My Naughty Little Secret (26 page)

“Are U up yet?

My phone rang almost instantly.

“I’m always up for you, especially when I get toys like that,” he chortled at his own dirty joke. So he’d obviously opened the naughty present, the remote-controlled “Love Egg.”

“Michael, the ring is beautiful, thank you. My own dear stalker. It fits both hands perfectly. And your letter made me cry. It’s too much.”

“I’m glad you like it. I miss you,” he said gently, “and thank you for the horse, it’s stunning. It’s evocative of my childhood.”

“I wish you were coming sooner. I don’t want to wait another four days to see you.”

“Me too, I know when we made the arrangements a week apart didn’t seem long, but now it feels like forever,” he agreed.

“I love you, Michael.”

“And I you. Enjoy your day, I’ll ring you later.”

“Ok, you too.”

Neither of us wanted to hang up and there was silence on the line as we each waited for the other to terminate the call. Eventually someone had to break the deadlock, so I said:

“Ok, I’ll hang up. Talk to you later. Wish James and Catherine a happy Christmas from me. Oh, and don’t forget to give them my gift.”

“It’s under the tree already, Miss Bossy-boots. Bye for now.”

I grinned down the line at the master of bossiness and hit the end button. The entire family seemed to be talking at once when I came down to breakfast. I was glad I had switched the ring onto my right hand as I wasn’t even settled in my seat before my mother spotted it.

“Jesus, Siobhan, that’s beautiful, is that your Christmas present?” I blushed slightly as I passed it over to be admired by all of the womenfolk. I knew it probably seemed ridiculously extravagant to my mother, but I didn’t want to tell her the story behind it yet anyway. Mam seemed extremely anxious that I shouldn’t commit too soon and I didn’t want her to worry on Christmas day.

My tummy opted for a bowl of milky porridge for breakfast rather than the traditional fry-up, which I just couldn’t face into. A comforting winter breakfast, just what I needed. We exchanged gifts after breakfast as we always did. I gave my parents flight tickets and a voucher for a London hotel.

“Aunt Mary says it’s far too long since you came to see her, and I can spend time with you too,” I justified before they had the chance to object to the expense.

“Thanks, Love, that’ll be great,” Dad said, kissing me. We must have both spotted Mam about to object at the same time, because he was in there just before her.

I had bought clothes for Aislinn and Keeva, and for Niall, there were two tickets for a Lily Allen concert. I knew my gifts were a bit overgenerous, but with my recent pay rise, I wanted to share my good fortune. I had more money than I knew what to do with these days. And surely I could treat my family without fear of embarrassment.

“I want to make sure you take at least one night off before you finish college,” I told him as his eyes lit with excitement. He was one of her biggest fans.

Mam and Dad had bought me a new wetsuit, and the other three had clubbed together to buy me a new surfboard to replace the one I’d damaged in November.

The traditional Christmas dinner was as decadent and delicious as usual and the feasting ritual lasted about two hours, culminating in the lighting of the Christmas pudding. Even at twenty-five, I still loved the blue flame of the poteen burning on the plate as the fire licked the sides of the pudding, dancing a mystical jig. After dinner there was the annual game of poker, and again Aislinn wiped the board, cleaning out the rest of us.

“It’s a good job we only play for Monopoly money,” laughed Mam when she saw just how sharkish Aislinn could be.

We were delighted to see
Gone with the Wind
was on one of the satellite channels. It had once been a family ritual to watch it on RTE every Christmas Day, but in recent years that channel had had the cheek to remove it from the Christmas Day listings without consulting the Brennan family! After
Gone with the Wind
, we split up to head in our own directions: the younger three to a night club, my parents and I were for bed, and my grandparents to their own home.

“Are you sure you won’t come clubbing?” Aislinn asked, disappointed that the first time she had permission to go was also the first time I had decided to take a rain-check.

“Oh, come on, it’ll be a right laugh,” said Keeva, adding her voice to Aislinn’s.

“No, I’m exhausted and anyway, I won’t know anyone there. You lot will have your friends and I’ll be the old maid in the corner,” I protested.

When Mam was dropping the younger three to the bus and my grandparents’ home, Dad took the opportunity to comment on the ring for the first time.

“So, are you going to accept him or keep him hanging on for longer?” he said, nodding at my hand. I was surprised by his perception. It wasn’t a traditional engagement ring and I deliberately hadn’t worn it as one.

“I’m seriously considering it, Dad, I really do love him,” I answered as honestly as I could. I could see the grave look in his eyes, but Dad had a talent for not interfering too much in our lives and in this he was no different.

