Dinner and a Spanking

When you pick me up for our usual Friday night dinner date, I am not my usual sweet and good natured self. I don't know why, but I had been in a mood all day. I try to act normal, but you can tell something isn't right, so you keep asking if everything's ok. This annoys me to no end and I get snappy with you. Then we get in the car and I start to pout because I wanted to go to my favorite sushi place, where we had been the last few times, but you want to try a new steak and seafood restaurant that your co-worker recommended, and insist on going there instead. We arrive and go inside; it's packed. The hostess informs us that it will be a 30-60 minute wait for a table. I'm not happy to hear that, I grumpily point out that there's never a long wait time at the sushi place. "Now baby that's enough, you always get to pick where we eat, and tonight I feel like trying something new. We're staying here and that's that. I'd appreciate it if you'd just knock off the attitude and enjoy it." "But I'm hungryyy." You just give me a look. "Fine." Finally we get seated. The waitress comes around to take our drink order; you order a beer and I order a glass of wine and some water with lemon. About 10 minutes later she hurriedly drops off our drinks. I notice that I have a plain glass of water. "Oh my god they never listen to me, she didn't bring me any lemon, I can't believe this always happens!" "Well honey they're pretty busy…" "Pfft this is just ridiculous," I pout. She comes back around to take our dinner order and I ask huffily if I could please get some lemon for my water. She apologizes and says she forgot, quickly returns with a dish of wedged lemons, I just roll my eyes. I hear you mutter something under your breath about how I don't seem to need anymore sourness tonight and I glare at you. Dinner arrives, everything smells great, and you seem very pleased with the steak you ordered. My shrimp pasta looks nice, but when I take a bite of the shrimp I don't think it's as good as when I cook it myself. I'm always very careful to cook the shrimp just enough so that it's moist and tender, and this shrimp is overdone. You see the irritated look on my face and ask what the problem is now. I tell you the shrimp is nasty, it has the texture of rubber. You raise an eyebrow and ask to try a bite. You declare that it's perhaps very slightly on the chewy side but tastes great and is certainly nowhere near to resembling rubber. "Knock off the attitude Lily, I'm warning you," you say quietly. Fuming that you didn't take my side, I flag down the waitress. I throw a fit about the shrimp and insist that she take it back and have them cook me a new one properly. Just as she's about to take it away you ask her the way to the restrooms and she gives you directions. The moment she's gone you jump up, grab my purse in one hand and my ear in the other, yank me up and drag me towards the bathroom. Shocked and mortified I demand to know what you think you're doing. "What I apparently should have done back at the house!" you whisper harshly into my ear as you pull me into a bathroom stall and straight over your knee. Quickly I feel my skirt flipped up and panties yanked down. I feel your hand begin to rain down several sharp smacks on my bottom and hear them ringing out and echoing against the bare tile walls. "Stop it! Are you crazy?? Somebody might hear!! I'm so embarrassed!" I cry. "I don't care if you're embarrased, you've done nothing but embarrass me since we got here. You've been acting like a spoiled little brat just because you didn't get your way for once. Well I've had it, if you're going to act like a child I'm going to take you out and spank you like one. If the waitstaff can hear this I'd be willing to bet that they're applauding," you lecture me as you continue to spank. I know I'm pushing it but I can't help myself, quietly I say, "But…but…the shrimp was overcooked…" "Young lady, the only thing that's going to be overcooked here tonight is your bottom!" you growl as you reach for my purse. You find the small oval wooden hairbrush that I always carry and you pull it out. "Daddy no, please don't spank me with that, it hurrrts!" "Lily, I warned you repeatedly didn't I? Well now you're going to get it." *WHACK* *WHACK* *WHACK* "Owwwwwie yes Daddy but I didn't think you'd actually spank me herrre! Pleeeease!" You continue spanking me until my bottom is bright red, sore, and tender, and I am squirming across your lap, sniffling and promising to be good. You stand me up in front of you and sternly inform me that I'll be getting a lot more when we get home, but for now we're going back out to enjoy the rest of our dinner in peace. "There will be no more whining, complaining, or rudeness, RIGHT?" "No Sir there won't," I say with a quivering lip. "And you're to apologize to our waitress. She has a very demanding job in a very busy restaurant and does not need more work and stress to be created by cranky customers, understood?" "But Daddy she…" "Lily!" "Yes Sir." "Alright, good. No more pouting, pull up your panties like a good girl." You give me a kiss, wipe my eyes, and walk me back to the table. My bad mood is gone and we do have a much more pleasant rest of our dinner, though I must enjoy it sitting on a sore bottom and anticipating the punishment still to come at home.

