“My, my,” he said softly, drawing her copious honey onto her leg to show her how wet she was. “I had heard that ginger has an aphrodisiac effect, but I never expected this.” Cassie moaned, deeply embarrassed. The ginger was awful. It was pure torment. It was the worst thing Daddy had ever put her through. She couldn”t possibly be aroused! Cassie sobbed into the covers as Daddy fingered her wetness slowly and softly.
Gradually, at about the time Cassie heard Daddy say that she had five more minutes until the punishment was over, the agony seemed to subside into something more bearable. Cassie”s bottom hole felt burned raw, but the sensation was now more like a sting than the previous fiery torment. Worn out from all the intensity, Cassie began to drift into an exhausted stupor. She wasn”t even moaning anymore, just breathing raggedly as she waited for it all to be over. She must have floated off, because the next thing she felt was a tugging. Daddy was taking it out!
Cassie gave a little grunt as the ginger came free and her weary muscle was allowed to tighten into its normal position, but otherwise she couldn”t move or speak.
“It”s over,” Daddy said gently, before leaving her side just long enough to go the bathroom to discard the plug and wash his hands. When he returned, Cassie was still limp and motionless across her pillows. His fingers played gently in the juices that coated her between her thighs.
“It could just be some effect of the ginger,” he thought aloud. “Ginger is used in Oriental medicine to warm the body. Or perhaps it”s just that someone enjoys having her bottom hole punished…”
Cassie wanted to protest. No one could enjoy what she just went through, but she was exhausted and confused and the most she could manage was a small whimper. And Daddy”s fingers felt so good. She didn”t want him to stop. But Roy apparently had no intention to reward her misbehavior with that special pleasure he bestowed only when she was very, very good. And so, after one more lingering caress, he took his hand away. Cassie moaned in disappointment.
“I think you need a little time to recover,” Daddy told Cassie, crossing the room to take her harness from dresser drawer. He helped her roll off the pillows and moved them to the head of the bed, taking the top one away because the pillowcase would have to be laundered. He brought her nightgown down gently over her bottom, which was still stinging from the switch.
The little hole within felt warm and punished, but it didn”t hurt anymore.
Daddy helped Cassie into the bedtime harness he”d made for her from some of his old belts. He buckled the main strap around her waist, and then closed the smaller bands, the ones that were fixed to each side of the waist strap so her arms were secured against her hips. Cassie couldn”t touch herself when she was buckled into her harness, which is why he made her wear the harness whenever she was in bed. Daddy had taken charge of that part of her body, like everything else. He was the one to decide if and when Cassie felt pleasure. Cassie realized, as Daddy fixed the last buckle on the harness, that she wanted to touch herself, now, very much, and she gave a little shiver of frustration. But Daddy pulled the sheet and her fluffy comforter up high and tucked them in at her chin.
“You take a little nap, Cassie,” he said. “I”ll get you up in about an hour and then we”ll get on with our weekend together.”
** ** ** **
At about two o”clock that afternoon, when Cassie was studying at the dining room table, sitting gingerly on her switched bottom, the telephone rang. Cassie looked up from her books in surprise when she heard Daddy answer it. He normally let the machine pick it up when Cassie was there. He said he didn”t want their time together to be disturbed. But this time he took the call.
Cassie didn”t mean to eavesdrop, but it was so unusual for Daddy to be on the phone in her presence. She listened as he gave clipped answers to whoever it was. Yes. Yes. I”ll be there in ten minutes. Yes. Then he put the receiver down without saying goodbye.
“Cassie, I need to go out for about half an hour. I”m going to leave you here. You”ll be all right alone. I want you to keep studying. You”re not to go out or open the door to anyone while I”m away, understood? I”ll be back as soon as I can.”
And without waiting for her answer, Daddy picked up his car keys and went out the front door. Cassie stared after him. He had never left her alone before. Ever. And it was all so mysterious. She stood up and walked to the picture window in the living room to watch his car move down the driveway. She kept looking long after he was out of sight. Finally, with a perplexed sigh, she went back to her homework.
