She froze mid stroke along her sex. She had done wrong. She knew this now. She neatly folded the face cloth leaving it on the counter as she brought her foot down beside the other. The moistness of the warm water mixed with their lust she could feel slide between her upper thighs. She turned to exit the restroom. He lay there, then moved to sitting, looking back at her. She simply could not escape his gaze. She could not avert her eyes. She would have to walk toward him and across his field of view. She held her head high and walked forward desperately trying to maintain her composure. She could feel her lips start to quiver in preparation of tears. The first time she had felt that sensation since she disappointed her father as a teenager. He stared back at her and showed mercy.
"What are the Cardinal rules?"
This gave her something to do, something to say, something besides quiver, break down and cry before him. "Sir, Cardinal Rule One: Always follow the Dominant's direction. Sir, Cardinal Rule Two: Be conscious of how all the submissive's actions reflect on the Dominant. Sir, Cardinal Rule Three: The submissive will always avail herself to the Dominant sexually. Sir, Cardinal Rule Four: The submissive is in a constant state of self-improvement. Sir, Cardinal Rule 5:" her lips now tremble uncontrollably, noticeable in her speech, "... The submissive will never violate Cardinal Rule One."
She exhaled heavily after reciting the words. Thinking in her mind where she had violated the Cardinal Rules. The rules they had discussed. The rules they had agreed to. The rules she had recited many times before him and even more away from him before they even opened the Dominant and submissive times. The rules she recited aloud as she sanded, The Paddle. She stood before her bureau slowly opening her panty drawer. Upright along the inside of the drawer sat, The Paddle. It was six inches wide, just under thirty inches long and three quarters of an inch thick. A fine poplar board scrap he had found in his little shop. He cut and shaped the paddle himself. About six inches of handle and "...twenty-four inches of punishment.", he had told her. He then presented it to her to sand. Hundreds of times she recited the Five Cardinal Rules as she sanded The Paddle as he had directed. Now stained, completed and put away in her panty drawer, as he had instructed. It was the first time it was to be used. No test swats, it was to be used for punishment and punishment only. Now, she was about to be punished.
She closed the drawer and turned ninety degrees to the bureau. She held The Paddle aloft on her fingertips, in presentation. She gathered her resolve, "Sir, I have broken the Cardinal Rules and I am prepared to receive my punishment, Sir." The actions of punishment had been worked out. She would now wait until he took The Paddle from her. Once he did, she would bend down and take a firm grip of her ankles and watch the mirror above her bureau. She would have to watch it all. She held the paddle upright.
He did not get up quickly. He watched her, from his still seated position on the bed. A moment or two later he could see her arms struggle to hold The Paddle out for him. He let this discomfort resonate within her. He stood and walked toward her slowly. When he finally stood before her, her arms struggling even more, he reached out, but did not take The Paddle. He held his hand beneath it and stared into her eyes. He waited until the discomfort in her eyes turned to desperation. Then he lifted The Paddle from her fingers. She dropped her arms and assumed "the position" as they had agreed. He petted her hair, "Good girl."
He lay The Paddle across her back. "Don't let it fall."
"Sir, yes, Sir."
He walked behind her and squatted. Bent over she could see his spread muscled thighs and his semi-erect penis. He was flaccid when he had approached, but now there was excitement, and she was pleased. The view, the service, the punishment, the reason did not matter. She was his sexual muse. Her thoughts were overwhelmed by the response to the nerve endings firing off as he stroked gently across her ass.
"Nice welting. I love the gentle texture under my fingers."
"Sir, thank you, Sir."
She winced deep and inhaled a moan each time he poked deep into her cheeks.
"You know this is going to hurt, don't you?"
"Sir, yes, Sir."
"The Paddle on bare skin should be enough to make you wish you had never broken a rule, but with your ass all aflame like this, I am not sure what all you might have wished you had never done."
"Sir, no sir, I would change only that I had broken a Cardinal Rule, Sir."