Chapter One
Sarah stood at the stupid exercise machine and tried, once again, to make it fit. Given her physique, barely five feet tall and with a perfectly sculpted body, she often had a problem using gym equipment intended for adults. Frankly, she didn’t see the need, but her new role called for her to be truly buffed, and so she was here to work out. She moved the arm bar, slid the leg support in as far as possible, and climbed up onto the padded bench. This was when she felt the most embarrassed, the most vulnerable. The machine was designed to help her firm her glutes and legs, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. Lying there, gripping the handles under her, lifting the weighted bar with her ankles, her butt definitely got a good workout, but it was also on very prominent display.
Hence the humiliation. She was just glad Thomas had set up the gym in her house. If it was a public place, she’d die of embarrassment every time she worked out. She lay there, huffing and puffing, her legs bending, muscles straining, and her face getting redder by the minute. Her every move was easy to follow because of the floor-to-ceiling mirrors that lined every wall. They were yet another thing Thomas had installed with the gym gear.
Lying there, she shifted her position. She brought her arms up to rest on the padded bench under her chest, and rested her chin in her hand. Working out always brought back such great memories: her gymnastic competitions when she was a little girl, meeting Thomas and his dad, and her acting career taking off. Her dad had always insisted on one thing: she only do it (acting) if she truly loved it. Well, she’d loved it from the first shot of the first scene of her first role! Not only did she enjoy acting, but there were the good times with her parents, co-stars, and Thomas and his dad.
The door opened and she saw Thomas enter behind her.
“Tommy Boy, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this afternoon?” she said with a warm smile.
He moved around to stand alongside her and sighed. She knew what that meant: he was upset about something—again. Tommy rubbed his temple and pushed his curly red locks away from his freckled face. That he didn’t speak right away told her a lot. He wasn’t just upset, he was mad.
No, he’s beyond mad. If he was merely mad, he’d be shouting by now, venting that fiery Irish temper of his. Sarah chewed her lip and tugged at her long brown hair. What the hell did I do this time?
“Sarah, do you recall the last time we talked?”
“Ha!” she snorted. “That’s a polite way of putting it. I’d call it a screaming hissy fit. You used swear words I’ve never even heard of.”
“Well, considering the level of royal screwy-ness you achieved, my language was called for. I was trying to make a point.”
“And that point was what; I’m being an idiot again?”
Tom rubbed the center of his forehead with two fingers and sighed again. “It was that you can’t keep messing around! The studio needed an answer on the movie last week. Last week, you silly little girl. They’re going to withdraw the offer and give the movie to some other actress. Do you know what this means?”
“That you and I will have to kiss their collective asses again?” she said with quite the smarmy attitude. “Tom, you worry too much.”
Tom grunted. Sarah turned to look at him. His face was as red as his hair and almost the same shade as her face as she strained to continue pumping the machine.
Smack! She felt a very hard swat to her behind. It was made all the more painful by the fact that she was in yoga pants and her muscles were quite rigid at the moment of impact.
Clang! The bar slammed down into place and she bounced on the bench in surprise. Spinning to face him, her hand flew to rub and protect her tender cheek.
“What the hell? Tom, have you lost your mind? You hit me!”
“It was not a hit, it was a spank, one spank, and I’ve a good mind to give you a couple dozen more.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she snapped. “Get out! Go make nice with the studio people, and I’ll try to forget this ever happened.”
“Sarah, I didn’t do that to be mean, I was trying to make a point. You were a pain in the ass to my dad, and now you’re twice as bad since I took over as your manager. It has got to stop!”
“Hey, just because you can’t handle the job is not my problem. I’m not twice as bad, you’re half the man he was, God rest his soul. Unless you want to spend the rest of the day looking for a new job—get out, now!”
Tom chewed his lip. “Oh, I can’t handle it, eh? You want to see what I can handle, missy?”
Sarah’s back stiffened. She’d never seen such a look of pure raw determination on his face. It both excited and scared her. Slipping down from the machine, she sort of sideways shuffled to her right, intent on getting away from him as fast as possible.
“Um… ah, no, I don’t. Tom, take a chill pill and—whoa!”
She was cut off in mid-sentence by him grabbing her around the wrist. He shifted backwards, sat in a nearby chair, and tugged her. Given her forward momentum, she was across his lap before she could offer any hint of protest.
Whack! His hand landed again, harder this time, and then it struck her other cheek. She heaved on his lap, which was pointless. Considering his size and strength, and her small frame (despite her workouts), all her squirming accomplished was almost rubbing her sports bra right off of her breasts. For a moment, modesty won out over anger and indignation. Her hands flew to her chest and she fought to stabilize her bra to protect her ample ‘assets’ while also reducing her level of activity. All that time, Tom just kept right on smacking away.
“Sarah, I hate to do this, but you have finally pushed me too far. Your life is an endless series of crises, and that has got to stop. Now, are you prepared to sit down with me and discuss and plan out the coming events in your life?”
“Ouch! You big bully. Fine, you want to—ow—discuss and plan things? Here’s my—ouch—first plan: you’re fired! Get out, this instant,” she screeched.
He sighed, but kept right on spanking. “It would appear the answer to that question is a big fat no. Okay, I’ll ask again in a while.”
