Patty woke first, and tensed her body in a languid stretch, next to Cliff. The movement woke up the parts of her that most felt the activities of the previous day and evening.

“Ohhhhhh,” Patty whimpered softly as she slipped her hands down over her bottom. The slightly sore sensation she felt there and in the muscles between her legs was not unpleasant. She smiled to herself knowing it would keep her secretly aware of the day before for as long as the tenderness lasted.

She shifted and sat up, taking care not to disturb the tall man snoring softly beside her. The soft light of early dawn was just enough for Patty to be able to study the angles and curves of Cliff’s frame. He certainly was well put together Patty thought. He had a little more hair on him than the men in the magazines, but he was definitely in their league. She resisted the urge to trace the lines of his muscles with her fingers, because she wanted to make a complete and perfect memory of him next to her.

As the light of day brightened and invaded the tower, Patty’s eyes found the wound her teeth made on Cliff’s upper thigh the day before. She winced and sat up more to get a better look. It was an angry purple and red ring, with a small abraded area where teeth and denim had worked together to break the skin. Her movement, broke into Cliff’s sleep, and he stirred awake.

“Hey, good morning,” Cliff spoke as he turned and saw Patty sitting up behind him studying his backside.

“Is it sore?” she asked, giving in to the urge to touch him.

“What?” Cliff stretched to look back at his leg.

“This, where I bit you,” Patty answered, touching the mark she made, and then tipping her head side ways to look at his face.

“Oh, I forgot about that. I was wondering what you were looking at so closely you little cannibal.” Cliff chuckled. He’d need a mirror to get a good look at the spot himself, but it couldn’t be too bad, being that he could hardly feel it anymore. “No it’s not sore.”

Cliff shifted and turned to sit on the side of the bed. Patty scooted over with him so she could do the same. Time to start the day, and there was a lot of work to do. Once her lags dangled off the edge of the bed, Patty realized that she had nothing handy other than the sheets to cover herself with. Even though she’d just spent a very intimate night with the man beside her, she was suddenly very shy. Cliff wasn’t shy though, and as he looked at the pretty little sleepy eyed girl beside him, he couldn’t help becoming aroused.

“You OK about last night?” Cliff asked her when he sensed her discomfort.

“Um Hmmmm,” Patty nodded.

“You sure now? No regrets?” Cliff asked again.

Patty looked up into his eyes. She felt a momentary wave of frustration complete with words flash through her thoughts. “Don’t you think I know my own mind?” They were out before she realized she hadn’t just thought the words.

Cliff chuckled. “Do you?”

“Yes I do!” Patty grumbled, and forgetting her shyness, she stood and walked to the bathroom.

“Does it hurt?” Cliff teased after her.

“What?” Patty said looking back confused.

Cliff just nodded and pointed to her bare backside, with an evil teasing grin. Patty twisted a little and looked down. She was able to see a few of the red and blue edged stripes from Cliff’s belt.

“Ow,” she grumbled to herself seeing the damage for the first time. “No, not anymore,” she said out-loud. Patty felt herself blush, and it made her feel even more shy. Not so much because of the memory of being spanked, but more because of what that memory, and the memory of Cliff’s stern, angry authority was doing to her now.

In the bathroom with the door closed, Patty stood up on tip toes to examine her striped backside in the mirror. “Wow,” she said as she took in a sharp breath. “He sure went to town.” Letting her fingers trace some of the welts, she closed her eyes. The skin was tender, but the sensation was not unpleasant. Shifting on her feet, Patty was aware of the very pleasant arousal that began to pulse between her legs.

“What would he think if he knew I was having sexy thoughts about him spanking me?” she thought. Trying to dismiss the thoughts, she sat down on the toilet only to have the contact with the cool porcelain bring them back. This time, she didn’t dismiss them, she indulged them, and her hand moved down to aid the work her mind was doing between her legs. Her mind replayed the spanking, and her hand gave it a whole new sensation. The man in the other room waiting his turn in the bathroom, had awakened two very different parts of Patty’s sexual being. And while he waited for a very different kind of relief, Patty took hers. Her orgasm came quickly. Which was a good thing.

“Hurry up in there!” Cliff’s somewhat urgent voice broke her reverie. Even though he could not see her, or know what she had been doing, Patty blushed again, and then moved quickly to finish up.

Even though the morning filled with work and preparations, both Patty and Cliff found their minds wander to each other, and their sexy new partnership. By the time lunch came around, they were both on edge.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Cliff asked Patty as he swallowed the last swig of milk, and she nibbled on the crusts of her peanut butter sandwich.

