When the first smack hit, she welcomed the sting with a moan. "Sixteen." She supplied immediately, eager to receive more. She closed her eyes, waiting for the next one to drop as the seconds ticked over before melting together in a too-long pause.
"Oh, please, don't tease me. I can't wait any longer, I–” She started, willing to beg as much as she needed to get what she wanted. The librarian's nails scraped across her scalp, gentle almost, as if she was trying to get her attention instead of making a point.
"Did you hear that?" She whispered, tone tense. Candace had no idea what she was going on about but she couldn't concentrate anyway. The storm had gentled into a soft rain sometime during their play, but the office seemed as silent as...
A muffled thump came from somewhere beyond the door–from the library–and Candace felt the librarian freeze next to her, both of her hands falling away as she instinctively took a step back. Candace felt the loss immediately, her shoulders sagging, but she didn't even have time to lament it because they heard a voice next, coming from somewhere in the library.
Oh fuck.
"Hello? Anyone here?" It was a woman's voice, unsure but loud. "Violet Weston?" She called again and Weston's mouth opened, as if she didn't recognize it.
"Get dressed! Quickly!" She hissed to Candace before straightening her shoulders and smoothing her shaking hands over her button up and skirt, as if checking if she was presentable.
She was, to put it mildly.
Her bun had lost a few more strands and her glasses have slipped a bit further down her nose, but she looked almost entirely normal, if you discount her dark pupils and wet lips.
Meanwhile Candace had no doubt she looked like a train wreck. An exhibitionist train wreck, which was even worse.
"No, get rid of her and get back here. I'll wait." She hissed right back, uninterested in breaking things off quite yet.
Did she go through all this trouble to not get an orgasm at the end? She thought not.
But when she saw the librarian's responding glare, she sighed heavily and bent over to pull up her pants.
It was fine. She could get undressed again just as easily.
"Just a minute!" Violet called out through the open door as she waited impatiently for Candace to put herself in order again, her foot tapping on the floor. "I'll be right there!"
An obvious ploy to buy them some time, but it didn't work because the newcomer seemingly decided to follow the voice, her own heels announcing her arrival. She came to stop in front of the doorway just as Candace finished pulling her zipper up and tried to lean back on the desk nonchalantly. She didn't know how successful she was because she couldn't stop thinking of the position she was in just a few seconds ago on that very same table.
"Violet Weston?" The woman, still bundled up in her wet coat looked between them in question. When Violet nodded at her, she turned to her fully, taking a few confident steps inside the room. "I'm sorry I'm so late. I took a wrong turn somewhere along the road, the visibility was god-awful. I hope you didn’t wait too long."
Violet's mouth fell open, her eyes widening helplessly, and she fell uncharacteristically silent. Candace frowned, completely lost.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" She asked because it didn't seem like Violet was about to.
It was the stranger's turn to be confused. "I'm the escort? The one you ordered for tonight? The agency said nothing about a threesome though. I don't do those, hun." She turned to Violet again, who was ash-white and still not responsive. "One of you will have to leave or you will have to book another girl for some other night." She said, pulling out her phone casually as Candace's mind flew into overdrive, the night now cast in a whole new light.
She remembered the ridiculous exchange at the front desk, the not-quite correct overdue windows, Weston's entitled, and completely confident approach and her mouth fell open too. No wonder Weston looked like she was about to keel over.
"Oooh, that explains so much." Candace said, struck with a ridiculous urge to laugh.
"The question is…Who. The fuck. Are you?" The librarian finally seemed to join their conversation although she still seemed to trot a few steps behind. She pulled her arms up to wrap around her waist, looking positively murderous and Candace swallowed thickly.
She knew full well what she was getting herself into tonight. The librarian had to deal with a bait and switch. She even swore, though she claimed to not be fond of it a bit earlier.
Still, if all she was looking for was a stranger to bend over then she did get exactly what she wanted in the end.
