“Alexa,” her boss called through his open door.

She left her cubicle, went into his office and closed the door behind her. A fair idea of what he was about to say, she didn't want to share it with the entire office. She'd just put an angry client through to him.

Stern faced, he looked at her. “Why didn't you tell me about that yesterday?”

“I saw the email, but you were busy and I forgot.”

Yesterday, a match on her dating app had talked to her. It didn't happen as often as it should. He'd been flirtatious and interesting. Excited by a potential Friday night date, she'd been doing her job between messages.

“Do you think that's an adequate answer?”

“No, not at all. I'm sorry.”

“He was complaining about one of my salespeople. I'd say that was crucial, wouldn't you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I must be able to rely on you.”

“You can. I'm sorry. I know how wrong it was to let that slip, I should have brought it to your attention.”

“You should. You're paid to ensure stuff like this never happens.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Get back to work.”

She returned to her desk, chastened but still excited about her date tonight.

When she climbed out of bed on Monday, she was ready for the weekend to end. Her Friday night date had been a total letdown. The conversationalist she'd met in the app had dried up in person. They'd have sat in silence if she hadn't worked to drive the conversation. At the end of the torturous evening, she'd asked him how he could have conversed so well on the phone and not in person. It was clear her criticism upset him, but she'd already ruled him out. She just wanted to know how something so full of promise had gone so wrong. He'd confessed his friend had been helping him craft replies. She'd grabbed a taxi, and said, "Seems I should have gone to dinner with him instead."

The digital clock on top of her built-in chest of drawers showed the weather along with the time, date and, day. She opened her efficient underwear drawer and considered her options. The time she'd wasted setting up her date had impacted her work. The tongue-lashing from her boss still in the front of her mind, she knew she couldn't wear white today. It must be blue or green, at the very least. Both gave her a fair chance of getting the paddle.

Her hand lingered over navy bikini panties. She looked good in them. They were serious and sexy, but likely to get her thrashed. Her lack of focus at work deserved it, but she should save those for when she crossed a dreadful line. Her hand hovered over aqua panties with fish on them. They could earn her the punishment she deserved while still making her look fun and cute for John.

Slipping on the panties, she pulled her tight black jersey miniskirt to her waist. Riding high on her thigh, the Nasty Gal miniskirt displayed her toned legs to perfection. It had cost little, but she rocked it. With a relaxed white tee, eyes would follow her backside around the office. Only two people would know the paddle might thrash her sexy bottom tonight, and only she knew it was probable.

At 4pm, Alexa took her boss a coffee. She leaned over his desk to place it near him. Her skirt tightened over her aqua panties. She blushed as it reminded her she'd soon be bending over a different desk without her skirt.

Returning to her desk, she looked at the scene of her crime. It hadn't been worth it. If her panties were the darkest, she'd take her paddling with respect. She should have shown the same respect for her job last week. Her boss had never had to chastise her before. His harsh words had cleared the air, but not the guilt in her mind.

After her boss left at 5.30pm, she stayed in her cubicle until Nicole arrived at 6.15pm.

“I've walked the floor. There's only us and John left.”

“Cool,” Alexa said, her brief response covering her rising fear.

She stood, pushed her chair under her desk and turned to face her friend, easing her fingers into the waistband of her miniskirt. Positioned against the cubicle wall, Nicole lay her intense-red blazer over the side and put her fingers on the button of her tailored navy suit pants. This moment was sacred in their girl code. They must bare their panties to each other with no chance to change their mind and no escape from the behavior which had led to their eventual choice.

With a heavy heart, Alexa eased the tight black fabric over her hips and exposed her aqua fish patterned panties. Nicole unzipped and lowered her suit pants, presenting pastel blue bikinis with slim string sides.

Alexa grimaced. The shame, which had been hanging over her all day, crashed down on her shoulders. “I deserve it,” she said.

Easing her miniskirt back in place, she told her friend about neglecting her job. She'd already told her about the non-date, but had left out the embarrassing scolding she'd got from her boss.

Nicole pulled up her suit pants and fastened them. “It's the right result. You deserve it. Cute panties, though.”

Alexa blushed. She hoped John would think so too. “Why did you wear pastel blue? If I'd worn white, you'd have got the paddle.”

“I haven't had the paddle in weeks,” Nicole said. “If you'd been a perfect girl, I would have paid my dues. Now and then it does me good to get it hard and be sorry.”

Alexa smiled. “I get it. Next time I'm too stressed, I might consider that.”

They knocked and entered John's office on schedule at 6.30pm. Alexa lowered her head in shame and kept her gaze on the CEO's marble floor.

Getting up from his desk, John smiled. “Which is it to be, ladies?”

“The paddle,” Nicole said.

“And who's getting it?”

“Alexa,” Nicole told her boss.

