by Joannie Kay
"That is just plain ridiculous, Seamus!"
"Like forgetting to get the brakes changed and sliding into a telephone pole with three little ones in the car?" he asked softly.
"Seamus!" she whispered in embarrassment.
"Mary Kathleen, you know I've always dealt firmly with you when you risked your life; Michael will do the same with Miss Molly, and it's because he loves her so much that he will make her regret saving her boss' life." He chuckled. "Fear is a strange thing, Miss Molly. If anyone but his girl did something like that, he would be calling them brave, but because it was you, and his fear over what 'might' have happened is strangling him, he will give you one heck of a spanking." He looked at her, "Does that make it better, honey? Knowing the why behind his anger?"
Molly thought about it and then smiled ruefully, "I think it does, but I'm still going to do my best to talk him out of it."
"Good luck with that," Seamus said, chuckling. "I've got to get back to work. I have a new man, and I'm not sure of his work yet. I already caught him trying to cut corners and told him we don't do that on any of my sites. He gave me a 'sucker' look, and if he does that once more, he'll be looking for work again."
"Perhaps his old employer did things that way?" Mary asked sympathetically.
"Oh yeah, but I already told him I don't believe in that; do it right the first time. He agreed, and the minute my back was turned, he was doing slipshod work." Seamus shook his head, kissed his wife, and left.
Molly ran upstairs to change her clothes and then went back down to help Mary clean up the kitchen. It wasn't long before the kitchen door opened and Michael came in, looking forbidding. "Excuse us, Ma. Molly and I are going over to my place for a while." He took Molly's hand to pull her toward the door."
Molly resisted. "We can talk right here. You just need to calm down and think about this from a rational point of view."
"If I take the time to think my belt will be coming off," he promised.
"Michael Seamus O'Keefe!" Mary protested.
"Ma, I love you dearly, but this is between Molly and me." He finally picked the redhead up off her feet and carried her out the door. "She won't be home for dinner," he added.
"Michael O'Keefe, how dare you treat me like a recalcitrant child?" Molly felt her temper take control of her mouth. "Put me down right now!"
He did, on the front seat of his car. He reached over her to buckle her seat belt and then leaned into her face to say, "Do not touch this seatbelt; do not think of running. It would be a big mistake." With those ominous words, he slammed her car door and then stomped around the vehicle to the other side. Once he was behind the wheel, he started the car and drove to his house, not saying one word on the way there.
Molly didn't try to talk to him, either. She was too angry to trust herself not to say something she would regret later. He opened her car door and she simply glared at him. He reached down to unlock her seatbelt and then said, "Don't test my patience, Molly. You know damn well and good you deserve the spanking you're going to get."
"I know no such thing!" she denied. "I saved my boss' life, and probably yours, too," she told him. "I do not deserve a spanking for reacting the way I did."
"You put your life in danger, and that is all the reason I need to make you regret disobeying a direct order."
Chapter Eight
Molly resisted when Michael took her hand and tried to pull her out of his car. She thought he was being unfair, and she definitely did not want the spanking he was determined to administer. "Michael, you are overreacting!"
"You disobeyed me, Molly."
"I was trying to help. The dispatcher was asking questions and Kathleen couldn't answer them. So, I crawled over to one of the chairs and crouched down where I could see what was happening and give a description of the guy with the gun. I did not deliberately say, 'Oh, this is a good opportunity to disobey Michael!' I wanted to help."
"Molly, I am going to pull you out of the car and spank you every inch of the way inside if you do not get your butt out of this car right now." Michael was angry with her.
"You are not listening to me, Michael O'Keefe!" Molly crossed her arms over her chest and refused to budge. "You are acting like an overprotective Neanderthal! Will you please calm down and turn off your emotions and just listen?" she pleaded.
"Okay, Red. Have it your way," he said with exaggerated patience before leaning down and putting one arm under her legs and the other around her back. Just that quickly, Molly found herself lifted from the car, and in the next second she was dangling over Michael's broad shoulder.