** ** ** **
Roy walked into the diner and scanned the tables. A man in the second booth caught his eye, and Roy walked over quickly and slipped into the seat across from him. A waitress came up with a menu but Roy waved her away. The man moved aside his coffee cup and set a large manila envelope on the table. Roy picked it up and pulled out a report of a few typed pages. He scanned the report, then looked up with a serious face.
“I see. Do you have a photograph?”
The man passed him a smaller envelope. Roy took it and studied the snapshot of a pleasant looking young man, maybe in his mid-twenties. He was walking across campus, obviously unaware that he was being photographed.
“What did you say his name was?”
“Kevin. Kevin Stavinski,” the man said. “It was in the report.”
“Ah, that”s right. Kevin.” Roy fell silent and the man waited quietly.
“You did a thorough job,” Roy said finally. He took out his checkbook and wrote a check. Then, without a word, Roy slid out of the booth and left the diner. He unlocked the car and sat down heavily in the driver”s seat. After a moment, he put his hands together at the top of the steering wheel and dropped his head against the back of his hands. An elderly lady who was passing the car on her way into the diner rapped on the window and asked if he was all right. He nodded, straightened up, and put the key in the ignition. He didn”t want to leave Cassie alone too long. He”d already done that once, apparently.
** ** ** **
Daddy was true to his word, as always. He was back home in under half an hour. Cassie heard his car pull up, and went to meet him at the door. She greeted him with a smile, hoping he”d explain the mysterious errand. But after he closed the door, Daddy paused, as if he was suddenly unsure about something, then took Cassie in his arms and kissed her as if she was the most precious thing in the world. Cassie felt pleased but puzzled by this uncharacteristic show of emotion. It was almost…well, passionate. A moment later, when he released her, Daddy was his normal self, steady and calm as ever. Cassie wondered if she”d imagined the whole thing.
The rest of the afternoon was wonderful. Daddy helped her with her Latin, and then said she could put away her books for the rest of the weekend. He made a fire in the fireplace and served them big mugs of hot cocoa with marshmallows. Daddy was teaching Cassie to play bridge and pinochle, and they sat on the floor in front of the fire and played cards for several hours. Cassie loved the coziness, or would have under normal circumstances. But her secret was gnawing at her and Daddy”s attentiveness only made her feel more unworthy.
When it got dark, Daddy put Cassie on the sofa with a book and a blanket tucked around her, and went to make dinner. He heated up some beef stew from the freezer and made a salad while fragrant rice bubbled on the stove. When the meal was almost ready, he called Cassie in to set the table and they sat down to dinner together.
Daddy told her about his trip to Bangladesh. About the long flights, and the stops in London and Bombay. About the crippled beggars outside his first-class hotel in Dhaka. About the drive to the ferry dock with his colleagues from the aid organization, and everything he saw from the car window. Like the slender women in saris in dazzling colors sitting by the side of the road smashing rocks by hand to make paving material. He told her about the two-day ferry ride down the Padma River to Barisal. He described in vivid detail the plants and animals and birds he saw from the deck of the boat. And, after he poured hi
mself the last of the wine, Daddy talked about the villages he visited, and the hope of the villagers when he explained their water could be purified. Their joy when he said their water wouldn”t make their babies sick anymore.
Long after they had finished their meal, Daddy and Cassie were still sitting and talking at the dining room table. It felt special. Like they were the only two people in the world. And that was when Daddy asked her about her month. About what she had done when he was away.
Cassie looked stricken, and suddenly burst into tears. Somehow Daddy didn”t seem surprised. It was his calm, loving face across the table that convinced Cassie that she had to tell him. That she wanted to tell him.
