“I know. Now that I think about it, it makes no sense even to me. But all the same, I wish you would come and pick me up.”
“You’ve got money in your pocket, take a cab home!” he hung up huffily. Hazel sighed and put down the phone.
“I really can’t explain why I did it,” Hazel confessed to Hildegarde as Cherry was made to call the cab. “Except as a way of being a brat.”
“You want to watch that sort of thing with someone like Robert. I’ve observed that he’s not a patient man,” Hildegarde said. “Where did he find you anyway?”
“I work for him. I’m his most junior editor.”
Just then there was a honk outside the window. Cherry bounced over and reported that Robert was waiting outside in his BMW convertible.
“Would you cancel the cab for me?” Hazel asked Hildegarde in a rush as she ran out the door to the street. He opened the door from the inside and said nothing when she got in. Hazel was afraid that he would take her straight home and her heart was pounding violently as they turned up Laurel Canyon Boulevard and began to climb into the hills instead. After turning off the heavily wooded canyon road and threading their way up a series of steep, narrow lanes, they finally arrived at Robert’s modest hilltop mansion.
“I got it as a fixer-upper,” he explained ushering her inside. “I’ve probably put more into this place than I paid for it.”
“No wonder Corning can’t afford to pay as much for free lance as Augie Rose. You’ve got big expenses,” Hazel observed impertinently.
Because he still hadn’t stopped being her boss, Robert stared at her incredulously.
“You’d better not be so fresh, young lady,” he warned her, “you’re already in enough trouble.”
“I’m terribly sorry about what I did,” she explained, following him through various rooms of the house as he threw his jacket down, picked up his mail, put food down for his slim, grey tabby cat, and came to rest in the dining room with its big oak table and wood beamed ceiling.
“Sit there,” he motioned her to a chair, just as though they were back at his conference table at work. She meekly took the seat indicated and gave him her attention, except for gazing distractedly about her now and then to observe the fittings of the room. In a moment the cat jumped up on the table and then into Hazel’s lap. Hazel was charmed and caressed it.
“Now tell me again exactly why you did what you did tonight.”
“To get in trouble I suppose.”
“Oh? Did you honestly think that I couldn’t come up with a reason for spanking you all by myself?”
“I didn’t think at all. My actions were hasty and ill-judged and I repent them most sincerely.”
“Tell me about the session,” he demanded, leaning back in his chair and shaking out a cigarette. He threw the pack and lighter across the table to her and she gratefully lit up. The cat wisely jumped off her lap and ran out of the room. Hazel described the session as Robert rose and paced. Presently he spoke.
“You enjoyed it, didn’t you?”
“I was curious about bondage,” she replied evasively.
“Don’t you think you chose a decidedly untimely moment to satisfy your curiosity?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That was about the rudest behavior I’ve ever experienced on a first date, or any other date, for that matter!” Robert declared in a tone that made her tremble. “Can I expect something like this every time we’re out together?”
“No, sir,” Hazel lowered her eyes.
“I still can’t understand how a girl who hasn’t even had her first bare bottom spanking yet could make the leap to slutting it in a dungeon with a stranger.”
“I can’t understand that either,” she admitted.
“So I’m to believe that you only did it to get a rise out of me?” He leaned against the sideboard with folded arms.
“I was just being naughty.”
Robert frowned at her foolishness but began to unbend.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked in a tone of resignation, fairly satisfied by now that Hazel was neither insane or a slut but simply an inexperienced player who had acted thoughtlessly in the good cause of provoking a spanking. Hazel made no reply but looked as though she were about to burst into tears. “You deserve to be punished severely,” he declared.
“I do?” A spasm gripped her.
“Don’t you think you do?”
“I don’t know what you mean by severely.”
Robert didn’t answer immediately but instead poured a shot of bourbon into a glass.
“Drink?” he asked. Hazel shook her head, remembering her two plus glasses of wine at dinner. Perhaps they were partially to blame for her lack of circumspection at the club. “For what you did,” he said at length, “you should be made to submit to a spanking and an enema.”
Hazel’s eyes widened. “An enema? That you give me?” It suddenly seemed very warm in the room.
“Who else?”
“But that’s so intimate, so sexual.”
“That’s what will make it a memorable punishment.”
Hazel almost smiled but forced herself to remain sober. “I could never submit to that from you. I would die of embarrassment.”
“I’m happy to hear there’s still something that embarrasses you,” he commented, taking her by the hand and leading her out of the dining room and up the stairs to the master bedroom, which was a large loft.
Although smitten with lust and dumbstruck with self-consciousness, Hazel could not fail to hoot at the colossal, rough-hewn oaken furniture, which decorated the space.
“What?” he demanded.
“Was the Jolly Green Giant having a yard sale?”
“Very amusing. We’ll see how witty you are when I finally pull those panties down,” he tossed over one shoulder as he searched through massive wardrobes and bureaus for equipment.
“Robert, you weren’t serious about the “E” thing, were you?”
“Sure I was.” He displayed a boxed Anal Invader kit with satisfaction.
“What are you doing with that stuff?”
“I went to the Pleasure Chest while you were finishing your session, just in case I should have the opportunity to punish you for your insolence tonight.”
“But, this is all so intimate,” she repeated.
“Damn it, Hazel, why shouldn’t we be intimate?” He made her sit beside him on the bench at the foot of the bed.
“Well, for one thing, I’m not even sure that you like me.”
“I more than like you.”
“But these objects seem so invasive, so sexual. And we hardly know each other. You haven’t even kissed me yet,” she protested.
Robert kissed her and observed, “These prudish protests don’t match the girl who was willing to go into a dungeon with a stranger and let him jack off on her just an hour ago.”
“Not on me, in the air! And it was really quite different than what you’re proposing. After all, he barely touched me and my genitals were never exposed, no less penetrated repeatedly!” Hazel eyed the Anal Invader set.
“So that made