* * *
Unbeknownst to Annie, Jack had been doing a lot of research about spanking over the past week. Like the scientist he was, he perused the topic carefully. He realized, on Saturday, that most of what he knew about spanking came from reading the fantasies people posted on the internet, and fantasies weren't the right thing for him to base his actions on.
He had spent much of his free time over the past few days researching the advice posted online from people who actively practiced adult spanking relationships, especially in the area of domestic discipline. There were sites dedicated to helping couples pursue such a lifestyle, and they contained helpful advice about how to prepare for a spanking, how to deliver a spanking, what implements to use and how to use them, how to position a spankee, how to provide what they called aftercare, and so on. Although some of the sites occasionally contradicted one another, for instance, regarding whether a 'warm up' was a good idea before a disciplinary spanking, for the most part the advice was sound and helpful.
In addition to researching the topic of spanking more accurately, Jack also spent some time looking into the university's policy regarding romantic relationships between students and faculty. He talked with the chair of his department, emailed with the dean, the human resources director, and even the provost. Although the school did not encourage such liaisons and guidelines were set up to prevent abuses, Jack was relieved to find that such relationships were not forbidden. Of course, he shouldn't have been surprised; relationships between students and faculty had occurred at every university he knew of. As long as Annie was no longer a student in one of the classes he taught, and as long as there was no quid pro quo or no 'hostile work environment' involved, the university had no rules forbidding him from seeing Annie – or apparently, from spanking her, if she had agreed to it.
But what about Annie? Did she have any interest in having a relationship with him? He had been afraid she might hate him for spanking her last weekend, but she had seemed as friendly and helpful as ever, if slightly more timid than usual. But friendly and helpful did not mean that she felt about him the way he was starting to feel about her.
Jack thought long and hard about how to broach the topic with Annie in a way that wouldn't scare her off. He had to remind himself to make it easy for her to say no, if this wasn't what she wanted. He also had to take it slowly enough so she had time to adjust to the idea that he was interested in a relationship with her. He needed to woo her very carefully and from a bit of a distance, so he didn't break any university regulations while giving her time to get to know and like him better.
Chapter 7
Annie got off the bus at the correct stop and stepped out into the icy wind. According to Jack's directions, it was a short block and a half walk to his house.
Although the wind was bitingly cold, Annie walked slowly. Her trepidation about what lay ahead grew with every step she took. Several times, she slowed to a stop and started to turn around to go back, but what would she say to Jack if she didn't show up? Each time, she turned back toward his house and resumed her walk.
She felt like a condemned prisoner on her way to the gallows. In some ways, she reflected, it was even worse because she didn't know exactly what was coming. Oh, she knew she was going to get a spanking, all right. But how? What exactly was he planning? What was going to happen? Would he just pull her in the door and start spanking her? Did he have special spanking tools there? Was he going to spank her all night? Was he going to yell at her a lot? How mad at her was he? She was so nervous that she was trembling.
Although she walked slowly, it seemed she arrived at the right address in no time at all. She took a deep breath before climbing the porch steps. Her heart was beating so hard, she felt lightheaded. She could hear traffic sounds from the main road and, closer by, the sound of a dog barking. As she stood in front of the door, looking at the doorbell, she took another deep breath of the cold air, hoping it would steady her nerves. Her hands were shaking too hard to push the bell.
And what should she say when he answered the door, anyway? "Hello, I'm here and ready to be spanked?" There just weren't any etiquette books that described what to do when you arrived at your advisor's house for your well-deserved spanking! The desire to turn around and run back to the bus stop became nearly overpowering.
Suddenly, the door flew open. Annie nearly fell over backwards in surprise. Jack stood in the doorframe, smiling his heartbreaking grin at her. "Come on in; it's freezing out there!" he exclaimed.
Annie stood rooted to the spot. "H-how…d-did you know I was here?" she asked through her chattering teeth.