** ** ** **
Cassie hadn”t been prepared for how much Roy”s absence would hurt. The first weekend he was gone, she spent all of Saturday sleeping, unable to face a weekend without him. She dragged herself out of bed at 5 in the afternoon, groggy and disoriented, and with no motivation to tackle her studies. She went to the student center to get coffee, and ran into one of her roommates. Breanna invited Cassie to join her group for pizza and beer. Cassie knew the invitation had been extended solely because it would have been awkward not to, and she didn”t much like Breanna”s friends, but she went along rather than spend the evening alone. The beer, Cassie”s old drug of choice, drove away the pangs of insecurity and loneliness. She drank too much and much of Sunday was lost to a hangover.
Weekdays, at least, went better. Cassie was busy with classes. She had a part-time job in the admissions office that kept her occupied every afternoon until dinner. She was used to being apart from Daddy during the week although normally they kept in close email contact when she was on campus. Daddy had warned that he probably wouldn”t be able to call or email from Bangladesh. “It”s a developing country, Cassie, and most of the time I”ll be in rural areas,” he had explained. But Cassie was hopeful he”d find a way, and she checked her email compulsively all week. Every time she opened her mail and confronted an empty mailbox, she felt abandoned all over again.
That Friday, as she was leaving the admissions office, she bumped into her lab partner from organic chemistry. She”d always suspected that Professor Marconi had put them together because they were both older. Maybe he was doing a little Old World matchmaking. Or maybe it was just that Stevens was right after Stavinski on the class list.
In any case, they were a good pair. Kevin had been in the military before starting at State.
He was still younger than Cassie, but at least there was less of an age gap than between her and the rest of the students in the course. She felt comfortable with him. He was organized and smart and those are good traits in a lab partner.
She knew Kevin liked her. She would have been interested in him, normally. He was good-looking and intelligent and kind. But he was also, well…normal. Even if she hadn”t been involved with someone else, how do you explain — to a normal guy — desires that you don”t understand yourself? So Cassie had ignored his polite overtures.
Kevin was quick. He figured things out. He stopped asking her to work on problem sets on weekends. He made time so they could do their work together during the week. She knew, once he stopped asking about her weekends, that he”d figured out that there was someone off campus. She appreciated his discretion, but the entire situation still felt awkward.
Kevin had seemed surprised to see her.
“Friday afternoon, and still on campus?”
Cassie avoided his eyes. “I”m not going away this weekend,” she said.
“Ah.” He paused. Then, “Do you want to go get a beer?”
They went to the Athenian and Kevin ordered a pitcher. It felt good to be with him. After an hour, he ordered a pizza and got her favorite toppings without needing to ask what she liked.
When the pie was gone, he would have ordered another pitcher but she put her hand on his arm and said she”d had enough. That she had better go. He walked her back to her dorm but before he headed for his own room he had extracted a promise that they”d meet the next morning at 9:30 to work on their problem set. Cassie had agreed readily. She didn”t want to waste another Saturday.
What you might expect to happen happened. Cassie spent Saturday night in Kevin”s room. And all day Sunday. And Sunday night, too. When she finally got back to her own room on Monday morning, with just enough time to change her clothes and get the books she”d need for classes, she booted up her computer to check her mail. The empty mailbox felt bad, but it didn”t feel as bad as it had last week. She sent Kevin a quick mail and ran down the hall to the shower.
If Cassie had been honest with herself, she would have noticed that what they did on Kevin”s narrow dorm bed was only so-so for her. It was familiar from plenty of boyfriends past, and it felt good, but nothing touched her deep inside. She might have also noticed that Kevin obviously felt differently. But she didn”t want to see it. And so there had been a confrontation on the Friday Roy was due home. When Cassie was getting her things ready to leave campus, Kevin had stood in her room and argued with her. He had followed her to the student parking lot. He had even stood in front of her car when she tried to pull out.
** ** ** **
In Roy”s house, at his table, surrounded by the dishes from their special meal together, Cassie confessed all of this.
“So why did you do it?” Roy asked quietly.
Cassie hung her head miserably. “I don”t know.”
