The Australian Affairs Collection. Margaret Way

      Jess spotted Ben standing at the edge of the throng of guests who’d gone outside to watch the bride and groom depart. He’d been in a distracted mood the last hour or so. Not talking much. Not drinking either. She’d kept her consumption to a minimum, but then she had to drive. He didn’t.

      When she came up to him, he was frowning.

      ‘Why are you frowning like that?’ she asked him. ‘Is your shoulder aching?’ She wouldn’t put it past him to have lied to her about his arm. Men hated to admit to any weakness, especially physical ones.

      ‘No,’ he said, giving her an odd look. ‘It’s fine. And more than capable of giving you a good spanking when the time comes.’

      Jess sucked in sharply. ‘Spanking?’ she repeated in shocked tones even as the picture of her being bent naked over his thighs zoomed into her mind.

      She stared up at him, her whole head whirling as she tried to work out if the idea excited or repulsed her.

      ‘I think you might enjoy the experience. But only if you want me to, Jess,’ he continued in that soft, seductive voice he often adopted. ‘I would never force you to do anything you didn’t want to do.’

      But that was the problem, wasn’t it? Once he started on her, she wanted to do whatever he wanted to. Already she was wondering what it would feel like to be spanked.

      Jess struggled to act cool when she was anything but. ‘I…I’ll think about it,’ she said. And of course that was another problem. Thinking about doing sexual things with him invariably turned her on. She was already turned on. Had been all evening. Now, her body temperature and her desire metre were zooming off the charts.

      ‘Come on,’ he said brusquely. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

      Jess hesitated. ‘But shouldn’t we say goodbye to people first?’

      ‘Who do you have in mind? We’ll see Glen and Heather in the morning before we leave. We can say goodbye to them then.’

      ‘But we won’t see the bride’s parents in the morning. We should say goodbye to them. It’s only polite.’

      Ben grimaced. ‘You can, if you like. I can’t stand either of them. I’ll wait here for you. Don’t be long.’

      She whirled away from him and raced back into the marquee, taking less than five minutes to say the appropriate goodbyes and collect her bouquet. He was still looking impatient when she returned to his side.

      ‘What took you so long?’ he growled as he steered her in the direction of the main house and her parked SUV.

      She could not contain a surge of exasperation, shrugging off his bruising hold and grinding to a halt. ‘For pity’s sake, Ben, what’s got into you all of a sudden? You’re acting like a jerk.’

      He sighed. ‘Sorry. Just impatient to be alone with you, that’s all.’

      ‘Oh.’ Trust him to say the one thing guaranteed to defuse her anger.

      ‘Do you have your keys with you?’ he asked when they approached her vehicle.

      ‘Yes, of course.’

      ‘Good. Now, get in and drive.’

      She got in, tossed her bouquet in the back, then drove, all conversation between them ceasing during the five minutes it took to negotiate the short trip back to the cottage. By the time she pulled up in front of the small porch, her stomach was churning and her heart was pounding behind her ribs.

      Was she really going to let him spank her?

      Oh, Lord, she thought, and let out a panicky rush of air.

      Ben heard her ragged sigh and recognised the reason behind it.

      ‘Don’t be nervous,’ he said gently.

      ‘I am a bit. I’ve never been spanked before.’

      ‘I gathered that. Have you ever been tied up before?’

      Her eyes went like saucers. ‘No. I…I thought they only did things like that in books and in brothels.’

      ‘Lots of real people like to play erotic games. Which is all I’m suggesting. Nothing serious. I’m not into humiliation or pain. I just want to give you pleasure, Jess. You can say no at any stage to anything you don’t like.’

      ‘But…but I might not know that I don’t like it till you’ve done it.’

      ‘I see.’ God, but she was delightful. And delicious. And he wanted her like crazy. ‘I promise to take things slowly, then. Give you time to say no before things go too far.’

      ‘Oh. All right.’

      ‘Let’s go.’

      He took her into the bathroom first where he undressed her—slowly, as he’d promised. The sight of her fiercely erect nipples revealed that she was genuinely enjoying herself. So far. She gasped when he tweaked one of the pink peaks, then groaned when he did the same to the other one.

      ‘Still a little tender?’ he enquired as he quickly disposed of his own clothes.

      ‘A little,’ she confessed shakily.

      ‘But not too tender,’ he said, and she shook her head.

      ‘Good. Here, I think I should take off that diamond pendant as well. We wouldn’t want it to get broken, would we?’

      Her head whirled whilst he undid the clasp, then placed the pendant on the vanity along with his expensive looking wrist-watch. He hadn’t taken his watch off last night, she recalled. But then he hadn’t spanked her last night.

      Oh, God.

      Her heartbeat went up another notch.

      ‘We’ll have a shower together first,’ he said. ‘But no touching from you, beautiful. You are way too good with your hands.’

      Ben turned her back to him whilst he washed her, making her moan when he rubbed the soapy sponge back and forth between her legs, her peach-like buttocks clenching tightly together when he moved his attention to them. By the time he switched off the water and turned her to face him, he knew she was ready for him to do whatever he wanted. Her eyes were glazed over and her lips had fallen apart as she panted for breath.

      Ben thought she had never looked more beautiful or more desirable. He almost decided to bypass the foreplay in favour of straightforward sex but he suspected Jess was by now looking forward to the experience. Ben could only hope that he would be able to control himself during what was usually a lengthy game.

      He stepped out of the cubicle and reached for the two white towelling robes which were hanging on the back of the door. After putting one on, he handed the other robe to Jess.

      ‘Put that on,’ he ordered.

      When she did so without question, he wanted her all the more.

      ‘No, don’t do it up,’ he said, and reached for the sash, sliding it through the side loops before wrapping it around his left wrist.

      He had to take her hand and lead her back to the bedroom. By the time they got to the side of the bed, she was trembling. But he felt certain it was no longer from nerves.

      ‘You should be dry by now. So you won’t be needing that robe.’

      ‘But you’ve still got yours on,’ she protested.

      ‘That’s the idea.’

      When she hesitated, he bent and whispered in her ear. ‘Yours is not to reason why, Jess. Yours is just to lie back on that bed and let me give you pleasure.’

      His breathing quickened as she obediently took off the robe and lay down on the bed, her head on the pillows.

      ‘No, not that way,’ he said and she just stared at him, sucking in sharply when he turned