Her eyes widened and she started to try and formulate words, but he held one finger to her lips to silence her.
“No need to say anything, Meg. I love you. Utterly. I would do anything for you, but I know its early days for you and I’m prepared to wait. I can’t change the person I am. Your safety and protection will always be the most important things for me, but Lily’s right, I would never try and stifle you or prevent you following your dreams. All I ask is that you keep yourself safe and look after yourself when I’m not there to do it for you. And,” he added firmly, “if that means spanking you to make sure you take those things seriously, then you know I’ll do it, but I’ll do because I love you, because I can’t bear the thought of you exposing yourself to danger and getting hurt.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes at his words and she opened her mouth again to speak, “I do trust you. Really I do. It’s just taken me a while I think to trust myself and my own feelings.”
“I know, love,” he replied and, with a tender smile said, “Sometimes I think I know you better than you seem to know yourself and Lily certainly does!”
She smiled back at him. “From what Lily was saying or, I guess, more from what she wasn’t saying, I think there’s probably a man on the horizon, but she wouldn’t talk about it.” She frowned slightly, “Which really isn’t like her, but I’m not sure what I can do.”
“Right now, there’s probably no need to do anything. Lily’s a strong woman, but she also strikes me as someone who knows her own mind and what she wants from a relationship.”
“Unlike, me you mean,” Megan said wryly, rolling her eyes.
“Mmmmm,” he laughed at her, “but that means there’s more fun for me persuading you of what you need!”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the smugness he made no effort to hide and he leaned over to give her a quick kiss.
It wasn’t long before he had asked the waiter for the cheque, settled up and they were in a taxi on their way back to her apartment, with her snuggled into his side and her head resting on his broad shoulder.
She yawned, feeling sleepy after the wine. “Did you get a chance to look over the agreement?” she asked.
“Yes – it all looked fine. I’ve left a message with Michael to ask him when he can sign. It may be a week or so away as he’s taking the girls away for a few days, but hopefully once he’s back he’ll be able to come into town to sign pretty quickly.”
“Great,” she said, feeling relieved, not so much about the agreement itself – she knew she’d done a decent job with it – but glad that there was an end in sight to her time with Ramone, “I’ll call Ramone tomorrow and check in with him about his availability.”
“Hm,” he said, clearly not pleased.
“Hey,” she poked at his ribs, “it’ll be fine, it’s nearly over now and he’ll just be pleased to buy the company and move on.”
“Maybe,” he said neutrally, “but I still want you to be careful.”
“I know and I will,” she said, wanting to reassure him, “Really, he’s been much better since...” Damn! Her words trailed off. She’d been about to say that Ramone had been better since the episodes with Julie and Louise, as he’d realised he needed to keep some of his lawyers on his side, but remembered guiltily that she still hadn’t told Luke about that.
“Since what?” Luke asked, clearly suspicious, his eyes boring down at her.
“Oh, nothing, that is, I meant, just he’s been better more recently,” Megan had never been that good at lying and for some reason lying to Luke was near on impossible.
“Megan,” he said warningly, tilting her head up towards him.
She shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Truly, she had intended to tell him, but this wasn’t the way she had wanted it to come out.
“Megan,” he repeated, “Since when?”
At the same time, the taxi drew up outside her apartment and she let out a long silent sigh of relief at what she knew was a temporary reprieve as they got out of the taxi and went into the building.
As the lift took them up to her flat and they stood in silence, she told herself nervously that she just needed to tell him the truth and it would be fine, really.
As they walked towards her apartment he took the keys from her hand, still saying nothing, unlocked her front door and they went in. Exhaling slowly, she took off her coat and followed him into the living room.
He stood by the window as she hovered nearby.
“Sit,” he said, motioning with his head to the sofa.
Nodding, she sat down in the middle of the sofa.
“Now talk,” he commanded, still standing still.
She looked up at him, “Please,” she said, “please come and sit with me. I really was going to talk to you about the whole fiasco, but just kept putting it off.”
He stared down at her, taking in her troubled expression and his stern gaze softened and he went to sit down next to her and pulled her close to him, holding her in his arms and comforting her.
“Shh,” he said. “It’s okay. Tell me.”
Reassured by his presence, finding comfort in the rock solid circle of his arms, the whole story came tumbling out, how first Julie and then Louise had been subject to Ramone’s attentions and how, although David Delaney had taken them off the transaction, he hadn’t confronted Ramone about his actions and Megan had been left to manage the entire transaction with no support, with an implicit warning not only that her future depended on this transaction, but also that he didn’t want any more “trouble” with the client.
Tears welled up in her eyes, “I tried to help Julie and Louise, really I did,” she told him, “I tried to talk to David, but he just didn’t want to know.”
She could feel the silent fury building up in him. “You think I should have done more?” she asked, worry creasing her brow.
“More? You?” he asked, amazed and set her back from him a little so he could properly see her face. “Meg, love, there was absolutely nothing you could do over this. It was Delaney’s responsibility to deal with the situation though, frankly, it doesn’t surprise me that he didn’t. He doesn’t have a reputation for looking after his own people, only himself,” he added, grimly.