"I'm Candace Kane?" She said and shrugged. "Moved here a couple of weeks ago. Avid reader. Dedicated perv." She grinned a bit but no one else seemed to find it funny.
"Get out." The librarian whispered, breaking eye contact after one incredulous stare in her direction.
Aw, shit.
"Does that mean we're–" Candace started but then shot a look in the escort's direction before continuing. "We're not gonna return my books? Because–"
"Get. Out. Both of you." The librarian cut off, anger in her voice leaving absolutely no doubt about her seriousness. The escort seemed to think the same because she slinked away after another quick apology.
Candace sighed and moved to take her coat and bag. She spared the librarian's tense shoulders one last look before turning away herself, feeling sluggish and unfulfilled.
She would bet Weston wasn't much better off.
But perhaps she'd be in a more charitable mood once she cooled off. This was not over, not by a long shot.
Chapter 3
Violet Weston was absolutely fine.
Calm, collected, focused, and relaxed.
How could she not be? Her weekend was so perfect.
So restful.
She cleaned her house, top to bottom. She did her laundry. She cooked her meals for the whole next week. She cleaned her house again. At that point her bathroom was so shiny she had to squint each time she entered.
By the time she left her house midday on Monday, her life was in perfect order. All incidents that may have happened last Friday were already forgotten and buried. Her subconscious may have still had a bit of trouble catching up, but that was a minor issue.
So what if she woke up every night panting and wet, the image of that shameless woman bent over and moaning burned into her eyes? That was completely understandable and pushed aside as soon as she took a quick cold shower. Most of the time anyway.
Well, sometimes.
She had definitely forgotten about it once after a cold shower; that was for sure.
It was even understandable that sometimes she didn't jerk awake in horror straight away and her mind supplied possible scenarios in which the scene could have evolved if it wasn't interrupted. Like for example, that second spanking session could have been delivered, as a dream on Friday evening showed in great detail. Or she could have gone through with her promise and… claimed the pervert. One time–in the early hours of Sunday, Violet was pretty sure–a toy and harness helpfully appeared on her office desk. In this dream, Violet didn’t question the appearance too much, instead jumping to using the strap-on immediately.
Still, she couldn't be blamed for that, surely. Of course her subconscious struggled with what had happened. None of that mattered now however. She had sent a very strongly worded letter to the agency, demanded a refund, and put her house in order literally and figuratively over the weekend. And she dreamt about pinning Ms. Kane to the wall only once last night, so she was truly over the hump.
She was doing just fine indeed.
When she got into work, she was greeted by her colleague Sheila as if it was a perfectly ordinary day. She didn't expect anything else of course. Her parents came over for a family lunch over the weekend and didn't denounce her as their daughter or called her an embarrassment to the family.
Jade even visited for a BFF movie night and didn't call her a shameless deviant either. So the ridiculously named Candace Kane could obvious
ly keep her mouth shut. That was very reassuring.
Emboldened, Violet took her place behind the front desk, fingers idly playing with the stack of books that needed to be shelved. A group of children whispered and giggled in the corner, no doubt waiting for Sheila to start their Monday reading session, sunlight falling through the window and framing them in gentle light, as Sheila started herding them toward the back end of the library and their reading corner.
Mrs. Burke was nowhere in sight either. The library seemed utterly deserted. With any luck, it would continue being so until later in the afternoon when a few of the regulars would start trickling in. Until then, Violet would have time to have a cup of coffee, do a bit of work, and retake control of her library again, once Sheila went home.
Dipping her head back, Violet closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath, feeling confident for the first time in three days that everything would turn out fine. Better than fine. Perhaps in a decade or two, she might even forget how much of an idiot she was last Friday, if she kept working at it.
She had a whole of five seconds to enjoy that sensation before she heard a now familiar voice coming from the reading corner. She heard it groaning and begging over and over again each time she closed her eyes. How could she not recognize it?