Patty looked into his teasing blue eyes, and knew instantly. Her smile was coy. “Um hmmm,” she nodded. “But Sir, it’s the middle of the day. I have a lot of work to do. My boss might not like it.”

Cliff laughed, and moved quickly to pull the little tease out of her chair, and up into his arms. “Your boss should spank you for distracting him so much.”

Patty started to giggle, but it was smothered by a deep sensual kiss. Cliff’s erection pushed against her abdomen, and she rocked her hips side to side to rub it. Cliff groaned. In only a second, he had her blouse and bra off, and her jeans down to her ankles.

Patty stepped out of her jeans, and released the button and zipper on Cliff’s jeans. Looking down at the part of him that escaped his pants, Patty smiled in awe. “How did that fit into her so well?” she wondered. Her light gentle strokes and tentative touch were maddening for Cliff. His own hands caressed and probed more roughly.

“You are so beautiful!” Cliff spoke into Patty’s hair, as he did, he turned her away from him, and bent her over the edge of the table. He leaned down with her, and kissed the back of her neck. The sensation sent shivers through her, and made her whimper. Before she could object or cringe from the effects of his breath, she felt his erection push against her vulva. Instinctively her legs spread so that his hips could fit between them. Cliff reached under her, and helped her open for him.

The memory of the momentary pain from his first entry the night before, made Patty tense, but there was only a delicious stretch and sensual fullness this time. Cliff’s fingers remained there between her legs with the rest of him, and as he pumped slowly and gently within her, they caressed her. His slow gentle work, brought Patty to climax in only a few minutes, but he was far from finished with her. As the last of her spasms abated, Cliff withdrew, and lifted her over onto her back.

“Time for desert,” he smiled, as he pulled a chair up behind him and sat down. Patty watched as Cliff placed her legs on his shoulders, and then buried his face between her thighs. “How can he do that?” she wondered, but her mind could not stay on that thought long. Cliff’s lips and tongue kissed and caressed and probed. Very quickly insisting that she again surrender to orgasm, In a few more blissful minutes, Patty had no choice but to obey. Cliff continued to lick and kiss her as her orgasm pulsed. His tongue flicking her swollen bud each time he felt her spasms begin to ease.

“Unnnnnggggg!” Patty whimpered. This was a torture she never wanted to end, but that she knew she couldn’t stand much longer. “Oh please!” she gasped as her legs stretched and tensed against his head, pushing his mouth away from the parts of her that he tormented so well.

“I love you,” Patty whispered as Cliff lifted her torso up into his arms. She kissed him, and again tasted herself on his lips. His penetration surprised her, and even though she was spent, the sensual massage of his thrusts brought her back. It wasn’t long before Cliff’s arousal built so that his thrusts took on urgency. Patty climaxed again and again. When Cliff finally reached his, they were both trembling.

After several minutes, Patty spoke absently. “I don’t have much experience to base it on, but that has to be some of the best sex ever.”

Cliff smiled and chuckled. “Believe me baby, you’re the best there is.” Patty smiled, and laughed too.

“You know, considering how much I used to hate you, I can’t get over how much I love you right now,” she responded.

Cliff laughed again. They certainly did share strong feelings.

********

Cliff spent the afternoon mapping out a plan for clearing the underbrush, and fuel abatement, while Patty walked the less rugged sections and laid out grid stakes that would be used by the crews. Her part of the work went quickly, and when she finished before 3PM, she found herself considering moving on up into the west quadrant and doing the same there.

Cliff would not like that though. His plan was that they would do the rugged sections together.

What would he do if she defied him and beat him to the punch? She knew full well what he would do, and she could not believe where her mind was going. “Go there in your mind only you stupid fool!” Patty told herself. “Only an idiot would deliberately court a spanking.” Thinking about it and being turned on by the idea, was a whole different thing to experiencing it. She knew that, but was having a hard time convincing herself of it.

Reason and sanity won out, and Patty returned to the tower. She was restless, knowing how much work lay a head over the next week, but Cliff coaxed and convinced her to relax and take the rest where it presented itself. They spend a quiet afternoon doing small jobs and simple tasks. Paul and the fire crew would be arriving late the next afternoon, and there were still the rugged quadrants to stake before they came.

An early night suited both of them since they would find privacy and alone time scarce over the next while.

Paul and the crew were landed and tents and workstations pitched by the time Patty and Cliff made it back to the tower the next day.