Lily's Biology Lesson

Note: This story is all true up until the spanking part, I have long dreamed of it ending this way and so wrote the story, enjoy! :-) .. .. First day of a new semester was always exciting for Lily. She had noticed that every semester was the same, excitement and enthusiasm on the first day and exhaustion and the feeling of just wanting it all over by the end. Still, knowing how it would end didn’t dampen the excitement for something new to begin. Would her teachers be cool and interesting or would they be jerks and make the whole thing much harder than it should be? Would she be stimulated or bored by these new classes? .. .. First class of the day was General Biology. Lily had already taken two science classes and a lab, which she thought fulfilled the requirement for her degree, but had been told she should still take a biology course to have a complete transcript. Her science professor for the other classes had been pretty awful and she definitely did not want any more classes with him. Fortunately biology was being offered with a different teacher. She had no idea who he (she?) was, so was curious to find out what it would be like. Eagerly she arrived to her classroom and took a seat in the front row. She used to always sit in the very back, not because she was a bad student, but because she was so shy, she was still shy but had come a long way and was proud of it! Now that she was almost ready to graduate she was finally a bit more comfortable and enjoying being a part of her classes, that’s life huh? .. .. Mr. R. breezed into the room just on time for class to begin, a man clearly quite a bit older than she (45 to her 27), slightly disheveled as the best professors tend to be, but tall, healthy, with a friendly and in charge demeanor. He didn’t have supermodel good looks, but Lily found him attractive, though she did not normally go for older men, so it was a bit confusing. Lily was mesmerized from the moment he started to speak. Her stomach flopped as he explained that this was not a class for biology beginners, there had been a mix-up with the school and they had given us the wrong books too. This wasn’t General Biology; it was Cell Biology at an advanced level. We shouldn’t be taking this class unless we were a science major because it would simply be too difficult. Well Lily had never taken biology at all, and wasn’t a science major in the sense he meant. But the class fit her schedule and she found his lecturing fascinating, he was so knowledgeable and passionate. She didn’t want to change her schedule so rationalized that she was technically a science major, psychology is a science, and how hard could it be? She was smart, she could do it, and she considered it a personal challenge. You see, Lily likes to bite off more than she can chew at times. .. .. It turned out that he was neither kidding nor exaggerating; the class was very intense and difficult! Many students dropped the class. It was especially difficult considering Lily had no knowledge of biology. Mr. R. was demanding of students, he had no problem showing annoyance if he felt someone wasn’t trying hard enough. He liked Lily though and was patient with her “stupid” questions. He taught her to use a microscope which was extremely enjoyable to her. He always tried to make sure she understood things and was not as harsh with her as was the way she heard him speak to others. He knew she didn’t have the background of the other students and wanted to do well. Though he had warned students to never be late lest he embarrass them in front of the class, when Lily was running late he never said a word, he even teased her a couple of times telling her she was right on time. He could probably tell she was sensitive and that the “hardass” tactic wouldn’t work very well. .. .. It was true, most of the time Lily responded best to kindness. In fact, though she was shy on the surface, she had a very hardheaded streak which did not respond well at all to people who would try to control or belittle her. She had been known to allow her grades to suffer in classes purely out of rebellion from disliking the way a teacher handled things. The exception of course was that Lily was into spanking. She loved when a dominant man would take control of her and spank her for being naughty, this was always her biggest fantasy since childhood, but of course her teachers never spanked her. She sensed a dominant vibe from Mr. R. and this only made her admire him that much more. .. .. As the semester went on she found the class to be grueling. There were tests every week, he called them quizzes but they were long difficult tests with a lot of essay questions, so if you didn’t know the answers you were pretty much screwed. You couldn’t BS answers because they generally involved a lot of words nobody but scientists have ever heard of, and there wasn’t even multiple choice for some chance of getting a right answer. He was a fair teacher and if you were at every class, took good notes, and studied them you would know the answers to the tests. Lily loved listening to him; she never missed a class and faithfully wrote down everything. The one thing she didn’t always do was study. It always showed very clearly in her score whether she had studied or not. When he would pass back the scores he would sometimes praise her, once he even whispered that her A was the high score for the class and he sounded so happy! She was elated that she could do so well in a subject where she had a disadvantage and because he was proud of her. When she didn’t study and received a low grade she knew she would receive a mild scolding and air of disappointment from him. For some reason he made her want to please him and she studied more than she normally would have to do well. .. .. Those tests sucked, but the worst thing about the class was the 10 page scientific research paper due at the end. Lily’s affinity for Mr. R. still could not rival her distaste for academic writing assignments. The same girl who could easily write pages and pages just for fun absolutely hated structured writing assignments and would always put them off till the last minute. Still, she always got good grades on her last minute papers so she wasn’t that concerned. Throughout the semester Mr. R. encouraged his students to get started on the paper, to choose their topic, start their research and write drafts, to consult him for help. Well Lily being Lily waited till the last possible minute to choose a topic. Then she researched it at the library, printed out the articles she would need to use, and left them sitting in the car, didn’t read them. She could do it later…and…later. .. .. Suddenly the end of semester was near. Lily decided to look over the material and start forming some ideas for the paper. Despite Mr. R’s warnings she didn’t think it would be that hard, she knew how to write papers. Well it turned out she was mistaken, she had no clue what these articles were talking about! They were so scientific and though she was reasonably good at English, she hadn’t the faintest clue as to what half of the words even meant! Just trying to read them made her head hurt. It was a week till the due date and she couldn’t understand her research material. Mr. R. had said he would not give help after a certain point which had passed, but Lily asked him if he could help her and he said yes, he would after class.