"Excuse me, how many books are in this series?" Violet froze at the sound of it, tension immediately spilling into her shoulders, her fingers digging into the books until she heard a crinkling sound. Innocent question, but damn Candace Kane was voicing it, which made all the difference.
Why was she here? What did she want? Did she have no shame? Didn't she get the unspoken agreement that she and Violet should avoid each other from now till the end of time?
What was that woman thinking?
Sheila muttered something in response to the devil woman, but Violet couldn't discern what. She did, however, hear what Ms. Kane responded gleefully right away. "Oh, Miss Weston will know? And she's here already? I'll go ask her then. Thank you for all your help."
Violet closed her eyes again, this time in torturous silence. She swallowed thickly, heartbeat thundering in her neck as she heard footsteps coming closer through the bookshelves, closing in on her, each one filling her cheeks with a new rush of blood. There was no chance for escape.
She jerked her hands back and clenched them again, her jaw locking too. Pull yourself together, she ordered. She wouldn’t be brought down by this, this...
"Oh hello there." She still twitched when she heard the voice again, now barely a few feet away. Much lower and suggestive too, though she couldn't be quite sure if that was her imagination. She would have lifted her eyes to check the woman's expression, but Candace was still walking over until she leaned casually on the front desk, which made her entirely too close for comfort. Having her in the library at all was too close. Hell, having her in town was closer than Violet was comfortable with.
"Hello, Ms. K-Kane." Lifting her eyebrows, Violet greeted her casually though her eyes were still focused on the books in front of her. Her stoic charade was immediately ruined when she stumbled over the name however. Calling her that in her mind was one thing but saying it aloud...She couldn’t help but flashback to last Friday when she drawled the name in teasing. In threat.
Did Candace notice the difference? She must have; it was too jarring to ignore. But it was easy to be confident and demanding when you supplied a script for a whole evening. It was much harder when you were faced with one of your biggest mistakes ever made.
Even worse, the woman seemed to hone in on Violet's issue immediately and she let out an amused chuckle. "Candace is fine." She said and Violet nodded slowly after a moment. It was too familiar for her taste but it would have to do.
"How can I help you?" She said, and forced herself to lift her eyes finally. Hiding was ridiculous. Plus, this woman had more reason to be embarrassed than Violet did. Probably.
She was greeted by a knowing smirk but Violet didn't budge, instead continuing to look expectantly at Ms. Ka–at Candace as she was a perfectly regular patron on a perfectly ordinary day.
Though her expression remained devious, Candace's question was perfectly innocent. "Yes, I had a question about this series…" She showed the book to Violet–an urban fantasy Violet had already read–and asked the same question about series length.
"Seven books." Violet responded, an image of professionalism. "Would you like to borrow the first three?" Three was the limit which meant Candace would be out in just a few short minutes.
"I think I’ll only take the first one for now." Candace said, her smirk widening before she continued. "Though I'll probably borrow them all in the end. I hate unfinished business." Violet's breath froze at the barely disguised implication but she loaned out the book in record time without further comment. She had no idea what to say to that anyway.
"Anything else I can help you with?" She asked stiltedly as she handed over the now checked out book.
"Yes." Candace responded, grabbing the book and turning half away to her bag before putting it inside. Her demeanor was so casual but Violet tensed anyway. "I'd like to get your number as well."
"M-my number?" She stuttered out, caught off guard completely. It seemed that this woman indeed didn't understand a thing about Violet. What in the world was she playing at? Was she completely shameless?
"Yes. I would like to take you out to dinner." Candace turned to her again, her eyes twinkling. They were a shade lighter this afternoon but still a very vibrant blue, almost the exact shade of cornflower. Very destructive to concentration if you locked gazes for too long. "The sooner the better."
"D-dinner?" Okay, at this point Violet was very aware she was embarrassing herself, but she couldn't compute this newest information at all. This woman wanted to go out? All Violet was interested in since the whole Friday fiasco was stomping out every memory of it.