Patty was very pleased to see Paul again, and immediately their easy partnership renewed itself.

“I see you’re still alive!” he teased her, and he nodded in Cliff’s direction. Patty smiled.

“Well, we did manage to come to an understanding on some things. I may have been wrong about how much I hated him,” she chuckled.

The two huddled for an hour, and shared the events and activities of the past two weeks. Paul’s vacation had been good for him, seeing and spending time with his girlfriend had been good for him. She seemed to have been reassured that his feelings for her were just as strong even though he’d been isolated for six weeks with another girl. Patty was pleased to hear that, because she was hoping that she and Paul could remain friends. If he stayed with Susan, Patty didn’t want the specter of whether she and Paul had been anything more than work partners and good friends to be there with any degree of power.

Patty shared the events in her weeks without Paul too, although she left out the spankings and the intimate details. Paul sensed that Patty’s attitude had definitely changed, and he smiled when he saw the subtle signals that confirmed he’d been right all along. There was a whole lot more between Patty and Cliff, than the chaffing of strong personalities.

At least now the sexual tension was bearable for everyone around them now. Whatever the understanding was, Paul was happy the sparks were contained.

Very quickly the work took over everyone’s focus over the next week. There was little time for creature comforts, and no time or opportunity for intimacy. Cliff slipped into his role as team leader, and the team members, including Patty were expected to follow his lead. It worked out well for about a week, and then fatigue and stress began to work their brand of trouble on moods and tempers.

Small things began to grate on nerves, and then, at least for Patty, all things began to grate. She could get away from the more annoying firefighters, who seemed to enjoy picking at her with jokes and teases about her gender, by going up into the tower. But she couldn’t get away from Cliff or Paul that way.

She’d begun to feel ignored and androgynous, as the two men bonded and treated her like one of them. Cliff’s orders started to feel arbitrary again, as her thoughts on how things should be done got lost among those of the other team members. Patty didn’t take time to consider that he was acting on advice from several people when he made decisions and issued orders. All she felt was the aggravation that came when he didn’t act on her ideas.

At first her aggravation came out in short sarcastic remarks, but eventually she began to respond to his orders with outright defiance and argument. The electric tension that she felt with Cliff’s increasingly stern reactions to her behavior, was at least one brand of attention. “Better than being just one of the guys,” she reasoned. If she couldn’t have him sexually for the moment, she could have the sensual fantasy of a spanking. Every time she said or did something contrary, she watched for the threat in his eyes. She was rarely disappointed.

It was a dangerous game. She knew it too. Eventually the fire crew would be gone and Cliff would find privacy with her again. Patty thought about that a little, but not seriously. She could tone down the sarcasm and snippy attitude just before they left, and everything would get back to the way they were last week.

The fuel abatement progressed well, but a test was coming. A cold front was forecast to blow though the next morning, and it would likely push a line of thunderstorms a head of it. Lightening would ignite something somewhere. The fuel potential was still extreme, but the crews were at least deployed in critical areas. Between the abatement efforts and the proximity of responders, all the forestry service could do was hope that if disaster struck, it would be contained by the efforts already underway.

The preparations the next morning were controlled chaos. Orders were given and assignments dispensed with only thoughts of getting as much done as possible before the front got there. Patty spoke up when she was assigned to man the radio and keep track of the radar and satellite weather information. She wanted to be out with the crews.

Cliff quickly shushed her, and very pointedly told her not to argue. Patty reacted predictably by sticking her tongue out at him.

“Do as I say! No argument,” Cliff dismissed the minor defiance with a stern glare, and seemed satisfied that it had ended.

He was mistaken. Patty decided she would ‘trade’ her assignment with Paul, as soon as Cliff set out with the crew going to the west quadrant. Paul was assigned solo to the strip of forest around the lake.

Her plan worked like a charm. Paul believed her when she told him Cliff changed the assignments, and graciously accepted his spot at the computer array. Patty set out feeling pleased with herself. Not only was she out doing the physical work she preferred, but she’d gotten in a good defiant dig on the insufferable boss. She smiled to herself as she imagined Cliff’s expression when he found out. She also smiled with the secret thrill she felt with the thoughts of what he would want to do about it, but would be unable to do. That fueled a very vivid fantasy for her as she carried out Paul’s assignment.

What Patty hadn’t counted on was that the walkie-talkie she lifted from the shelf in the work shed had a defective battery connection. The periodic crackle produced by the fleeting contact her movement induced fooled her into thinking she had radio contact with Paul in the tower.