“Come on, Cassie,” Roy said, a touch sharply. “I expect more self-awareness from a bright girl like you.”
Cassie tried to think of something to say but she couldn”t explain. She didn”t understand it herself.
“It seems to me there are several possibilities,” Roy said finally. “One is that you were angry that I went away. This was your way at getting back at me for leaving you alone.” Cassie looked up, stricken. “Oh, no! It wasn”t like that! I would never hurt you deliberately!”
“I”m glad to hear that.” Roy”s voice was calm and quiet. “Another possibility, is that you were feeling abandoned, and you used him, like a drug, to distract you from those bad feelings.” Cassie”s chest hurt. It sounded so awful put like that.
“I hope I didn”t do that. But maybe that was part of it,” she admitted. “It scared me to feel so….I don”t know… so emotionally dependent on you. I”m a grown woman. I shouldn”t feel so needy.”
“Cassie, honey…”Roy stopped, wondering how to explain. “The submissive is supposed to feel deep attachment to the dominant. It means the relationship is working.” Cassie blinked as relief washed through her. “It”s what you want from me?”
“It”s what I want from you.”
Cassie gave a small smile, then grew serious again. “You know what still feels bad? I knew he was more interested in me than I was in him. I”m afraid it was wrong of me to…” Roy nodded. “Maybe. But he”s a big boy. In love, there”s always a risk that you”ll care more for someone than they”ll care for you. But if you don”t take the risk you”ll never know.
And sometimes that person loves you back just as much.”
They were quiet.
“Cassie, maybe you were trying out what it would be like to be in a normal relationship with a boy your own age,” Roy said gently. “This boy – what did you say his name was?
“Kevin. Kevin Stavinski.”
“Ah, that”s right. Kevin,” Roy said. “Well, Kevin sounds like a nice, normal guy.
Someone to go to campus parties with. Someone you could introduce to your high school buddies. I”ll bet even your mother would approve of him.” He paused. “Kevin Stavinski sounds like husband-and-father material.”
Cassie was silent.
“What you have with me is pretty unconventional, Cassie. Maybe you were trying out what „conventional” feels like.”
A tear fell down Cassie”s face. “It didn”t feel right,” she whispered. “I want to be with you. I”ve made my choice. I want to be here with you.”
Every time you drive over here. Every time you obey me when I ask you to do something that”s hard for you. Every time you submit to me. There won”t be a day when you don”t have to choose.”
Cassie was crying. Roy knew she was feeling overwhelmed and took her in his arms and rocked her for a very long time. Then he cupped his hands under her chin and made her look at him.
“You”re feeling guilty, aren”t you? You want me to punish you so you”ll be absolved, right?”
Cassie met his eyes. Could it be that simple? She nodded hopefully.
Roy sighed. “I need to think. You go up to your room, Cassie. Brush your teeth and wash your face, and get into your nightgown. Then lie down on your bed and draw up your nightie and wait.” He released her from his arms and gave her a little push up from his lap.
Cassie obeyed, eagerly. Daddy had been more understanding than she had any right to expect. And he was so wise! Cassie”s heart swelled with love and respect for this man she had chosen to guide her. If another spanking were all it would take to finally make things right between them again, she”d submit to it with all her heart. She hurried upstairs, her heart lighter than it had been for weeks.
But long after she was ready, Cassie was still waiting. She lay restlessly on her bed, her nightgown drawn up. Daddy was taking much longer than usual. She wanted him to come so much.
Thirty minutes. One hour. Longer. Daddy had never kept Cassie waiting this long. Maybe something was wrong. Maybe she should go downstairs and check. Worried and exasperated, Cassie tiptoed to the door and opened it. She listened. What she heard was a shock. The television! A football game! Never, in all their weekends together had Daddy even turned on the TV. And tonight, of all nights — when she needed him most, when they were at a crisis point in their relationship — Roy was ignoring her for a ball game!
Safe Haven: An Age Play Spanking Romance Page 7