Once everyone else had left Mr. R. came to the table where Lily was sitting. He looked over her research and admitted that even he did not understand some of the articles she had found. This made her feel a bit better. He wrote down some ideas for her and underlined words for which she needed to look up definitions. It was all very helpful and gave her a good starting point, though it was clearly going to be difficult to figure it all out in one more week. When they had finished going over the material Lily got up to leave. .. .. Mr. R. had gone back to his podium, and then he hesitantly spoke to her. He told her he was very disappointed when students didn’t do their best. He said that he knew she was capable of having A’s on every test and didn’t understand why she hadn’t. He lectured her about putting off the paper and not studying enough. Lily was mortified. She very much liked and wanted to please this man and here he was annoyed with her. The way he was lecturing reminded her very much of a Dom! Surely he couldn’t have known she was into that, couldn’t have known that his personality had inspired many spanking fantasies for her. .. .. As Lily looked down and apologized for her poor study habits, Mr. R. could tell she was feeling submissive. Little did Lily know, Mr. R. was in fact a Dom. Though he had never sought involvement in “the scene” for professional reasons, he had always enjoyed it from a distance, watching videos, and reading stories. He had disciplined his ex-wives and always been the alpha male in his relationships. In fact, he had seen the spanking videos Lily had done which were posted online. He knew her secret though she did not know his. Lily had finally met her match in a professor; she was not used to this feeling. What happened next was something she was even less used to, in a school setting anyway. .. .. After about 5 minutes of lecturing during which he managed to mix praise and disappointment towards her Mr. R. beckoned Lily to come over to him. She was unsure why he would do so, but obeyed. He was a little bit worried as to whether he could get in trouble for this, but they were alone and from what he knew of Lily he thought that she would appreciate and benefit from it, and keep his secret. He looked into her eyes and told her she had been irresponsible, undisciplined, and naughty. He asked if she agreed. Lily blushed deeply and instinctively said, “Yes Sir.” That was exactly what he needed to hear to give him the courage to carry out his plan. Many times he had admired Lily’s curvaceous backside and imagined giving it a good spanking when he knew she was slacking a bit. His professionalism had held him back, but now he knew he had to take the opportunity or he would always regret it. He also truly believed she needed the motivation with her studies; he could tell that this had never happened to her before and that her teachers had never known how to handle her in order to get the best results of which he knew she was capable. .. .. His heart beat faster, as did hers, as he spoke his next words, “Young lady, you have not been doing your best and we both know it. Since you lack self discipline, I feel I have an obligation to handle this. Bend over my desk.” Lily was shocked! She had been spanked as an adult many times, but always by people she had met who were into spanking or men she dated whom she had asked to spank her. A professor would never dare! He couldn’t possibly know who she was, that she was into this…could he? They both were fully aware that he could lose his job for this. But she liked him, and she knew he liked her, and she had fantasized about this after all! Yes, she could take this from him, she appreciated that he genuinely cared about her and her grades. But still, she couldn’t help wondering if this was a dream… Lily’s musing over the situation was abruptly brought back to reality when Mr. R. said, “I do believe you heard me, bend over now little girl!” .. .. Somewhat in a daze that this was happening, Lily could do nothing but obey. She looked back over her shoulder at Mr. R. She saw the usual kind look for her in his eyes, but this time she also saw a certain determination, a strictness which gave her butterflies in her tummy. This couldn’t be happening. But it was! Blushing even more deeply she leaned forward onto the desk, knowing what was about to happen. She felt the first hard smack over her jeans and gasped. This was just his hand? She had been spanked with paddles that didn’t feel harder than this. Her suspicions that he was a strong man were easily confirmed in this moment. As the blows continued she began to yelp, squirm, and try to wiggle her bottom away, but he held her fast with his left hand while he spanked her with his right. .. .. Next thing Lily knew, Mr. R. stood her back up. She wondered briefly if this meant it was over, but quickly found out that it was not when he unbuttoned her pants and pulled them down to her knees. Absolutely mortified she tried to protest but he had come this far, he knew he might as well go for it. Her lacey panties offered no real protection from the blows and did not even cover the bottom of her cheeks, so he decided to allow her to keep them up. His goal was not to humiliate but to teach, he was her teacher after all, now in a much different sense than before. The hand spanks were gradually reddening her bottom and he could tell she was impressed. Still, he wanted to make an even deeper impression. He now removed his heavy leather belt. This was a lesson Lily would not soon forget. .. .. Doubling the belt, Mr. R. rubbed Lily’s bottom for a moment, soothing the sting and speaking to her as he always had, with caring concern. She knew what he was doing, had heard that familiar “whoosh” of a belt being taken off. Lily was frightened; she knew this would hurt very much. But she respected him, she trusted him; she was willing to accept whatever he felt she deserved. And hurt it did. As the belt cracked down on her bottom Lily cried out in pain. It felt like absolute fire and the sting penetrated her skin deeply. Before she could catch her breath the belt landed again, and again and again. Mr. R. was very thorough with his application and did not miss a spot. Lily’s bottom was bright red from the top to mid-thigh. Those blows on her thighs were especially intolerable and caused Lily to cry out and beg him to stop, but he didn’t stop, if anything he just spanked harder. Soon she began to sob from the combination of pain, embarrassment, and the knowledge that she had disappointed her favorite professor this much.