“How are Julie and Louise now?” he asked.
“So, so,” she said. “They were shaken up by the whole fiasco. They’re both just starting out and I don’t think they ever expected to have to deal with something like that. I had lunch with Julie the other day and she’s worried that it may have tainted her career at the firm, that David won’t put her on any decent deals now. And she may well be right,” she added glumly.
She looked up at him, anxiously, “I did truly want to tell you, I just wasn’t sure how. I didn’t want you to judge me, think that I could have done more to prevent Ramone cornering the girls, or to stand up more to David. I really did try, but he just cut me off and told me to stay out of it.”
“You still should have told me,” he said solemnly. “You knew I was concerned about Ramone, knew I understood what he’s like. How am I supposed to make sure you’re safe if you don’t tell me the full story?” he asked, his eyes demanding an answer.
“I know,” she said honestly, “and I’m sorry. I just didn’t want you taking matters into your own hands, or talking to David, or even Ramone. I already felt so confused over my feelings about everything, with you, with work, with myself, I just didn’t know what to do.” Now she was quietly shaking again, as the guilt she’d felt over the last few weeks caught up with her.
“Talking with Lily,” she gulped, aware that her sentences may not be making much sense, “I knew I should tell you, I felt so guilty for not telling you, knew what you’d think, but...” she hiccupped through the tears that were beginning to streak her cheeks, “didn’t know how.” She looked up at him beseechingly, wanting him to understand just how tumultuous her emotions had been over the last few weeks.
He stroked her shoulders, soothing her. “I know, love, I know,”
he said and cuddled her to him. “But you know I’m not going to let this go, don’t you?” he asked.
She froze. She had a horrible feeling she knew exactly what he meant and she knew she deserved what was coming to her, she felt like she’d deceived him for weeks by not revealing the extent of the problems with Ramone. Slowly, she relaxed and nodded her head at him, acknowledging that which was implicit in his question and accepting it.
“But first,” he said firmly, “I want you to promise me that there’ll be no more keeping secrets, no more lies by omission.”
That made her sit up and deny hotly, “It wasn’t a lie! I didn’t ever lie about it.”
“Just because you failed to say anything, doesn’t mean it was any less than a lie,” he answered her bluntly. “Love, just as you need to trust me, at the same time, if this is going to work between us, I need to know that I can trust you to be honest and not to try and cover up anything with me. I don’t want to have the worry of trying to second guess what you haven’t told me.”
The slow trickle of tears that had been welling up inside her now began to fall more quickly down her face, as it hadn’t even occurred to her that he would see her silence as affecting his ability to trust her.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered brokenly.
“I want you to promise me that you’ll be even more careful with Ramone now. No meetings with him on your own at all. I want to be there at all times. Now that the agreements are finalised, there’s no reason for you to be meeting with him confidentially. Everything can be arranged with me and Michael there as well.”
“Okay,” she said, knowing he was right and that there wouldn’t be any need for her to be seeing Ramone on her own from now on.
He got up from the sofa and held his hand out to her. “Shall we get this over and done with?” he asked gently but firmly.
Instinctively, she shrank back into the sofa. She knew he intended to spank her, knew it had probably been earned, but that didn’t mean she had to like it, or want it!
His eyes narrowed slightly, but his voice remained steady, “There’s no point making this harder on yourself, Meg,” he said. “You knew this would happen.”
His penetrating gaze was completely inflexible and, trembling, she said to him, “I’m scared,” in a small voice.
“Of me?” he asked softly.
She shook her head, unable to form the lie that might have gotten her out of the spanking. “Of it hurting,” she said.
He nodded his head, “It will hurt. It will hurt more than that first taste I gave you in my office. It will be a proper spanking, one that I want you to remember when you next think about concealing anything from me. But,” he said, “I’ll only use my hand on you.”
Her eyes swung up to his. It had never occurred to her that he would use anything else!
He saw the expression on her face. “If I feel it’s justified, if you really deserve it, I won’t hesitate to take a paddle or my belt to your bottom. But this time, it will just be my hand. Now are you coming?”
Although all the blood had drained out of her face at his words, she realised there was no way she was escaping this and with a deep breath took his hand and he helped her to her feet and led her into the bedroom.
Once there, he settled himself on the leather, high backed chair that stood next to her dressing table and, with a small but deliberate tug on her hand, had her over his lap before she knew what happened.
Swiftly, he adjusted her position so that she was slightly off balance, her face bobbing down by the carpet and then raised the hem of her dress so that it gathered by her waist and tugged her panties down so that they were caught mid way down her thighs.
She gasped audibly as she felt the cold air around her bottom, as he stripped her of the small protection those panties would have afforded, “Luke, no!” she cried.
Sternly, he said to her, “From now on, Megan, if I have cause to spank you, rest assured it will be on your bare bottom. I’m not having you trying to hide behind your clothes and, besides,” he added, “after all we’ve shared in the last weeks, how intimate we’ve been with each other, there’s no reason for you to be covered for this.”
