tight wad. “I will never forgive you for this!” she screamed. “I hate you! I’m going to ruin Christmas for everyone!” Throwing the balled up ticket at her father, she turned and ran from the room.
Shane watched Tom run his hands through his hair in exasperation, as the fast, furious click of Virginia’s heels on the tile floor echoed down the corridor. He’d been working as personal security in Hollywood for three years now and come across some real divas, but she was right up there with the worst of them.
“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Tom asked wearily. The famous movie producer’s face looked haggard and worn, as though he hadn’t slept a wink in days, and the pain his daughter’s parting words had caused him was evident in his grey eyes.
Nothing a good spanking won’t fix. He thought better of voicing his opinion, though, and instead, tried for the encouraging, positive approach. Rubbing his hands together, Shane forced a smile to his face. “We’ll be fine. I like challenges.”
Chapter 2
The chauffeur held the door open for her as she slid into the back seat of the black limo, and shimmied right across to the far side, making room for Shane. Despite her mood, she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off him all morning, ever since he’d set foot in the marble-tiled foyer of their Hollywood Hills mansion right after breakfast, dressed completely in black, with his hair spiked up at the top. He’d shaved, and his chiselled jaw made him ooze masculinity – even more so than the sexy effect the stubble had given him the day before.
Virginia had decided not to say goodbye to her friends. It would be too hard; there wasn’t even the time to throw a party! And although she’d briefly considered going into hiding, she’d decided against it after only a moment’s deliberation. Even if she managed to get past security, her father always seemed able to discover her whereabouts as easily as if he’d planted a tracking device on her. And failing that, all he had to do was cancel her credit cards and she’d be destitute. She enjoyed her life of luxury too much to risk turning off the money tap her father represented. Besides, she’d be back in a month. A month wasn’t too long… was it?
Nor had she said goodbye to her father. She hadn’t spoken to him since she’d stormed out of his office the day before. She was furious at him! How dare he make plans for her, plans that affected her entire life, without consulting with her first? She was twenty years old – a grown woman – why was he making her decisions for her as though she were a child?
“Tough morning?” His deep voice broke into her thoughts, snapping her out of her fury. She nodded in response, without looking up. ‘Tough’ was an understatement!
“How long are you going to hold a grudge against your father for?” he asked, his gentle tone now gone, replaced with a colder, sterner one that grated on her nerves. “You didn’t even say goodbye to him. I think that’s sad.”
“Shut up,” she snapped, anger raging through her, white spots of fury growing behind her eyes. “I don’t care what you think. What happens between me and my father is none of your business. If I’d wanted your advice, I would have asked for it.”
“On the contrary, your father is paying handsomely for me to make it my business,” Shane informed her, his deep voice now gruff with authority. He hooked a finger under her chin, forcing her head up, making her look at him.
“Get your hands off me!” she snarled, shrinking from his touch, scrambling right back in her seat, pressing herself up against the door. What on earth had her father done, sending her to New Zealand with this man?
“Let’s get one thing straight,” Shane told her, his tone sharp even though his voice was low. “You will NEVER speak to me with such disrespect again, do you hear me?”
Virginia pointedly ignored him, turning her body away from him to stare out the tinted window.
“I said: do you hear me?”
There was an undercurrent of danger in his tone this time, and Victoria caught it. A shiver ran up her spine at the words.
“Answer me!”
“And if I don’t?” she spun around to look at him, tossing the words lightly off her lips, one eyebrow raised in an expression of defiance.
“Then I will turn you over my knee and spank your bottom until my hand hurts.”
Virginia snorted in disbelief, then laughed. “Yeah right!” she exclaimed. “I’m an adult, not a child!”
“Then I suggest you act like one,” Shane growled.
“You wouldn’t dare! My father would fire you!” she insisted, still outraged by the audacity of the man.
Shane raised one eyebrow at her, the picture of sexy sternness, as he peered down at her with dark, icy eyes. “Is that what you think?” His voice was deceptively soft, making her tremble. “Why don’t you try me?”
Taking her phone out of her purple leather Louis Vuitton handbag, she dialled her father’s number. This was ridiculous, it really was. Surely he didn’t expect her to travel to the other side of the world with a Neanderthal? Looking out the window again, her back to Shane, she pressed the phone hard against her ear as it rang and rang, finally clicking over to voicemail. Hearing her father’s voice on the line, even if it was just a recorded message and not the real thing, made her smile. A pang of regret shot through her; she wished she’d said goodbye to him.
“Daddy, you have to call me. You can’t be serious about this. You can’t possibly be sending Shane along with me. Daddy, he’s dangerous, he threatened to assault me!” And with that, she let out a strangled sob, before hanging up.