By the time it was done, Lily was practically Jell-O. A mess of tears and emotion, embarrassment and contrition, Mr. R. scooped her up in his arms and hugged her. She hugged him back and buried her face in his chest. He assured her that he had done this because he did care and he could tell she needed it. She knew that. In that moment she realized that she respected him more than she had ever respected any professor, and she knew it was because they shared this. It always had been, she had always sensed this in him, yet not been sure. Now she was sure. Once she calmed down a bit he talked to her just a bit more about starting her paper immediately when she got home, and of course she did. They both were very pleased with the A she went on to earn for it.

Careful What You Wish For

Ok I found it, my first spanking story. It's really just a silly bit of fantasy...and I'm aware that it's not that great. It does, however,
share some of my very personal feelings and fantasies.

It was
just a typical, boring day in the life of Elle. The time always seemed
to just drag when her husband Jim was at work. Not that she had nothing
to do...there was that pile of dishes in the sink that he had asked her
to do...not to mention that pile of homework she had due next week for
her college classes. She looked at both piles in contemplation, but
then did what she always did, turned up her nose in disgust and
thought, "I'll do them tomorrow."

She decided to go out and get
the mail...maybe one of her favorite magazines will have shown up. No
such luck...just a bunch of junk mail...and...ewww...bills. One in
particular made her stomach turn when she saw it. It was that SuperCard
that she'd gotten...and as she now remembered...had forgotten to pay
after she'd racked up quite a few purchases on it last month! She
ripped open the envelope, and about fell over. It seems they add very
large fees when you forget to pay. Now her $500 card with the $15
minimum payment suddenly had a $729 balance! And they wanted $229
minimum right now! How in the world were they ever going to pay this?
And Jim was going to be so angry!

