All characters in both "Short Takes" are over the age of 18.
*****
Short Take #1
Spanking is how she kept him obedient and eager to please.
These weren't recreational paddling, instead they were genuine physical punishments designed to make him afraid of her power over him.
She always got a little thrill whenever his eyes grew wide at the sight of the paddles, and then he would look deeply into her eyes. At that point, they both knew that he would submit to her punishment knowing that whatever she decided for him would be just and appropriate to whatever crime he had committed against her.
Sometimes she would read a list of offenses that he had committed before the punishment; while at other times, she expected him to just accept that he had failed her in some way and that paddling was the only viable method of getting his mind 'right'.
Oddly, she noted that even though she usually made him sob from the pain of a paddling, he was always more cheerful, more obedient, and more in love with her after a good paddling. And that alone made her determined to keep his backside red and his service impeccable.
She was very happy with this one. She was pretty sure this one would last longer than most.
Short Take #2
Of course Janet knew he had no idea that he was being sold. He was a slave after all and it was none of his business. No woman would discuss such things as that in front of a slave!
As far as he knew, she was just a proud mistress showing him off to a guest the same way she had done so many times before.
He had no idea, and that made her feel a bit guilty. After all she had owned him since, well, forever (Thank you Mom!). You can't spend 10 years of your life with a slave, training him, and teaching him to serve you without feeling some affection and loyalty towards him.
But those damn bill collectors just won't leave her alone, and with his skill level as a servant, and his natural inborn man's need to obey women meant she could sell him for $15,000 at least. That sort of money was hard to ignore.
Mom had insisted on buying her a slave of quality to develop her training skills with when she graduated from High School, and it had paid off. He was a loving and obedient slave, absolutely dedicated to serving her.