She’d dismissed his threat out of hand, but she couldn’t get the words out of her mind. Spank your bottom until my hand hurts kept going round and round in her head and she couldn’t get away from it. Would he really do it? She didn’t think so… but then, he’d had no qualms about telling her off, and he was certainly arrogant enough. Maybe he would try? But she didn’t think he would follow through – he wouldn’t be brave enough.
She spent the entire journey to the airport pressed up against the door, as far away from Shane as she could get. She ignored him, he ignored her, and her father didn’t return her call.
The chauffeur manoeuvred the limo as close to the airport terminal as he could get, and held her door open for her as she slid out of the car. Shane had already stacked his one black suitcase and her matching purple Louis Vuitton luggage set onto a trolley and with a subtle salute to the chauffeur, he led the way into the busy airport, deftly dodging the luggage trolley around the crowds. He didn’t speak to her, but she could see him watching her out of the corner of his eye, and he seemed to be constantly on alert. It was all she could do to keep up with his long strides as he steered them towards the check-in counter. Even though he was a brute, his constant alert presence made her feel safe, just
as her father had wanted.
Flying commercially was even worse than Virginia had thought it would be. They were crammed in like sardines with barely any room between her knees and the seat in front of her. Shane’s shoulders were so broad they spilled over the top of his seat into hers; fortunately the woman sitting to her left was small, but she still felt squashed. Although armrests separated them, the few centimetres space between them felt like nothing. It was a far cry from the luxuriously-furnished, spacious private jet her father owned that she normally flew in.
“I can’t believe Daddy is making me do this,” she muttered.
A tall, well-groomed flight attendant walked down the aisle, offering a cheery smile. “If there’s anything we can do for you to make your journey more comfortable, please don’t hesitate to ask,” she purred, her voice like silk. Shane nodded his acknowledgement, his expression friendly.
“How about a bit of space? This is ridiculous!” Virginia snapped. “Do you know who I am?”
The flight attendant gave her a blank look while Shane drove his elbow into her ribs in warning. She glared at him and rubbed her side, but didn’t take his hint.
“I’m Virginia Stiles. My father is Tom Stiles. The movie producer?” She hesitated, letting that information sink in before making her demands. “I’m not used to being so cramped. Can we be moved to First Class?”
The flight attendant shook her head. “I’m so sorry, ma’am, but the plane is full. You will need to remain in your booked seat.”
“But it’s cramped!” Virginia protested, her voice rising to a shrill screech.
“Thank you, we’ll be fine,” Shane assured the flight attendant, dismissing her with a wave of his hand.
“But…”
“Be quiet,” Shane hissed in her ear. “Do you remember what I said I would do to you if you didn’t behave? Don’t be fooled into thinking that being on a public flight will protect you. Stop complaining.”
Her buttocks clenched involuntarily and she squirmed in her seat at his words.
“And next time that flight attendant passes, you will apologise for your rudeness.”
Virginia snorted. “I don’t think so.”
Shane flexed his hands, making his threat clear once again. “I do.”
The expression on the face of the woman sitting next to her was a mix between shocked and incredulous with a touch of amusement, perhaps even ridicule and for the briefest of moments, Virginia felt guilty for her lack of manners. But then she tried to stretch her legs out and they hit the seat in front of her and her guilt evaporated. She was so squished! This is ridiculous. I will never forgive you for this, Daddy!
Virginia continued to complain on and off for the next twenty minutes and by the time Shane hissed at her to be quiet, the lady in the seat next to her had put in earphones and turned away.
“You’re not the boss of me,” Virginia snapped. “Stop trying to tell me what to do! If I want to complain about the treatment on board this cramped excuse for a plane, I will!”
Frowning, Shane stood up. He reached down and grasped her wrist in a tight grip, his fingers enclosing firmly around her sleeve.
“Come.” His deep voice rumbled as he issued the order and although he spoke quietly, it was clear he wouldn’t be disobeyed.
When she didn’t move, he gave her a tug, pulling her to her feet, then he led her down the aisle of the plane towards the back, where the bathrooms were located. She had no choice but to hurry along after him; his fingers weren’t easing up their grip on her wrist and he was too big for her to resist.
Still holding tight to her wrist, Shane pushed open the bathroom door with one hand and pushed her inside, squeezing his big frame in after her and locking the door behind them. Holding her chin in his hand, Shane stared intently into her eyes and scolded her, the expression on his face and the tone he was using making it clear he thought of her as nothing more than a naughty child who needed to be taught a lesson.
“You’ve done nothing but whinge and complain since before we got on this plane and I’ve had enough of it,” he growled, his gruff voice sending tremors through her body. “It’s an atrocious display of bad manners and you should be ashamed of yourself! What makes you think you’re any better than anybody else, that you should have more space? Is it the fact that your father’s got money? Is that it? You’re being incredibly rude and entitled, you’re behaving like a spoilt little brat!” Her eyes focused on a black spot on the wall above them, and he gave her a gentle shake, making her jump and causing her to look at him again. “Fortunately, I know just how to deal with girls who insist on behaving as spoilt brats. I believe you already know what’s about to happen. Turn around, brace your hands against the wall and bend over.”