Thinking of his reaction...she
recalled a fantasy she'd often had. Instead of getting so mad and
yelling at her, why couldn't he just give her a spanking? She had never
known why, but she had always, since she was a little girl, fantasized
about a big strong man who loved her enough to give her the discipline
she needed and craved. She had even asked Jim to spank her before, and
he did so, during foreplay. It was great fun, but he didn't really
share or understand this desire she had. The moment she would start to
squirm or complain, he would immediately stop, so she had never really
lost control. He had been raised, to never hit a lady, and couldn't
imagine doing anything to really hurt the girl he loved. And Elle
wouldn't really want him any other way...still...she couldn't shake
that fantasy. The one where her man had just had quite enough of her
nonsense and made up his mind to really teach her a lesson.

A
few days before, Elle had been doing a little shopping at her favorite
thrift store when something caught her eye. Down in the bottom of a
bin, almost hidden, was a paddle! It was a small oval wooden one,
similar to a hairbrush, but no bristles. The paddle was only $1, so she
bought it, thinking it might be fun to give to Jim on her birthday, in
hopes of getting a spanking. With all this thinking about spanking that
she'd been doing, she pulled it out from where she had hidden it under
her mattress to gaze at it, thinking about how it would feel if it were
properly applied to her bottom. As she looked more closely, she
couldn't help but notice how worn it looked...as if it had been
well-used on many occasions. "I sure wish it had been used on me!", she
sighed. Strange...she could've sworn she saw it sparkle...only for an
instant...but...nah it must've just been her imagination. Then she
looked at it again, more closely, and saw, in extremely faint writing,
the words "Rub Me". What an odd thing for it to say...oh what the
hell...she gave it a rub. Then she laughed at herself, thinking, "I
must really be going crazy to have thought anything would happen!"

As
she was about to put the paddle back in it's place, she got the funny
feeling that she wasn't alone. She slowly turned, looking over her
shoulder, and nearly passed out at what she saw! There was a man
standing there! And not just any man...he truly looked like an
angel...dark
blonde shaggy hair, chocolate brown eyes which had just a hint of green
in them, tan complexion, very rugged, at over 6 feet tall he towered
over her petite 5'2" body! And what's
more, he had her paddle in his hand. He may have looked like an angel,
but as she studied his face, she could see a very mischevious glint in
his eyes...his perfect mouth then began to spread into a wide smile
that could melt an iceberg. She couldn't help thinking how devillishy
sexy this "angel" looked. "Wh-wh-who are you???", Elle demanded of him.
After all, he was very attractive, but it was still a stranger in her
bedroom. Then, from his mouth, came the most sexy, deep, amazing voice
she had ever heard, he even had the Australian accent that she often
fantasized about..."You really don't know do you? I mean, after all, I
wouldn't be here if you hadn't wished it." "What the fuck are you
talking about? You have 60 seconds to explain yourself before I call
the police!" "Well now young lady, there's no need for that. I wouldn't
be around when they got here anyway and you'd look a bit silly then
wouldn't you? I'd love to see you explain to them how you met a genie."

"A
genie?", she asked incredulously. She hadn't believed in Santa since
she was 5, and this man was telling her he was a genie??? Still, she
couldn't really figure out how he got there. "Oh yes", he said, "name's
Gabe, been around for thousands of years fulfilling the spanking wishes
of young women who come across my paddle." "Your paddle?", she
asked...she was truly confused now...she pinched herself wondering if
she was dreaming, but she didn't seem to be. He was obviously becoming
annoyed with her..."Did you wish for a spanking or not?" "Well, I guess
I did, but...", her voice trailed off. "But you didn't expect to
actually get one did you?" "N-n-no...not really.", she stammered. He
looked her over...hmmmm the girl definitely needs an attitude
adjustment, he thought...but she's rather cute, flashing green eyes,
blonde hair, curvy figure...oh how he loved his job! "You've never been
spanked before have you?", he asked her as he flashed that damn grin
again. "Of course I have!", she retorted, feeling rather defensive, "My
parents spanked me when I was little, and my husband has spanked me
too." He sighed, "No no, I mean a REAL spanking." Elle felt her cheeks
turning red...how could he know she'd never gotten more than a few
swats in her life? And how could he know that she'd always dreamed of a
man who would give her more than that?

