Page 17 of Thwack!

“Um, Mr. Beaumont?” he said as Beau unlocked the door and turned the knob. “I really am sorry. I won’t do it again, I swear. I don’t have any cash with me, but I’ll go to an ATM. There’s one right down the street. I’ll bring you the money I owe.”

“I don’t think money can fully pay this debt, Mr. Ridgeway.” Beau sat behind his impressively large and solid wood desk. “The New and Popular books are a very serious matter.”

“I know.” Abel was still on his feet, not having been asked to sit. His stomach was churning almost as bad as his balls, and he wasn’t sure whether he was about to cry or to come.

“And you’ve been abusing the system for quite some time now. Unrepentantly.”

“I do repent, I do. Please don’t say I can’t come back. Please.” Abel got down on his knees, clasping his hands together to beg. “I love the library. I shouldn’t have done it. I’ll be good, I promise.”

“Very well.”

“Very well?” Abel got to his feet. That had sounded dismissive. Where was his sexy punishment? “But, um, you should probably make sure.”

“And how would I do that?”

“If you, you know, punished me. Then I’d remember.”

“You need something to remember, do you?” Beau eyed him calculatingly.

Abel held his breath. Beau had to know what he was asking for, right? His cock was sticking straight out of his pants.

“Very well,” Beau said again, but he didn’t sound dismissive this time. “If you need me to give you a punishment that you’ll remember, I can do that. In fact, I’d say punishment is long overdue.” Beau grinned. He looked so evil, like the most starched and nerdy villain ever. He reached into a drawer and came out with a single leather glove. “Come here,” he said as he pulled it slowly and deliberately over his graceful fingers.

Abel was dizzy with anticipation. He could barely control his legs as he shuffled around the desk until he was on Beau’s side of it. Beau tapped his thigh with the gloved hand, indicating that Abel should drape himself over it.

Abel swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth, then lowered himself down until he was kneeling across Beau’s lap. Beau raised one thigh, tipping him forward to put him in a precarious position, which surprised him enough that a little eeeping sound came out of his mouth.

“Bad boys get bare bottom spankings.”

Abel eeped again as Beau’s long-fingered hands reached under him to undo his jeans and drag them over his ass until they pooled around his feet.

“Well,” Beau said, “looks like someone knew he deserved a bare bottom spanking.”

Abel closed his eyes in shame. He hadn’t worn underwear because it was true. He’d dreamed of a bare bottom spanking, but truly, he hadn’t believed it could ever happen. And now here he was, head down, ass up, cheeks bared to Beau’s gaze, cock harder than it had ever been, waiting.

Beau patted his butt a few times, the leather firm but genteel, just like Beau himself, then he laid down the first blow. Abel choked back his reaction. Wow. He hadn’t expected it to hurt so much. Why hadn’t he realized it would hurt? Beau was stronger than he looked, and he must have experience with this sort of thing—which Abel didn’t—because he was methodically ruthless in the way he applied himself to Abel’s bottom. Each blow came up under Abel’s cheeks, lifting them as the glove swiped across them, dusting his entire backside with firmly dispensed pain.

“Such a bad boy,” Beau said, raining blows down even harder now. “Taunting me with your behavior, just asking to be spanked.”

Abel started to cry because he had been asking to be spanked, and now he was getting it and he couldn’t decide whether he liked it or not. The slaps hurt, each one worse than the last, but his cock hadn’t deflated at all and he couldn’t stop himself from humping Beau’s leg, trying to mix pleasure in with his pain. His breathing came harder as his nose filled with snot, and both pain and pleasure mounted.

“Please, Mr. Beaumont,” he begged, though he hardly knew what for. “Please, I’ll be good. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He cried harder, twisting on Beau’s lap, though more to rub his cock against Beau’s thigh than to escape.

“Shh.” Beau gentled his strokes, giving Abel soft little pats that only hurt because of all the punishment that had already been inflicted. “Shh, there we go. All over. You’re forgiven.”

Abel sniffled, ass still pointing up over Beau’s lap and cock still hard, aching worse almost than his ass. He liked being here, warm and settled, with his tears drying as the pain subsided and Beau continued to stroke his ass soothingly.

“Thank you.” He’d wanted this, and Beau had given it to him, and now that it was over, he knew he would want it again and again.

“I don’t appreciate you misappropriating the books on that New and Popular table,” Beau said, as if he’d read Abel’s mind, which maybe he had. Abel had apparently been pretty transparent.

“Yes, sir.” It really had been rude of him. He sighed. He wouldn’t do it again.

“But there are other reasons why a young man might need a good spanking.”

Abel twisted his head around so he could look at Beau to find him gazing down with an expression of authoritarian fondness.

“If you need discipline, I’m available to help.