And with those words he brought the palm of his hand down with a crack across her buttocks.
“Owwww,” she cried out, as heat flooded her bottom and she twisted and turned in an attempt to escape his powerful hand, legs flailing and arms reaching back behind her in a futile attempt to shield her bottom from his hand’s ministrations.
“None of that, Meg,” he said sternly, grasping her wrists together in his free hand while he brought his palm down again over her bottom.
“Owwww” she cried out again, “Luke, it’s too much, I can’t stand it, please, please stop.”
He ignored her pleas and brought his hand down again and again and again, raining spanks down on her bottom, applying them to each buttock equally.
“You can stand it and you will, Meg,” he responded. “You know why you’re here and you know I’m doing this because I love you. You’ve had twelve spanks already and you’re going to lay there until you’ve taken the full fifty you have coming to you.”
“Fifty?” she cried, “No, Luke, I can’t, you mustn’t!”
“Yes, Megan, fifty. And if you ever conceal something like this from me again, or don’t obey what I’ve said to you about Ramone, it will be my belt you’ll feel rather than my hand.”
Sobs wracked her body as her bottom felt like it was on fire and tears fell down her cheeks, but he didn’t give an inch, continuing to administer his version of loving correction on her bottom.
Somehow, during the course of her spanking, her legs stop struggling and she felt calmer and the tension that she’d been carrying with her left her. Her bottom continued to burn, but she settled and accepted the spanking and the cathartic effect it was having on her in freeing her from the guilt she’d felt at hiding the truth from Luke. Her tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but her uncontrolled sobs ceased, as she felt liberated by her spanking.
After what seemed like a lifetime, the spanking stopped, but he made no move to let her get up, preferring to leave her where she was across his lap. He freed her wrists but when she tried to reach back to rub her burning cheeks, he stopped her.
“No rubbing, Megan, I want you to remember this."
Instantly she dropped her hands back to her sides. As she lay there, he slowly began to rub her lower back, making small circular patterns with her hands, drawing out what was left of the stress and tensions and making soothing comforting sounds, “It’s okay, love, it’s over now.”
When he finally drew her back up from his lap and stood up she flung herself back into his arms.
With relief, he held her tight against him. He’d been worried that she would reject him after the spanking, that although she’d come a long way in the last few weeks and was more accepting of his need to protect her, love her and, if needed, discipline her, he’d worried that the spanking was too much too soon. Not that that had stopped him. She’d thoroughly deserved it and in his mind, even if she did reject him afterwards, he’d rather that happen than risk her thinking she could get away with concealing things from him that might ultimately put her in danger.
He kissed her softly, looking down at her red blotchy face, which was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“I think it’s time you went to bed,” he said gently, stroking the side of her face.
She looked up at him warily, “You’re going to stay with me?”
“Of course!” he exclaimed, raising his eyebrows at her. “What on earth would make you think I wouldn’t?”
“I— well— I wasn’t sure if you’d want to. If you’d leave me on my own as part of my....” she hesitated over the word. “Punishment,” she added awkwardly.
He exhaled a long breath that he hadn’t even realised he’d been holding in.
“Love, I’d never leave you on your own after a spanking
like that. I’m here to hold you, to comfort you through the night if you need it. That’s my job. I know that that first time I was here, I didn’t stay over, but that wasn’t because I’d spanked you that day, that was because I didn’t want to pressure you into something before you were ready.”
He wiped away a stray tear that had made its way down her cheek. “You’ve paid for your mistakes with your spanking. When I said it was done, I meant it, Meg. You made a mistake, you paid for it and we move on.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “And unless you don’t learn your lesson from this, there won’t be any need to repeat it.”
She gave a little involuntary shudder and said fervently, “I have, I promise.”
“Good,” he said, “now time for bed,” and he gently removed her now crumpled dress from her body and helped her step out of the panties that were still tangled round her legs.
She flushed with embarrassment at what a sight she must look, but with a tiny tap to her still burning bottom he said sternly, “No embarrassment, remember? This is just you and me. There’s no reason to be embarrassed, ever.”
“I can’t help it!” she said.
“Hmm...” he responded, unconvinced, as he found her silky nightgown and pulled it over her head and down over her hips.
They got into bed and she gasped at the scrape of the usually soft sheets over her tender bottom. He grinned, pleased at his efforts, but drew her close to him so she was on her side pressed against him, sparing her bottom further pain of contact with the sheets.
“Luke,” she said sleepily.
“Mmm?” he responded.
“Thank you.”
He froze, not sure he’d heard her correctly. “What did you say, love?” he asked.
“Thank you. For, well, for what you did. I don’t feel guilty any more and I’m glad. I didn’t like hiding it from you. It felt wrong.”
He said nothing, but his heart leapt as he knew that this beautiful headstrong, independent woman who he already loved was truly his soul mate.
He began to answer her, but realised that she was already breathing deeply, sound asleep and her face free from stress and tension.
Megan's Story, A Bentley Sisters Novel Page 6