Jack laughed. "Sam always knows when someone is at the door, long before the bell rings. Didn't you hear him barking?"
"Y-you have a dog?" Annie asked incredulously. She was still not able to overcome her paralysis and step inside the house.
Jack reached out and took her hand gently. "Come on in; you're shivering," he said, leading her into the house and closing the door. "Are you afraid of dogs? I can take Sam over to my neighbor's house, if he bothers you."
Annie felt the warm air of the house surround her as she let Jack help her out of her coat. "No, I love dogs. I'm just surprised you have one, that's all." Annie stuffed her hat and scarf and mittens in her coat sleeve and slipped out of her boots.
Jack laughed again. "And why would that surprise you?" he asked.
Annie was embarrassed that she had blurted out such a thing – great way to make an entrance, by saying something stupid! She tried to cover her embarrassment by saying, "Umm, it's just that I miss my dog a lot."
Jack smiled at her again as he led her through the house. "So you have a dog, too? You'll have to tell me about him or is it a her?" Annie had a quick glimpse of a sparsely furnished living room and dining room and then they were in the kitchen.
"Sorry, I'm running a little behind," Jack explained. "I got held up at the pool. I'm just making dinner now. Have you eaten yet?"
"Umm, no." Annie looked around the kitchen. The room seemed cozy and bright. It had all high-end modern appliances and lots of cooking paraphernalia neatly organized and displayed. She saw cutting boards covered with chopped vegetables and smelled rice cooking.
Jack opened a door on the other side of the kitchen, and Annie's examination of the room was interrupted by a ball of fur that came flying at her knees.
"Sam, down," Jack ordered in a stern voice. The ball of fur came to a screeching halt and plopped itself right at Annie's feet, tail wagging frantically. Annie looked down into a pair of warm brown eyes that looked beseechingly up at her, begging to be petted. Annie dropped to her knees and scratched the dog behind his ears. His whole body began wriggling frantically while he struggled to remain in the down position.
Jack took pity on him and released him with the command, "Okay." Sam leapt up and tried to get as close to Annie as he could get. He seemed to be trained not to lick her face and compensated by frantically licking the air in front of her face instead. Annie forgot her nervousness, momentarily, as she laughed at Sam's antics.
Suddenly, Annie noticed that Sam had only three legs. "What happened to his other leg?" she asked.
Jack continued chopping the ingredients for dinner while he answered, "He was a stray, no tags, no collar. I was out running one day just after I got here, when I saw some commotion in the street. It was the animal protection services, and they had found him after a car had hit him. They said they were going to have to euthanize him because no one would be willing to adopt a dog that needed such extensive and expensive vet care. I offered to adopt him on the spot, if no one claimed him, and he came home with me after his surgery."
"Wow, that's…that was nice of you," Annie stammered. She was a bit surprised to see this side of Jack.
Jack came over and stood beside Annie and Sam. "Well, when I looked into those big brown eyes, I fell in love with him right away. I couldn't resist him." Jack reached down and rubbed Sam's head. "When I fall in love, I fall hard,
and I fall fast," he added with a laugh.
Just then, Sam started scratching himself rapidly and noisily, and Annie's laughter joined Jack's. "Who could resist all this charm, right?" Jack laughed, returning to the sink to wash his hands. "Let me just finish this up, and we can eat."
Now that the surprising distraction of Sam had abated a bit, Annie felt some of her nervous apprehension returning, not as much, though, as she had felt on her way over here. Something about the cheery kitchen helped calm her down a bit. Silly, Annie thought to herself. What was I expecting? A dungeon? But whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't this cozy little domestic scene, either.
Annie looked at Jack as he started to add ingredients to the sizzling wok. He was dressed more casually than he usually was at school. He had on jeans, athletic shoes, and an ivory turtleneck sweater that emphasized his broad shoulders and muscular chest. His brown hair was damp, too, she noticed, and the curls were much more evident in this tousled state. He must have just gotten out the shower and toweled it quickly, rather than combing all the curls into a more civilized hairstyle.