The morning moved by very quickly, and so did the front. The line of storms it blew up was severe. Hail and frequent cloud to ground lightning were prominent features of the whole line, and there was even the possibility of tornados on the flat lands. By eleven AM, Paul sent out a warning, and had recalled all the crews.

Cliff’s heated reaction to finding Paul on the other end of the radio took Paul by surprised. Patty’s little ruse had landed him in hot water with the boss. The interchange between the two men was initially intense. Fortunately, Cliff did come to realize what Patty had done. He knew that Paul would not have been a knowing participant in outright defiance of an order.

Paul wasn’t happy about being played like he’d been, but he had a feeling judging by the look on Cliff’s face, that Patty wasn’t going to get away with it this time. Paul wondered what the outcome would be, and briefly considered the possibility that the bratty little girl just might find herself fired and sent back to civilization. Too bad she’d gone back to her old habits so quickly, Paul thought. It had been kind of nice to watch how she and Cliff related to each other when they thought no one was around. They would make a nice couple, if they’d just settle down and see what everyone else did.

Patty didn’t come in with the other crews and she wasn’t responding to the radio calls. Paul began to become worried. From his perspective something had to be wrong. He knew her better than the others did, and he couldn’t see her ignoring radio warnings and putting herself in deliberate danger. Cliff on the other hand, suspected that she was maintaining silence as part of her defiance. He listened to Paul’s concerns though, and agreed someone should go out and see if they could locate her just in case.

Cliff decided that someone should be him.

“She’s been cruising for days now,” Cliff thought to himself as he pulled two slickers and a tarp off of the shelf in the shed. “I should bare her little butt and spank the hell out of her in front of the whole crew.”

By noon, the distant thunder was becoming audible. At first it was more of a palpable rumbling sensation rather than sound. When she finally recognized what she was hearing, Patty was surprised she hadn’t had a call from the tower to come in yet. Initially she convinced herself that it was a small precursor cell, and not the line of storms with the main front. But as the rumble became clearer, she was aware that it was also very persistent. In fact it was almost constant. She was also aware of the vague uneasy feeling that she often felt before severe weather.

Who knew what it was that people felt, whether it was a drop in air pressure, or the electro-magnetic field that severe storms generated. Patty had no idea. One thing was sure, the dull hollow ache she felt at the base of her skull and spine, and the prickly feeling she felt on her skin told her the storm she was hearing was not a small precursor cell, and she doubted she would be able to make the tower and shelter before it hit.

Pulling the walkie-talkie from her belt, she tried to reach the tower. The first attempts yielded only static, but after fiddling with the switch connector and getting momentary contact, Patty figured out what was wrong. She opened the battery housing, and used her fingernails to bend the negative pole down. That worked, and the ‘stupid’ radio worked again.

Paul was glad to hear from her. At least she wasn’t down somewhere hurt. He filled her in on the status of the storm, and confirmed that she was too far out to make it back before the worst of it was on top of them. Once that information was relayed, Paul advised her to switch to channel 10, Cliff was out searching for her, and wanted to speak with her directly.

Patty’s heart jumped a little with that last bit of information.

“Is he alone?” she asked, hoping the twinge of fear she felt was not audible in her voice.

“Yes he is?” Paul answered. He thought that was an odd question. So what if he was alone? At least he stood a better chance of reaching her with some protection from the weather than she stood of reaching the tower.

“Tell him I’m at the 5 mile marker, and headed for the ATV shack,” Patty answered.

“He says, tell you to get on channel 10 now.” Paul responded after a minute or so.

Patty knew he had just spoken with Cliff. “I’m headed for the shack. If he’s down here, he can meet me there,” she answered.

Another minute went by, and Paul came back, “The message is, get on 10 now or you’ll be one sorry……Shit! I’m not saying that! Patty, my girl, if I were you, I’d get on 10,” Paul relayed Cliff’s message. Patty cringed at the part of the message Paul kept to himself. She knew what it was. “Funny,” she thought. “The threat wasn’t so sexy coming second hand like that.” Or was it that the threat stood a good chance of being carried out this time, that took away the sexy edge it had when it was closer to being a fantasy.

Taking a few deep breaths, Patty flipped the handset to 10, and spoke into it. “I’m headed for the ATV shack, I’m maybe 4 minutes out.”

“Good, get moving,” Cliff responded. “You’d better have your answers ready by the time I get there too young lady. If I don’t like them I promise you your bare ass is going to know about it. Clear?”

