“Hazel, social contacts in the industry are fine things, but please remember that Augie Rose is a competitor,” he told her firmly. Hazel didn’t quite understand what he was getting at, but instantly realized that accepting the freelance assignment from Augie Rose had been unwise.
“How did you know I was over there?” Hazel casually asked him.
“Oh, Ellen was picking up some discs and saw you.”
Hazel inserted her fork into her cobbler without taking a bite. How like Ellen to have snitched.
“They haven’t made you an offer, have they? Tell me the truth,” he demanded.
“Offer?”
“Of an in-house editorship.”
“Oh no!” she replied immediately. With any luck she would not have to admit she’d accepted the freelance.
“Good. Are you going to eat that?”
“I guess I’m not really hungry,” she said truthfully. Robert relieved her of the dessert and dispatched it rather quickly.
“Thanks,” he told her, getting up and drifting back across the street to work.
Now Hazel was in a quandary. She wanted to keep the free lance from Augie Rose, but knew that if Robert found out about it he would be displeased. And with Ellen around he would not go long in ignorance. Ellen lunched with Augie Rose employees once or twice a week and it was obvious that she was Robert’s spy.
All the rest of the afternoon Hazel sat distracted at her desk, revolving the idea of confessing to Robert at once. It was still early enough in her career at Corning to plead ignorance of the rules.
Finally, at four-thirty, Robert himself took a stroll through the building, telling everyone that they could leave early.
“Hey, get out of here,” he said, sticking his head into Hazel’s small office.
“Robert?” her timid plea for attention brought him in.
“Yes, Hazel?”
“May I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, what’s on your mind?” He came in and sat on the edge of her worktable while she kept her seat at her desk.
“It’s about Augie Rose.”
“Yes? What about Augie Rose?” His rather broad (she’d been noticing lately) shoulders stiffened and he folded his arms across a chest still pristinely clothed in a starched shirt and silk foulard tie.
“Well, I guess I didn’t really understand the company policy with regard to other publishers and I accepted some free lance from Augie Rose.”
“What kind of free lance?” he frowned.
“The letters section for the July issue of Bridal Romance.”
“How much are they paying you?”
“$350 for six thousand words,” she mumbled.
“That’s more than I’d pay,” he declared.
“Is there a rule against accepting outside freelance?”
“Of course.”
“Oh.”
“Did you already turn in the job?”
“I promised it to them for Monday.”
“Hazel, you should have known better,” he accused.
“I’m really sorry,” Hazel submissively replied.
“Have you accepted any more assignments?”
“No.”
“Well, see that you don’t.”
“I won’t.”
“Aren’t you getting paid enough?”
“Yes, but you know how it is,” she tried to explain.
“We can give you free lance just as well as Augie Rose.
Meanwhile I’d rather your talents not be employed in the aid of my main competitor.”
“I’m really sorry I broke the rules,” Hazel said sincerely.
“Just don’t do it again.”
“I won’t,” she repeated. He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, then shook his head to clear it of a dangerous thought before drifting out of the room. Hazel subsided in her seat with a sigh, her heart thumping. That wasn’t so bad, she thought to herself. He hadn’t even raised his voice. And he’d offered her free lance, though at a lower rate than Augie Rose.
She began to stuff her purse with her belongings and run a brush through her hair when Robert marched abruptly back into her office.
“I’ve just been thinking, Hazel, you committed two major errors in one month,” he said, pushing a straight-backed chair into the center of the floor. “If I don’t correct you now, who knows what you might do next,” he told her, sitting squarely on the chair and patting his trousered thigh. “Come over here, young lady.”
Hazel stared at him wide eyed.
“Don’t keep me waiting, Hazel,” he snapped.
“You’re teasing me,” Hazel protested, blushing fiercely.
“Think so?” Robert got up, captured her bare upper arm in a very firm grip, pulled her out of her chair and had her across his lap in a moment. “There,” he said, smoothing out the snug, straight skirt of her 50’s style summer dress, “Does this feel like I’m teasing?” Smack! His large hand nearly covered her right cheek as it connected with a resounding spank.
“No!” she cried, shocked and transported by the first slap of his palm on her firm, tautly skirted bottom.
Robert smacked her again, on the left cheek, with a loud report. It had begun so quickly that Hazel barely had time to catch her breath. Now ticklish tremors exploded inside her like bolts of liquid light.
He immediately began to spank her through her skirt with his well-padded hand. Supported by his broad, muscular thighs and held in place by his hand on her waist, Hazel did not attempt escape. For every time his hand came down a palpable thrill shot through her. So this was what a spanking really felt like! No wonder the act haunted her thoughts.
Robert smacked her firmly and rhythmically, on the right cheek, then the left, starting slowly, then gradually quickening the tempo. She counted four sets of twelve before he paused to rub away the sting. Even through her skirt and panties, the spanking penetrated deeply and her bottom felt radiant.
Observing the way she wriggled and arched to his hand, Robert continued administering the discreet but very sound spanking to his editor, warming the entire surface of her elegant, oval bottom through her linen dress. He went on spanking her until his arm got tired, which took quite a long time. Even though he spanked her hard, her dress and panties softened the blows and rendered them entirely erotic to the enchanted Hazel. Even so, Robert was determined that Hazel feel thoroughly spanked before he let her go.
When he released her, her legs nearly gave out under her as waves of excitement still coursed through her tummy and contracted her heart.
“Aren’t you going to thank me for not pulling up your skirt?” he asked.
“Thank you,” she said, timidly, rubbing her bottom through her skirt, then added mischievously, “I think.”
“I decided to be lenient, since it was your first time.”
“How did you know that?”
“Never mind. I know a lot of things. For example, I know about every type of mischief a girl can get up to around here, and I’ll be keeping a sharp eye on you from now on.”