Annie felt her breath catch when she looked at him. Oh, he was gorgeous! She had thought he was handsome at school, but he was even better looking here in this relaxed state. She couldn't take her eyes off him – just looking at him, moving so gracefully around his kitchen, made her belly tighten and her breath come fast.
* * *
He sensed her watching him, and he turned and smiled at her. She dropped her eyes quickly as her face reddened with embarrassment. What was she doing, thinking about him like that? She was here for one reason, and that was not to enjoy the sight of him. She was here because she had misbehaved disgracefully by breaking the laws designed to protect his lab animals, and he was going to punish her for it. That realization caused her anxiety to return with the force of a blow.
Just then, Jack brought the silverware and napkins from the kitchen to begin setting the table in the dining room. He had to squeeze by Annie as she stood in the doorway, and when he brushed past her, she was suddenly overpowered by the scent of him so close by. He wasn't wearing cologne or aftershave, but his soapy clean, just showered man-scent was intoxicating. Without meaning to, she closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of him. "Mmm, you smell good," she murmured, with her eyes still closed.
Jack stopped in surprise, smiled down at her, and said with barely suppressed laughter, "Why, thank you, Annie!"
* * *
Annie's eyes flew open. Had she really said that aloud? She was horrified to think she had made a fool of herself by blurting out ridiculous comments twice, already, in the few minutes she had been here. She tried to pull her foot out of her mouth by saying, "I meant the food smells good."
"Okay, Annie." Jack couldn't suppress his laughter any more, and his eyes twinkled. It was clear he didn't believe her attempts to extricate herself from her faux pas. She really was a terrible liar. "Why don't you just wash your hands while I finish up the cooking?"
Annie was glad for the chance to turn her blushing face away from him and spent longer than she needed to washing up. She couldn't get over what a good mood he seemed to be in. She had never seen him laugh and smile as much as he had tonight.
When she turned back around, she saw that, instead of using serving bowls, Jack was serving the food directly onto their plates. "That's too much for me," Annie protested. "Besides, I don't—"
"What will you have to drink?" Jack interrupted, handing her the plates to put on the dining room table. "I know you're too young for alcohol, young lady." Jack gave her a mock stern glare. "But you're welcome to anything else."
Annie was quite disconcerted that Jack was joking about her drinking alcohol, since letting Paulie bring alcohol into the lab was one of the things he planned to spank her for tonight. She lost her train of thought and it took her a moment to answer. "I-I'll just have water," she stammered.
"One water, coming up." Jack brought a bottle of beer for himself, as well. It was a fancy Asian beer Annie had never seen before. "Do you mind if I have a beer? I won't, if you'd rather I didn't."
"No, it's fine," she answered. She was surprised he would ask her permission to drink his own beer in his own house.
Jack returned to the kitchen and came back with the iPod and dock and plugged it in. "What kind of music do you like, Annie? I've got a little of everything on here or we can use the stereo."
"Umm, whatever was playing in the kitchen is fine." Annie didn't want to say anything that might change the good mood he seemed to be in.
"Oh, that was cooking music. We need dining music now."
"Okay," said Annie. She had never known anyone who had separate cooking and eating music before. "Why don't you just pick something?"
Jack flashed a big grin before he bent back over his iPod and made some adjustments that resulted in jazz piano playing softly in the background. After sitting down and wishing her, "Bon Appetite!" he dug into his food with gusto.
Annie felt too nervous to eat. She started thinking about what lay ahead in the evening, and her throat seemed to close up. She pushed some rice around her plate with her fork. Jack noticed her worried look and smiled at her again.
"Go ahead, you can eat it. I promise it's not poisoned. In fact, if you like, we can trade plates, if that will set your mind at ease." He laughed. "Isn't that what they do in spy movies, when they suspect poisoning?"