Patty closed her eyes and groaned. The twinge of fear and sick anticipation she felt in that moment was short lived. In an instant it was replaced with a boiling surge of embarrassment and rage.

“Way to go Boss!” came across the channel next, and Patty realized that every team in the region, with an open frequency receiver, not just the ones assigned to this station, had just heard that broadcast. There were some wolf whistles and whoops that followed.

“The bastard did that on purpose!” she fumed, barely resisting the urge to throw the hand set smashing against a tree.

“I said is that CLEAR?!” Cliff’s voice boomed and crackled just on time to stop her from coiling her arm for the pitch.

Patty bit back the string of curses she had ready. Those men had no real idea that Cliff really meant what he’d threatened. If she played her cards right, they would never really know for sure. For all they knew it was nothing more than the kind of chauvinist, paternal rib that lots of male bosses issued to female subordinates. That most wouldn’t dream of acting on it in this political culture was in her favor, at least as far as her ability to hold her head up among the rest of the men was concerned. That she knew it was a promise, not a threat coming from Cliff could remain her secret as long as she kept her cool.

“Clear!” was the answer she gave. “Over.”

“10 minutes. Over,” Cliff advised, and the radio went silent. Patty flipped back to the two-way frequency.

As soon as she did, Paul came on. “Can’t say you don’t have it coming kiddo,” he spoke in his usual brotherly tone.

“Paul, so help me if you say anything else I’ll have to kill you!” Patty complained.

“He means it doesn’t he,” Paul’s question was a statement.

“Oh shut up Paul!” Patty hissed. “Who knows with him!”

Paul laughed. “Better get your story straight. You have about 20 minutes before the gust front passes. Hang tight down there. We’ll be back on after the fireworks pass. Over.”

“After the fireworks passes! Yeah right!” Patty spoke to the stones she kicked in front of her on the trail. She knew damned well there was no story or excuse she could come up with that would give Cliff an answer he would accept. She knew it because she’d been very deliberate in choosing actions that would piss him off maximally. Maybe she could distract him with sex?

In her mind, Patty stood back from her thoughts and the sick sensation of dread that she was feeling. Why wasn’t the threat of a real spanking as thrilling as the remote threat of one? “I must be insane?” she thought. “What was I thinking?”

The ATV shack was a small but sturdy structure built near the landing dock on the lake. It was intended to house the ATV buggy when the station was shut down for the winter. It was sheltered under the thick edge of the forest canopy, and should be safe from any direct hits by lightning.

Patty shivered when she rounded the trail and caught sight of the gray wood building about 100 feet a head. The door was still padlocked, so it wasn’t likely Cliff had made it there yet. Damn the weather! There was no other place to go, although, Patty did briefly entertain thoughts of trying to find a hovel under a thicket. It would be a toss up to decide which would be worse, facing Cliff, or sharing a cold damp spot, with every insect and mosquito in the bush.

The damp spot had it’s appeal, but the fact was, it would likely get flushed if the rain was heavy enough, and she would still have to face Cliff after the storm passed.

Patty twirled the combination on the lock, and tossed her pack inside. If she was quick, she should have time to rinse off some of the sweat, and grime before Cliff and the lightning reached her. The thunder was still mostly rumble, but Patty knew that the mountains and forest displaced and deflected the sound in odd ways. Down where she was, in the valley, storms that were 40 or 50 miles away often sounded the same as storms that were nearly on top of you.

The air was still, and even the cicadas and other buzzing insects were silent. There was an ominous edge to the stillness. Even so, the glassy surface of the water, with the bright clear blue and rich green reflection of the sky and the trees was beautiful. The air near the water smelled like ginger ale and musk. Patty was tempted to slip into the water and take a quick swim. She might have, but Cliff came up behind her on the dock, and scared her nearly out of her skin.

“March back up there. Now!” he spoke quietly, but with a voice hard and cool as steel.

A short scream of surprise escaped her, before Patty stood from her crouch wheeled around to see the tall man who’d snuck up behind her.

She almost lost her balance, but Cliff caught her with his free hand. The other held a freshly peeled switch.

“Come on, let’s go,” Cliff pointed to the shack with the switch, and pulled on the arm he’d caught to keep her from falling.

“Don’t! Let go of me!” Patty pulled back.

“Don’t?” Cliff growled, and turned a warning gaze on her. “Don’t! You dare tell me that!? After all the crap you’ve dished out for three days!? You just march your butt into that shed and be glad I’ve had time to cool off!”