“It’s a big decision, Siobhan, but I know you’ll make the right one. I just hope he deserves you.”

He seemed a little appeased that Michael at least appreciated I was worth holding on to. But I knew his heart was breaking because he knew not only had he lost his little girl, but I wouldn’t be coming home to Ireland.

Once Dad had gone to bed, I decided I’d try giving Michael a call. I’d really missed him all day and the thought of another few days without him was starting to get to me now that the novelty of being with my family was starting to wear off. I was surprised he hadn’t called me already, like he said he would.

“Hi, how was your day?” I asked

“Hi yourself. Good but lonely; I finally saw that shrink today and talked about my stalking problem.”

“Oh, did you, what did he say?” I couldn’t help smile. Sometimes I liked his stalking problem and now was one of those times.

“He said the only cure was to indulge it. Would your parents mind if I tried to get an earlier flight?”

“Fuck my parents. I’d be thrilled. When can you come?”

“Would you really? Language, by the way.”

“Will you punish me?” I asked hopefully.

Michael seemed to deflate; his voice lost its sparkle. “Shiv, please don’t.”

I sighed with resignation. It seemed like spanking was destined to be relegated to bedroom games, regardless of my desires. I missed the peace it brought and the closeness we felt afterwards. We seemed to niggle at each other more now.

We chatted about our day for another while and Michael promised to get working on changing his flight first thing. As I hung up, I couldn’t help regretting that we’d had the punishment discussion as it just seemed to be driving a wedge between us these days. I spent a restless night wondering how we were going to overcome this hiccough. I really wanted it back, but I knew it was selfish to try to force Michael into something he was uncomfortable with. And yet he had loved it at the start, so could he really be that disillusioned or was he just frightened of himself? We’d have to talk it out sooner or later. It was funny; at the start it was me who couldn’t bear to discuss the discipline issues because I felt such a freak. Now I was comfortable in my own skin, but Michael couldn’t communicate. We always seemed to get our timing wrong between us.

* * *

Bright and early on St Stephen’s Day, I was woken by the sound of my phone.

“Hi sleepyhead, did I wake you?” Michael asked.

“Hi yourself, yes, you did. What time is it?” I answered groggily.

“It’s just after nine. I changed my flight. I’ll be in Sligo Airport at three-twenty this afternoon.”

I woke up immediately, “That soon. Brilliant! I’ll see you there.”

“See you later. I have to dash now to get ready. Dad’s going to drop me to the airport, but I have to pack and things. I love you, baby.”

“Love you too. Catch you later.”

It was like someone had put a bomb under me. I jumped out of bed and showered and dressed in record time. I was so excited at the prospect of seeing him that soon, but now that the day had arrived, I was really nervous about bringing him here too. It was probably just as well I had so little time to dwell on it. Mam was sitting at the table drinking a cup of tea, enjoying a few moments of solitary reverie before the madness of the day began.

“Morning, Mam, how are you?” I chirped, grinning from ear to ear. “Any chance of a lift into Sligo today?”

“You look like the cat that got the cream,” my mother smiled. “What are you up to?”

“Michael’s coming this afternoon.”

“Already? I thought he wasn’t due ‘til Saturday.”

“He changed flights. I was thinking of hiring a car at the airport and erm…staying in a hotel with him tonight.”

I could tell I was blushing as I told Mam of the change in plans. I knew what was in her mind and in a way she was right, but she didn’t know that it was partly to put off the inevitable.

“That desperate already,” Mam said, feigning shock. “And to think I brought you to Mass every Sunday! And look how you turned out. Of course I’ll bring you in, Love. By all means stay in Sligo tonight, but I think you should bring Michael over for a while to meet the family. It’ll probably be easier for him that way too, when you have an escape route planned.”

“Good idea, Mam. I’ll do that,” I agreed. She was probably right; it would be better to have a gentle introduction. “I hope Dad’ll behave when he meets him.”

I called the airport to organise car hire and rang a couple of hotels to book a room. I was surprised to find that most of the hotels were booked out for the Christmas season, but finally I managed to get one a couple of miles outside Sligo, who’d had a last-minute cancellation. The location didn’t really matter too much anyway, as I figured we wouldn’t be doing a lot of sightseeing on a cold winter’s day.