Sarah grunted and squeaked, and screamed all manner of obscenities at Tom, but his hand didn’t let up. Each smack added fire to her poor cheeks, and she heaved and squirmed in an effort to avoid his hard hand. She continued to fail in that endeavor, and the ripples of pain kept building. Throwing back her hands to block was pointless; Tom easily pinned both of them with his large left hand. Yet, she did have cause for one iota of satisfaction: she hadn’t broken; she hadn’t cried out or (even worse) actually cried.
Then she gasped. Tom had stopped, which momentarily filled her with glee. She’d won! But then his fingers gripped the top of her yoga pants, and with one firm yank he peeled them from her body as though he was peeling a banana. Her delicate panties were now on display. They were black and little more than a triangle at the top of her butt crack. Now she was embarrassed beyond belief. Not only was Tom seeing her essentially bare behind, he was also touching it, and boy, was he touching it! Over and over his firm hand slammed into her defenseless flesh. An added aspect to her humiliation was that she had a great view of everything. Everywhere she looked a mirror was there to give her yet another image to torment her.
“Owwwiiieee! Tommy, enough, you’ve made your point, stop,” she wailed.
“Oh, now you’re starting to sing a different tune, eh? So, I guess I have made my point. You going to settle down now and listen to reason?” he said with a smug tone, still not letting up one bit.
“Yes, yes, okay, I’ll… take it down—ouch—a notch,” she whined.
He stopped, helped her to her feet, and looked her in the eye. Given her small size and his height that wasn’t hard for him to do.
“Great. Sarah, I am sincerely sorry that a spanking was necessary, but it was called for. You have got to start organizing your life better.”
She yanked her pants up and her hands rubbed her stinging seat furiously, even as she practically growled at Tom. “I will. As of right now, you’re fired! If you’re not out of here in five minutes, I’m calling the cops and having you thrown out. Oh, and I’ll throw in a charge of assault for good measure.”
Tom grinned and slowly got to his feet. “Okay, I’ll go. Just remember, according to my contract, I get six weeks’ severance. Good luck finding someone to replace me who’ll put up with your shenanigans.”
Sarah stepped away from him as he headed for the door, all the while glaring at him and staying outside his arm’s length. Just in case.
“Oh, I won’t need to. From now on, I’ll handle everything myself,” she spat.
He stopped at the door and turned to face her, and heaved a sigh as he shook his head. “Oh, Sarah, I almost wish I could be around to see that. Maybe then you’d learn a truly valuable lesson. By the way, just so you know, you couldn’t charge me with assault. That’s the threat of violence. Battery is the actual touching. In addition, to make good on that charge, you’d have to take pictures of the affected area and display them in open court. Just think of the field day the tabloids would have with that tender tidbit.”
Sarah froze, her jaw dropping, and Tom left. Myriad sensations assaulted her mind and body. The thought of a courtroom full of people seeing her bright red ass filled her with dread, humiliation, and (of all things) pure raw excitement. The sounds of their laughter echoed in her mind and another surge tore through her body. It had but one destination. Doubling over slightly, her hands shifted from her poor bottom to between her legs. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, and fought the urge to run after him and beg him for sex. She dashed to her bathroom and took a cold shower.
Talk about a cliché.
After that, she got dressed in some basic white cotton panties and a billowy dress, and then set about doing exactly what she’d said she’d do. She took control of her life and career.
But it didn’t go exactly as she’d expected. First off, she couldn’t sit down, which added to her embarrassment. She went to Tom’s office, a small room that she’d let him use. Actually, his dad had used it before him, and the place was full of reminders of both. Standing at the fine old roll-top desk, the slight aroma of tobacco tickled her nose. Patrick had always seemed to have a pipe dangling from his mouth, until he got mouth and throat cancer. He’d been a good manager, and a good friend. Then there were the pictures, and oh, were there ever pictures! Sarah’s first roles: some toy ads, both print and TV, her guest appearances on several kid shows, her appearance as Peter Pan, which led to her first major role on her own show, and all the fun times they’d shared. The pictures also featured her parents, which actually added to her pain, now that her dad was gone. Yet, it was nice to see him whole and hearty, and all of them enjoying good times.
Thomas was in just about all of the pictures. He’d been his dad’s assistant since she’d signed with him. She’d been what, eight? That would make Thomas twenty in the first photos. Standing there, she chewed her lip. Was he really that much older than her? Back then, she’d taken one look and been hopelessly in love with him. She smiled. Simple puppy love, which she’d gotten over by the time she was twelve, at least that’s what she’d told herself.
Now, sifting through the files and piles of papers, she found her body besieged by more sensations than she’d ever known. There was the tightness in her chest, the rapid breathing, and the lightheadedness that she was used to. Those were the feelings that struck her every time she tried to make a decision, which was why she put them off as long as possible. That used to get her into trouble with Patrick all the time, and he and her dad would give her a royally good scolding. Memories of those events blended with the other impulses throbbing through her body: the sting in her behind, the pulses in her pussy, and the humiliation of being across Tommy’s lap.
The papers fell from her hands as she staggered forward and grabbed the desk to steady herself. She was sweating and breathing hard, and those weren’t the result of a panic attack. Sarah felt a ravenous hunger consuming her body. If she didn’t find a way to quench it soon, she’d suffer a true emotional meltdown.
She had a ‘fire’ that only one man could satiate, and she was going to find him, now.