He could see the
questions in her eyes, the wheels spinning as she tried to make sense
of all this. "You have been a naughty girl lately, haven't you Elle?"
Shit! He knew her name...and apparently more than that! Ok...stay
calm...she thought. "I don't know.", she lamely replied. He began to
walk to the kitchen, "I think you bloody well do know!", he mumbled.
She wondered...what is he doing now? She also couldn't help but notice
that his rear view was almost as nice as his front! He was wearing a
pair of black leather pants and had about the most perfect ass she'd
ever seen on a man. Of course, soon she'd be much more concerned with
her own ass. As he grabbed an armless chair from the dining room table
and set it down close to where she was standing, she figured out
exactly what he was doing. Her tummy did a little flip flop and she
couldn't believe this was actually happening. "I know about the
SuperCard Elle, and the dishes, and the homework, and your generally
poor attitude. Young lady, you are in need of some serious discipline,
and I am here to give it to you." Her green eyes got very large as she
listened to him...this IS what she wanted...isn't it?

She had
been doing a lot of thinking about what she really wanted, but as he
took hold of her arm and pulled her across his lap, it became clear to
her that she, for once, had no control over the situation! This man was
going to give her the spanking she had wished for, and there was
nothing she could do about it. She felt a tingle all over her body of
fear, anticipation and excitement all at once. Gabe informed her that
he would first give her a warm-up hand spanking, and promptly proceeded
to apply his large hand to her bottom over her pajama pants. She
thought of protesting, but thought better of it, the man she had wished
for would only spank her harder if she complained, so she thought she'd
just see how this went. As he continued to spank her...she began to
smile slightly...she had been so afraid of this and it didn't really
hurt at all! Little did she realize that for the warm-up he was barely
using any force at all. He smirked to himself thinking of her false
sense of security, and just kept on spanking. Of course, a sting began
to build up, as happens with warmups, and she started to squirm just a
bit. Just as she started to feel uncomfortable, he STOPPED! Is that
it??? Then, to her horror, she realized that the hunk whose lap she
happened to be over was slipping his large fingers into the waistband
of her pants! "NO!", she said loudly. "Oh but yes.", he smiled, "You
didn't think you were getting off that easily did you?" She was
mortified because she wasn't wearing any panties under those pjs! And
the thought of him looking at her bare bottom...how embarrassing!

Gabe
slid the pants down over the curve of her luscious backside until they
were down around her knees, and smiled at the view he had. Her bottom
was a soft pink where he had warmed it, milky white everywhere else.
She didn't feel embarrased for long though, he began to show her what
his hand was really capable of. It felt like she'd imagined a paddle
would, and he was careful to redden every inch. "Alright", he said,
"time for the paddle." When the paddle landed it's first loud swat,
Elle yelped from the sting. "Please, no, I can't!", she cried. Gabe
ignored her protests and started to really bring that paddle down on
her bare cheeks and thighs. Elle was yelping and wriggling from the
intense burn, all concerns for modesty gone. He took the paddle up one
side of her bottom and down the other, with an expertise she had only
dreamed about. He decided to check for signs of remorse, "If I let you
up now, are you going to stop goofing off and do your work and be more
careful with spending?" "Go fuck yourself!" He shook his head...she was
definitely a challenge, "Wrong answer." He then started really spanking
her hard...she had a lot of nerve cursing at him that way! As she
stared at the carpet, feeling a burn in her backside she had never even
imagined could hurt so badly, she wondered what got into her...how
could she be so stupid??? Then, determined to really teach her a
lesson, he started to really concentrate on her sit spot where her
bottom met her thighs. The little paddle, which had earlier seemed so
harmless, was starting to raise some real welts. Then he uttered one of
those phrases that Elle had always fantasized about hearing, "You won't
be able to sit down for a week!" She had never been brought to tears by
a spanking before, but this was really starting to hurt! And she was
really starting to feel sorry for the things she had done. She could
feel the tears welling up in her eyes, followed by a warm wet trickle
rolling down her cheeks. With the tears came the release that she had
craved for so long, the letting go. She felt so much better, in spite
of the pain, she felt cared for.

When Elle started to softly
sob, Gabe could tell that he had done his job well, that she was truly
repentant. He scooped her up to a sitting position on his lap, kissed
her gently, just held her, listening to her promises of better future
behavior, smiling, knowing this would only be the first of many lessons
for Elle.