"Yes." Candace responded again and quirked an eyebrow, the first sign of confusion in her otherwise very casual demeanor, her elbows coming to rest on the front desk. An image of her leaning against her office desk flashed through Violet’s mind but she pushed it way savagely, forcing herself to focus on the words. "I find myself unable to stop thinking about you ever since our… electrifying evening together."
Violet flushed, ignoring the first part of the last sentence furiously, though she was glad she didn't seem to be alone in her fixation at least. At least Candace was forced to replay their encounter over and over in her head too.
The second part, however, was too ridiculous to let slide. Electrifying? What a weird word to use. After the interruption happened, anyway.
"I'm sorry, you seem–" She started before sweeping a quick look behind Candace's back. No one was in sight and she could hear Sheila reading to the children, but she still leaned in by a fraction before continuing in a whisper. "You seem to remember our meeting quite differently than I do. It was the most humiliating, mortifying, excruciating night of my whole life."
Candace shrugged–shrugged–before responding. "It was a bit embarrassing once the actual sex worker arrived but I thought we were getting along pretty well until then."
Violet's first urge was to hiss 'pretty well?' at Candace but she really had to stop repeating everything the woman was saying. Instead, she closed her eyes for a second before responding, forcing her words out in a calm and reasonable manner.
"Only slightly embarrassing? You dropped your pants and bent over for a stranger after only a few steely words." She said, but evidence number one had no influence on Candace.
"Not my proudest moment, admittedly, but in my defense, that stranger was you."
Violet frowned, confused. "Me? What does that even mean?"
"Do you own mirror, Weston? That should explain everything real fast." Candace winked and earned another flush and another deep, steadying breath. This one was a bit shaky, because Candace’s perfume was really good. Sharp but not overpowering, making Violet want to lean in further. "I don't get propositioned
by ridiculously hot librarians every day. I had to jump on the opportunity. Especially since it's been awhile since anyone propositioned me with anything like that."
Violet paused for a second, unsure how to respond. She'd figured habit had Candace jumping head first into a sexual encounter, not a dry spell. Which was ridiculous on its own. She snuck another quick look at Candace, noting the lovely thick thighs squeezed into tight black jeans, and the swell of breasts beneath her wide, casual button up.
Women should be throwing themselves at her.
She decided to move to another point instead of trying to argue the previous one. "And I hired a prostitute to scratch an itch I couldn’t forget and leave well enough alone. It was hardly a highpoint for either of us."
"Perhaps, but at least now you know I could scratch that itch for you." Candace winked, leaving Violet speechless. "And I think you should call a working girl a sex worker these days. Or an escort. Your vocabulary is a bit outdated."
Violet brought her hand to her nose and rubbed the bridge of it, completely at loss. This woman would be the death of her.
"What I'm… what I'm trying to say is–” She started again, now letting both of her hands fall on the counter, on each side of Candace's. Only a sparse number of inches divided them now but she wanted to make sure she was understood. "This is something we want to put out of our minds yesterday. This is not the type of story that starts relationships. We won't be telling our grandchildren this story one day."
"I'm asking you out on a date, Weston, not your hand in marriage. Let's take it one step at a time." Candace said, the point flying straight over her head. Though her last remark did make Violet flush for what seemed the hundredth time in five minutes. It was a figure of speech. Of course she wasn't implying a deeper relationship; she didn't even want to consider a single date.
Desperate, she went for one last ditch attempt. “I don’t even know anything about you! What you do for a living, or if you have any family, or anything else about you. You just dropped into the library out of nowhere and expect me to—” Her voice petered off because she couldn’t find the right words. Candace’s arrival might have been the most exciting thing that ever happened to Violet, but she couldn’t just...go with the flow or whatever. That just wasn’t how Violet did things.
Fine or Punishment (Twist of Fate Book 1) Page 4