“Cool off!” Patty complained silently. “If this is cool, what’s hot?” She kept her thoughts to herself, and did the best she could to keep her feet under her as Cliff pushed her ahead of him up the path to the shack.

“Ow! Ow!” Patty yelped, as he stopped her weak efforts to tug out of his grip, with a few swipes of the switch.

“Inside,” Cliff spoke, as he pushed her inside the open door, and pulled it shut behind them.

“Over there! Pants down!” he nodded to the long workbench.

“Wait! Please!” Patty complained weakly. “You said you wanted me to have answers.”

“For what?!” Cliff’s expression showed a blend of amazement and amusement. “You mean you actually have reasons for behaving like you have? Lying to your co-worker? Disobeying direct orders?”

Patty’s expression changed from defiance to defeat briefly. Well, at least she would be spared the humiliation of having to try and come up with an explanation when there wasn’t one that would hold water. “How would the real one go over?” she wondered. “I get a perverted sexy thrill out of pissing you off?” The surge of electric energy that pulsed through her groin at that moment, was similar to sexy arousal she felt all those times she was watching him react like a stern disciplinarian. Now, though, her heart was pounding too fast, and the anticipation of pain and humiliation was too strong. This was just NOT sexy.

“I’m going to puke!” she said in answer to what she was feeling. She wouldn’t be so lucky though.

“Feel sick at your stomach do you? Well let me give you something that’ll cure that for you right quick,” Cliff’s tone was not cruel, but it was anything but sympathetic. “Pants down. Bend over that bench now.”

Patty turned and looked at the waist high wood surface, and then looked back to Cliff. Her eyes pleaded with him to change his mind. There was no going back though.

“NOW!” he warned her.

A small sob escaped her, but Patty complied. Her fingers trembled on the buckle of her belt, and the snap and zipper of her jeans. Her underwear slipped down with her jeans, and nervously, she stopped pushing the denim down to pull the white cotton back up.

“Bare!” Cliff spoke sternly. Patty whimpered, as her thumbs hooked the cotton, and tugged it to her knees with her jeans. “Now bend over,” Cliff swung the switch in a motion that reinforced his words. As he did, he moved to her side to wrap his left arm around her waist.

His torso helped push hers down onto the bench.

“I’m sorry,” Patty sobbed.

“You will be,” Cliff responded. He laced her bare bottom with the first lick of the switch.

“OH JESUS!” Patty screamed. She bucked and struggled against Cliff’s weight for all she was worth. The line of fire that burned into her flesh was quickly followed by another, and another. Patty’s screams and struggles told Cliff the licks were leaving a message she was not soon, if ever, going to forget.

“Maybe you’ll think twice about disobeying me next time?” The words never reached Patty’s mind. Nothing did but the horrible white-hot fire the switch branded across her bottom.

“You’re killing me!” Patty cried out.

“You’ll live,” Cliff chuckled. “Maybe not sit for a few days, but you’ll live”

Four more carefully placed licks made their mark, and burned into her awareness. This was the most severe pain Patty had ever known in her life. He couldn’t know how bad this was! He just couldn’t. No one could do this to someone else if they knew how bad it was. “Oh Please! I can’t stand it! Please!” Patty shrieked.

“You’ll take 20,” was all Cliff said. It took some doing to keep her still enough to avoid cutting her for the next eight licks, but the last five found their mark easily. When he dropped the switch and lifted her up into his arms, Patty was sobbing inconsolably.

Cliff hugged her tightly until she was able to get back some composure. When he felt her weight was held up more solidly on her bones, he shifted and lifted her chin so she had to look into his eyes.

“You won’t be so quick to press me into this on purpose again now will you?” he said softly. His eyes were full of understanding.

“You knew?” Patty sobbed. Her feelings were so mixed up. Cliff just nodded.

“Do you think I’m sick?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

“No baby I don’t. I think you’re just what I need, only we’ll have to find better ways to get you spanked the right way. OK?” Cliff smiled, and bent down to kiss her. The bewildered expression on her face melted his heart completely.

“The right way?” Patty gave her confusion voice between Cliff’s reassuring kisses.

“You’ll see,” Cliff’s answer was cryptic, but Patty had no energy to press him for a more direct one. He bent down and helped her pull her pants back up. Patty whimpered and winced as the fabric scraped and stung the welts that were now hard raised ropes across the skin of her bottom and legs.

“You’ll see,” Cliff repeated as the first real crash of thunder preceded the clatter of hail and roar of heavy rain.