I woke up pretty late the next morning, about 10 A.M. As usual, I was naked. Mary wouldn't be home until about 6 P.M. so I had to find something to do until then. Soaking in the hot tub sounded like a good idea, so I grabbed a towel and a bottle of water from my refrigerator and headed out back.
It didn't take long for the water to heat up, so I was able to climb in and relax in just a few minutes. Standing there in the backyard, about to climb into the hot tub naked, I shook my head at how everything turned out that first time I did this. It seemed strange how I was so humiliated being caught naked by Mary that first time and now I couldn't imagine being embarrassed at all spending every minute undressed with her.
I heard a doorbell ring. At first I wasn't sure whose door it was, mine or Mary's. I figured out it was my doorbell, so I got out, dried off and went inside. I put on a pair of sweatpants and pulled on a t-shirt. Opening the door, I was surprised to see Helen from the property management company I'd hired. Like everyone else, she was taller than my 5'1" but only by a few inches and nowhere as close to Mary's height. She was, as they say, a "pleasantly plump" brunette in her late 20's. She wore a beige skirt and a light blue knit shirt with the property management company's logo on the front.
"Hi, Helen," I greeted her. "Come in."
"Thank you, Jason," she said, stepping inside. "I have some final paperwork that needs your signature."
She handed me some papers. Reading them over, I saw they were just some recent property assessments. I did a quick calculation in my head and found the new numbers acceptable. As I was signing the forms, I felt Helen staring at me.
When I looked up at her, a grin crossed her face, "How are you feeling today?"
"Fine," I said. I handed her back the signed paperwork. "I had a head cold last week, but fine now."
This caused her grin to break into a wide smile. "Seems like you had just the opposite last night!" She couldn't contain herself and stood there laughing.
Confused, I asked her, "What do you mean?"
"Oh," she said, "I was just happening by last night when I heard a naughty boy getting his ass whipped with a belt."
I froze. The room was suddenly ice cold. "I... I... don't know what you mean."
"I think you do," she said, "since I saw through the curtains that naughty boy was you."
A wave of panic swept over me. I didn't know Helen very well. She was nice when I'd met her in the past at the office, but she'd also told me she'd had a bad divorce a few years ago. I didn't know what this would mean for Mary and I. What we had was a secret between us. What if Helen told everyone? I was scared more for Mary than for myself. I was self-sufficient. If I had to hide for the next few years, I could but Mary had to work, go out in public. I was truly scared for this woman who'd become such a powerful maternal figure in my life. I didn't want to lose her.
"So," Helen said after a long moment of silence, "who was she?"
I paused. "What?"
"I could see you clearly but I couldn't see much of her."
She hadn't seen it was Mary. Even though she knew my terrible secret, it made me feel better that she didn't know about Mary.
"She was someone I met online," I lied.
"There are so many pervy people online," she said. "You better be careful and keep it down so the old bitty next door won't find out."
I was kind of mad she called Mary an "old bitty" but I didn't say anything.
"I want to see," she said. When I asked her what she meant, she said, "I want to see your ass!"
I didn't know what to do. I could tell her to get out of my house, but then what would she say to the other people at the property management office?
"Come on," she said, "I've never seen a whipped ass before and I've always wanted to."
I slowly turned around. Reaching into the waistband of my sweatpants, I pushed them down to my thighs and held them there. I felt Helen lift up my shirt so she could see my entire naked bottom.
"No bruises, but those are some mean looking pink stripes," she said. "I thought a belt would tear up the skin and leave you bloody."