"Put me down, Michael O'Keefe!" she ordered, balling her hands into fists and pounding on his back. In the next second his hand landed on her jean covered backside with a painful whack. "Owwww!" she yelled. "Michael, don't!" she pleaded, but he was out of patience, and true to his word, he gave her upturned backside a stinging spank for every step he took toward the house. "Noooo!" she wailed. "This is so not fair!" He did not answer, just continued to spank her with precise deliberation, making sure her sit spots and thighs were included in the chastisement. Once they were inside, he carried her into the living room, and only then did he put her down.
Molly landed on the sofa and immediately tried to scramble to her feet when her stinging backside made contact with the leather cushion. Michael put his hands on her shoulders, effectively holding her in place. Then he scolded until she was in tears. Once he said all he had to say, he sat beside her, flipped her over his knee, tugged down her jeans and panties, and he spanked her in earnest. Molly kicked and cursed, and that only increased the strength behind the smacks he was landing on her stinging and sore bottom. He made it clear he would not tolerate cursing, and then he continued the spanking for putting her life in danger. Molly promised herself she was not going to say 'sorry', but once Michael made it clear that the spanking would not stop until she expressed sincere remorse, she swallowed her pride and claimed she was 'sorry'.
Michael knew the little redhead was lying in order to get him to stop the painful punishment and he decided to take off his belt. She was never ever going to do something so dangerous again; he simply wouldn't have it, and if he had to stripe her bottom to impress that upon her, he would! Molly grew up without discipline and it showed.
When Michael stood her on her feet, Molly was relieved to have the terrible spanking over with. Michael got to his feet and when he reached for her, she thought he was going to pull her close and offer comfort, like he did before. She was startled when he pulled her to the side of the sofa and then gently pushed her down over the padded arm of the leather sofa. "What are you doing?" she asked tearfully, beginning to realize that her assumption the spanking was over was erroneous.
"Taking off my belt," he informed her, sliding his belt through the loops of his pant, the swishing sound giving her chills. "I want to be sure you regret your foolishness, and I guarantee you will by the time I'm finished striping you."
"Michael, I am already sore enough! I hurt!" She desperately tried to change his mind. "Please don't do this!" she begged.
He doubled the belt in his hand, making sure the buckle would not strike her and then handed her a throw pillow and ordered, "Molly, you keep your hands wrapped around this pillow and don't reach back. I do not want to accidentally injure a finger." He took a deep breath and then added, "I expect you to stay in place. This is going to hurt and it is going to let you know how serious I am when it comes to your safety." He was done talking, and he raised the belt and gave her the first lick across the fullest part of her butt. Molly screamed and tried to get up. He put his left hand on the small of her back. "I told you to stay in place, little girl. You are not going to escape this punishment, so I expect you to accept it and know that I'm doing this because I love you." He gave her another hard lick and she cried out in pain for the second time.
"Michael, stop! It hurts too much!" Molly cried out. "Please!" She yelled a third time when the belt left another welt across her
bottom. It really hurt and burned and she was positive he was tearing strips of skin from her inflamed backside. "No more! No more!" Another lick landed on her sit spots and she started sobbing. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she screamed, sounding sincere.
"What are you sorry for?" Michael asked, longing for this punishment to be over. It was tearing him up inside to hear her cries of pain.
"I'm sorry I frightened you so much, Michael. I promise I will try to never do that again!"
She wasn't there yet, he decided. He striped her thighs next and Molly kept apologizing. After another five he asked, "What are you sorry for, honey?"
"I'm sorry I risked my life," she finally said the words he wanted to hear.
"I sincerely hope you mean that, Molly," he replied, using his left hand to gently rub her back in a loving way. "Ten more now and it will be all over. Count them," he ordered. He knew it would be hard, but he wanted her to focus on what was happening. "Count them and promise me that you will not risk your life again."