I threw a change of clothes, toothbrush, and my pill into an overnight bag. I decided to skip on the fluffy pyjamas and found one of the girls’ nightshirts to sleep in. I rang Pauric to cancel surfing and was ready to roll. By half past two I was at the car hire depot and then I headed for the airport arrivals. I thought of going off for a coffee and keeping him waiting to see if I could annoy him into spanking me, but I was just too happy at the prospect of seeing him. As he arrived into the waiting area, I watched him hunt for me with his eyes. I had almost forgotten how good-looking and impossibly sexy he was. Even amongst the other travellers, his height and masculine good looks made him stand out. I felt that familiar flutter in my sex. I still had difficulty believing that someone as drop-dead gorgeous as him would want anything to do with plain old Siobhan Brennan. He spotted me watching him and a beautiful soppy grin overtook his handsome face. He walked over quickly, scooping me up in his arms, ignoring my protests as usual. I much preferred to keep my feet on terra firma, but I think that’s exactly why he made a habit of lifting me up.

“I really missed you, Shiv,” he said, kissing me.

“Me too,” I mumbled as my reply was smothered by his lips. A few other travellers were watching our display with obvious entertainment.

“Aw, hell, it’s Christmas,” I giggled at their amused glances.

We booked into our hotel and I suggested food. I figured he must be hungry after travelling for the last few hours.

“Food later, you first,” he demanded hungrily. “I thought we were staying with your family?”

“We are, tomorrow, I don’t want to share you tonight. Mind you, Mam has me warned I have to bring you over for a while later.”

He pushed me in the bedroom door and we both went straight for the bed, ripping off clothes as fast as we could.

“I believe your ladyship ordered a spanking,” Michael said mischievously, turning me face down on the bed. “One severe spanking coming up.”

He opened his bag and pulled out his homemade birch and I groaned with excitement. I couldn’t believe he had the audacity to bring it; God knows what it must have looked like on the x-ray machines at the airport! I was completely naked and he flogged me lightly up and down my body, on my torso and legs, teasing slightly stinging licks. When he got to my bottom, he flailed hard scorching lashes, causing me to cry out in pain and pleasure.

“Enough yet, your ladyship?” he asked.

I shook my head. He turned me onto my back and lightly flogged my front, going a little harder on my breasts. The light twigs biting my nipples made me want to scream with desire. He spread my legs and lightly flogged my clit and vagina. I was writhing with ecstasy, arching my back to meet the lashes.

“More, your ladyship?” he asked and I nodded.

“Your ladyship is rather difficult to please today,” he muttered, turning me over again.

This time he thrashed my bottom until I cried “ENOUGH.” He was right; it was difficult to satisfy me. I had often noticed that where spankings were given purely for pleasure’s sake, my pain threshold was a lot higher. Sexual desire coupled with the endorphins released meant it took quite a spanking to make me feel really submissive. Punishment spankings were very different, I seemed to resist them more and I would be writhing in agony after only a few swats, yet I would be submissive and apologetic almost straightaway. In a way that’s why I craved the punishment ones back. I loved to feel his dominance and to bend to his will. It was the ultimate drug.

He kissed and licked my bottom better and he widened my legs to kiss my clit. He said he could see pock marks where the tips of the birch had connected with my bottom.

I grabbed onto the sheets, trying to steady myself as the tidal wave of an orgasm left me reeling. He thrust into me before I’d had a chance to touch or kiss his throbbing erection, pumping hard until I came again.

“I’m very dirty today, too dirty to use the front door; I need to use the tradesman’s entrance. Get up on all fours,” he said, probing my anus with his finger.

My tummy did a flip of excitement as he squirted jelly on my anus and spread it with his gentle fingers, massaging the ultimate erogenous zone. By now, I’d come to see my bottom as just another source of pleasure and was no longer embarrassed or alarmed with how Michael used it. I knew I had to relax as he entered and after the initial resistance the bliss would come. I concentrated on the heavenly sensation in my clitoris as he massaged it adeptly. I tried to ignore the slight discomfort as he pushed in, slowly and carefully, trying not to get carried away in his desire. I backed onto him, assisting his entrance. Once he was there, he slowly moved in and out, back and forth, guided by my body’s rhythm as I acclimatised to the welcome invasion. Very soon I was rocking harder, inviting his thrusts. I climaxed again, a deep climax that went on and on, each movement of his just prolonging my pleasure, making my muscles clench to take him in deeper. It was naughty, dirty, and incredibly fucking sexy, and proved impossible for him to defy and he erupted almost against his will, leaving his sperm deep in that naughtiest of crevices. I cried out in pleasure as I came yet again from the sheer depth of his final thrust.