When she didn’t immediately comply, Shane shifted his grip from her chin to her shoulders, where he spun her around and pressed her into position. His fingers curled around the back of her neck, holding her firmly in place.
“Unless you want to attract attention to yourself, I suggest you remain quiet for the duration of your spanking.”
“How dare you do this to me?” Virginia hissed. “My father will be finding out about this just as soon as we land and I will see you fired!”
“Your father is well aware of my methods,” Shane informed her somewhat sanctimoniously. “Why else do you think he hired me for this job? He wanted someone who wouldn’t let you walk all over them, someone to enforce their authority.”
She gasped. Was that true? Had her father really known that Shane would spank her? Did her father think her behaviour that terrible?
“You bastard!” she spat.
Shane chuckled.
She wanted to fight, to resist, but there was no room; the aircraft bathroom was too small with the both of them crammed in there for her to even move, much less attempt any flash techniques to evade his large body. She tried to kick out at him but he was pressed up against her and she couldn’t move her leg far enough to get up a good swing.
Crack! Fire exploded across her ass as his hand landed with a fury, the sound resonating around the tiny room and filling her ears. She bit back a cry of shock and pain, driving her teeth into her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.
Shane walloped her again, across her right buttock this time, his fingers spread out to cover a wider area, leaving a scorching burn that made her hiss in pain.
Furious now, she reared back with all her strength, desperate to escape the cruel smacks Shane was administering, but he was too strong for her and he held her down effortlessly while landing another burning whack to her left cheek.
“I hate you!” she ground out between clenched teeth, fighting back tears of pain and rage. “Let go of me! I hate you!”
“I’m not too fond of you myself, to be honest,” Shane told her conversationally as he smacked her again, his hard hand landing right in the centre of the fullest part of her bottom with enough force to jar her forward. “Let’s face it – you haven’t shown me much to like. All I’ve seen so far is a spoilt little brat having a temper tantrum because she can’t have her own way. I’ve heard whinging, moaning and complaining, non-stop. Which is a pity really – you’ve got such a nice ass.”
He gave it a squeeze, then smacked it again, in exactly the same spot that last swat had fallen, and Virginia put her teeth through her lip again, whimpering in pain.
An extra-hard smack connected with the back of her left thigh and she yelped. “Ow! That hurts!” she whispered, wanting desperately to reach round behind her and rub out the sting but knowing instinctively that such an action wouldn’t be allowed.
“I mean for it to hurt, it’s a punishment. A spanking only works to change behaviour if it hurts.”
“Spare me the psychobabble,” Virginia snapped. “I’m sorry, okay?”
Shane smacked her bottom again, even harder this time, his flattened palm scorching her sit spot. “No, I don’t think you are. Not yet. But you will be.”
It was all she c
ould do not to scream when Shane picked up the hem of her skirt and held it with the same hand that was holding her down. The only thing that stopped her was the mortifying thought of being rescued by the flight attendant she’d been rude to earlier – the woman would probably be pleased to see her get her comeuppance!
“Nooo.” It was a long, low moan, barely audible, but she knew Shane heard it. Her distress didn’t stop him though; he held the waistband of her sensible white cotton panties, scrunched them together at the top and tugged, the edges disappearing into her bottom crack, exposing her naked flesh.
Crack! Crack! The smacks hurt so much more on bare skin, and they both came in quick succession, one on each cheek.
“Please, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, actually contrite now. “I truly am.”
“Yes, I think we’re starting to get somewhere now,” Shane agreed. “It’s amazing what a couple of smacks on a bare bottom can do, isn’t it? Just another four and we’ll be done.”
“No!” Virginia protested, struggling to escape again.
“Six,” Shane amended.
“No!” The protest was louder this time, and more shrill.
“Eight. Are you going to be quiet now, or should I make it ten?” His voice was quiet but so stern, and Virginia was embarrassed at the tingle that started up between her legs at his words.
“I’ll be quiet,” she whispered, willing the sensations in her lady parts away.
“Good.”
The last eight smacks came hard and fast, in a rapid staccato pattern on alternating cheeks, focusing on her sit spots. She gritted her teeth, forcing back any sounds of protest, and she clenched her fists so hard her knuckles went white.
“Are you going to be a good girl now?” Shane asked, still holding her in position with her skirt up, exposing her hot, bare bottom.
“Yes, Sir,” she whimpered, desperate for the punishment to be over.
“Are you going to complain any more about this plane?”
“No, Sir.”