Molly was shocked that Michael planned to continue the punishment, but when she tried to protest he told her that if she was truly sorry she wouldn't be arguing with him. He asked if she wanted to make it twenty more. She quickly said 'no', and he told her to do as she was told then.
Michael did not go easy on the feisty redhead. He gave the first five in different spots all over her cheeks and upper thighs, but the last five fell in the same place, her sit spots. Molly was sobbing so hard by the time he reached seven that he had to help her finish counting.
When it was over, he put his belt through the loops on his pants and watched her collapse in a sobbing mess over the arm of the sofa. She didn't even try to get up, and he was positive she would feel the effects of the spanking for the next few days. Her butt was a deep dark red and covered with welts that had to be stinging like the very devil. Michael carefully lifted her to her feet and said, "Pull up your clothes, Molly."
"No!" She shook her head. "I can't! I hurt too much!"
"Honey, you need to cover up right now. Since those are the only clothes you have here, then you will pull them up." He waited for her to move to obey him, but she continued to cry and shake her head 'no'. He could see she wasn't trying to provoke him; Molly was simply in more pain than she knew how to cope with. He sighed and then reached down and pulled up her panties as if she were a small child. Her jeans were harder to slide over her hips and swollen buttocks and she cried out as the fabric rubbed over her welts. "Let me hold you now, honey," he offered, gently pulling her into his arms.
"You really hurt me, Michael!" she whispered once she calmed down a bit.
"That spanking was minor to the pain I would have endured if you'd been shot today," he answered quietly. "Do you realize that if I hadn't grabbed that gun at the precise moment I did, you would have been hurt or killed? Do you even remember the bullet that barely missed you and Drake Bridges?"
She'd done her best to try and forget about that, but Michael's gentle scolding brought it back with absolute clarity. She closed her green eyes and snuggled into Michael's shoulder. "I was so scared," she finally admitted.
"Good. You should have been scared. I was scared, too," he admitted, holding her even tighter. "When that gun fired, I was terrified I would turn around and find you dead," he whispered, his voice husky with emotion. "Damn it, Molly, don't you ever put me through that again!" he begged.
Molly was shocked when she looked up and saw the tears on his handsome face. Suddenly, everything that Seamus said made perfect sense. Michael spanked her so hard because he loved her, and because she'd frightened him so badly he had to do something... and that something was the worst spanking possible! If the pain she was feeling on her posterior was a measure of Michael's love, then she knew she was truly loved. She probably should be furious with him for being so harsh with her, but all she could do was smile and do her best to offer him comfort. "I love you, Michael."
"Thank God you weren't hurt," he answered, and he held her close until he heard her stomach rumble. He chuckled and said, "I'd better feed you, Molly, before you faint from hunger!"
"I don't want to go anywhere right now," she hurriedly informed him. "Michael, I couldn't sit down right now if I had to. I was still tender from before, and now... I don't know how on earth I will be able to sit on a car seat to get back to your parents' house!"
"Part of a spanking is dealing with the aftereffects," he said softly, his dark eyes full of sympathy for her. "Just remember that I love you when you try to sit down."
"I'm going to have to put a pillow on my chair at work!" she commented.
"No, honey. That is not permitted. Sitting after a spanking is part of the punishment; if I come in and catch you sitting on a pillow that isn't attached to the chair in a permanent manner, I will remove the pillow, then bend you over and reheat your backside."
"Michael, that is mean!" she argued, but he merely smiled and warned her to behave. The drive home was arduous, but not nearly as painful as sitting on her chair at work all day Tuesday! Michael came by with lunch, and she suspected it was also to check up on her and make sure she was obeying the 'no pillow' rule. If her boss noticed she wasn't sitting well, and seemed to be jumping up and down a lot more often for a few days, he simply smiled and kept his own counsel. Drake Bridges wholly approved of Michael O'Keefe.