Annie had never seen him so cheerful before. Was he always like this at home? Although she had rarely seen him in a bad mood at school, he was usually more serious and didn't laugh and smile as much as he did here. She didn't know what she had expected to find, here at his house tonight, but she was certainly unprepared for his ebullient, almost exuberant good spirits. She had sort of expected him to be stern and angry with her, as he was last Saturday night when he found she had let Paulie in the lab. Instead, this boisterous, laughing Jack seemed almost surreal.
Jack held his plate out to Annie with a wicked smile and a wink. Annie blushed and stabbed a carrot from her own plate. "That's okay, I'll eat from my own plate," she mumbled, putting the food in her mouth. Actually, it was very good. The sauce was quite tasty, and the carrot was firm and delicious.
"That's my girl," Jack said. While he ate, he talked about his family, growing up in rural North Carolina with his three older sisters. He mentioned that his middle sister had been on the national ski team, and he talked about all the time they had spent on ski slopes in Utah, while she was training. He asked Annie about her family, and she found herself telling him about her three brothers and life on their farm. She explained that, although it was a working farm, it did not provide enough income to support the family, so her dad also worked full time at the Ford plant and her mother worked as a cashier part time at the local supermarket. Jack listened with avid interest to everything she said and asked a lot of questions about her father's dairy cows and the chickens her mother raised for eggs.
Annie ate a few more bites while she talked, as the distraction of thinking about her family lessened her anxiety about what was to come. Jack told several very funny stories about growing up with his three sisters, and that put Annie even more at ease.
When Jack had finished his food, he looked over at Annie's plate. "Come on, Annie, you've hardly touched your dinner. Eat some more."
Rather than argue with him, Annie put a small bite of rice in her mouth. "That's not enough! Eat some chicken, Annie," Jack ordered. "You told me you didn't have dinner yet."
"But I—" Annie started to protest.
"Eat your chicken, Annie," Jack insisted again. His grin was fading, and, although he didn't look angry yet, Annie didn't want to take any chances, especially at this point in the evening, with her spanking rapidly approaching. She speared a piece of chicken and ate it. Jack's smile returned and he encouraged, "Go on…"
Annie ate another piece of chicken, more slowly this time. Her stomach tightened and it was hard to swallow. She was afraid she might be sick.
"Please, no more!" she pleaded.
Jack smiled at her for a moment, then got up and began clearing the table. Annie hurried to help. Together, they made short work of the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen.
Annie looked around frantically for something else to do. She wasn't ready for this phase of the evening to end and the next to begin. She started to feel a wave of panic overtake her.
Jack turned around and leaned back against the counter, propping himself up on his elbows. He looked at Annie and said, "Well, I guess it's time to get down to business."
Chapter 8
Annie felt the panic rise until she was afraid she might pass out. She tried to breathe but couldn't seem to get any air. She just stared at Jack, terrified of what was to come.
She knew he could see she was about to lose it and realized he needed to take control and needed to show her that this wasn't going to be as bad as she feared. He reached out and took her hand and led her quickly back through the house. He strode up the stairs, leading Annie along behind him.
Annie's panic intensified as Jack led her up the stairs. Where were they going? What was he going to do up there? He wasn't taking her to his bedroom, was he? She couldn't go in there! Although, there was only one flight of stairs, Annie was out of breath by the top, because Jack moved so quickly and because her panic prevented her from catching her breath.
At the top of the stairs, Annie could see that one door led to a bathroom and the next door was closed. There was another door partially open and, through it, Annie could see a bizarre arrangement of metal poles and ropes.
Her heart froze for a second as she thought that maybe Jack had a dungeon after all, but then she recognized the structure of the exercise equipment for what it was. Before she could process her relief, they had already moved on to the next rooms. She started to panic again as they approached what was obviously a bedroom, but then they were past that as well and Jack turned into a door that led to the last room.
Submitting To Her Professor Page 7