* * *
Summer turned into fall, and Molly and Michael spent as much time together as possible. Molly knew she was head over heels in love with her cop, and she was positive he felt the same about her. She had been careful not to upset him, but she had no trouble recalling the last spanking she'd had weeks ago, and how long it had been before she could sit without recalling the punishment. She was not one bit anxious to cross that line again. The one thing that continued to be a bone of contention between her and Michael and his family was money. She was so flabbergasted she couldn't speak when Seamus took her outside one morning and put a set of keys in her hand and told her the new car in the driveway was hers. Molly protested and argued and pleaded with him to take it back until Seamus lost his patience and told her that any other words on the subject with the exception of 'thank you' was going to earn her a good spanking. Molly could see the large man was serious, and Mary's eyes were wide, expecting trouble. Molly closed her eyes, swallowing her pride, and finally said, "Thank you very much, Seamus and Mary. You are too good to me." She cried then, and kissed them, and then drove to work in her very own brand new car. Seamus had told her it was nothing fancy, but to her it was lovely! It was also her favorite color... red!
When Michael came for dinner that night she ran outside to show him the vehicle, and when he merely grinned at her she accused, "You KNEW!"
"I went shopping with Pop to pick it out. I thought it suited you, but I'd better not catch you speeding... or else!" he warned.
She stuck her tongue out at him, and he swatted her playfully. "I cannot believe you are all so nice to me!" she exclaimed.
"You were right, son," Seamus told him with a growl. "I had to threaten to paddle her backside before she would accept the car. I was this close to it!" he stated, holding his finger and thumb apart by perhaps a quarter of an inch. "You have too much willful pride, young lady," he scolded. "Do you like the car?" he asked hopefully.
"I love it, Seamus. Thank you, truly," she answered emotionally, feeling tears pool in her eyes. "I'm not used to anyone doing such nice things for me; I don't mean to sound ungrateful."
"You'll get used to it in this family, dear," Mary said with one of her gentle smiles. "And, Michael, dear, when are you going to be ready to start on that kitchen? Jenny is already asking me when it will be done."
"Now, Mary, I've not been free to give Michael a hand, and you know that. We'll get to it this winter when other work slows down," Seamus explained, and then added, "We'll also get the master bathroom done over for you," he said with a wink.
"Really, Seamus?" Mary was pleasantly surprised.
"I've heard y
our sighs when you go in there, wife," he teased.
Things were going so well that it was a shock when Drake Bridges called Molly into his office the last thing on a Friday afternoon. The normally pleasant look on his face was replaced with cold anger. "Sit down, young lady."
Molly sat, and waited to be fired, her mind trying to figure out what she could have done to make her boss look at her so fiercely. There was nothing that came to mind.
"I received a telephone call a few minutes ago from a woman who said she'd overheard you discussing privileged information in a restaurant. She said she was at the next table and you were laughing and talking about a divorce case I handled."
"That is not true!" Molly defended herself. "You told me when I interviewed for this job that I could not discuss the cases outside this office, and I promised you I would never do that. I've kept that promise, Mr. Bridges." She was very near tears as she demanded, "Who was this woman? What restaurant? I don't eat out very often..." she explained.
"Molly, you are an excellent secretary, the best I have ever had, but this charge is extremely serious. If it was made against anyone else who works here, they would already be out the door. I just find it difficult to believe you would do something like this."
"That is because I didn't do it," she proclaimed. "I would swear to that in a court of law," she stated with conviction.
Drake's expression relaxed; he could see that she was telling the absolute truth. As a lawyer he prided himself on being able to read people. He smiled, and said simply, "I believe you, Molly. It would be totally out of character for you to do something like that, but I had to ask." He turned serious again, "Do you have any idea who would try to get you fired?" His observant eyes saw her stiffen, but she shook her head 'no', unwilling to tell him who it was. "I can't put a stop to this if I don't know what is going on, Molly." He wanted to find the other woman and hold her accountable. He would slap a lawsuit on her so fast her head would spin. Instead, Molly was planning to deal with it on her own, and Drake felt frustrated.