Alexa withered as she felt his attention shift. After a moment, she raised her eyes, taking in the room's expanse. Seeing him standing behind his desk, a landscape of books filling the shelves behind him, she met his gaze.

“You need paddling, Alexa. That much is obvious, but why?”

Eight years older than her, he was even more attractive when he was being firm. She shivered under his steely gaze. “Can I not tell you, sir?”

“However bad it is, it can't be worse than striping to your panties for the paddle?”

Her story flooded out, the terrible date that had seemed so full of potential, the missed message for her boss.

“Are you proud of yourself?” he asked, reaching into the top of his cupboard for the paddle.

Close to tears at the shame of her unprofessionalism, she shook her head.

He withdrew the thick oak paddle. “Good.” He pointed to the spot in front of his desk. “Take off your skirt.”

Nicole leaned against the conference table at the side of his office and watched as Alexa obeyed the CEO. She sympathized with and envied her friend. She'd stood there enough times herself.

Easing off her black miniskirt, Alexa placed it on the back of one of the leather chairs and stood in her relaxed white top and aqua fish panties. Shocking heat thrust through her sex as John eyed her cute underwear.

“Bend over.”

She obeyed, presenting a full view of the sea as she leaned down, bending low over his desk.

“I see you're ashamed, but it doesn't mitigate your short-term lapse in judgement. You need paddling and you need it to be hard.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Forced to answer for her conduct, respect rushed through her. She spread her feet and held position.

The paddle tapped her panties. She bent lower, reached forward across the desk and gripped the far edge with her fingertips to brace herself.

“However exciting a date might be, a prolonged messaging conversation at work is not the behavior I would expect of someone in your position. A quick response explaining you're at work and offering to chat later would have been appropriate.”

Solid heat slammed into her bottom as his words whipped her. A loud crack echoed off the marble floor and assaulted her ears. Burning sting erupted on both cheeks. Pain pummeled her as the hurt sunk deep into her butt.

The fake flirting had excited her, now her dereliction of duty consumed her. Deep ache drove into her behind as the oak burned her skin. She bore the intense heat with respect, gripped the edge of the desk and ran her dampening eyes over the back-lit bookshelf. A row of sailing books were at her eye line. The orange spine of the Nautical Almanac grabbed her attention. It was the latest edition. She focused on it.

Loud crashes echoed around the room as the pain in her bottom soared. Burning agony tested her courage as she pressed her chest into the desk and held her eyes on the book. Only once had she stood and grabbed her punished bottom. It hadn't ended well. After being thrashed, the two extra swats for her disobedience had been a brutal but valuable lesson.

Their girl code had elected her as most deserving of punishment today. John had scolded her. As had her own boss. The paddle slammed into her panties. Blazing heat surged. She squeezed her eyes shut as she fought to handle the pain with respect.

“I hope it's hurting.”

“Yes, sir,” she breathed, “very much.”

“Good. Two more. Keep still.”

Nicole watched as her valiant friend stayed still in the paddle's path. It was tough to obey when you were being beaten. Her respect for Alexa grew as the six neat holes drilled into the paddle brought it down at speed. Fresh red marks burst from the sides of her friend's taut panties.

Alexa cried out. She couldn't help it. If her own boss could see her now, he'd respect her. She steeled herself to take her last swat with the utmost dignity. She pushed her lips tight together, straightened her legs and presented her burning backside.

John aimed for the middle of her butt and roasted her panties. He respected her. It was hard to face up to the last furious swat, let alone present yourself to ensure it hurt the most. She was strong, honorable and beautiful.

“You may stand.”

Alexa rose from the desk, her muscles moving the pain and releasing new kinds of agony. Trying not to grimace, she turned and faced him, her hands by her sides. “Thank you for paddling me, sir.”

“That's okay. You took it with dignity. Get dressed.”

She stepped over to the chair and collected her miniskirt.

“Nice panties,” he said.

His gaze planted heat in her already raging sex. She blushed as she bent down, stepped into her skirt and pulled it into place.

“I mean it,” he said, “they're cute.”

“Thank you,” she said, still blushing, thrilled he'd noticed.

Her butt was agony, but they never rubbed their backsides in front of him. Self-respect prevented them from showing how much it had hurt.

Nicole put her arm around Alexa's shoulders and guided her friend from the office.

Escaping back to her cubicle, Alexa rubbed her cheeks hard. Scalding heat radiated through her skirt. “Fuck, that hurts.”

“I'm not surprised. You got it bad,” Nicole said.

“He was hard on me today.” She was proud to admit it. She'd be sore for several days, but the extended period of pain would pacify her conscience.

Closing the door to her studio apartment, Alexa rubbed her butt. All the way home, it was all she'd wanted to do.

The train journey had been like sitting on a bonfire. Held tight in thin panties, the heat from her painful butt couldn't escape her stretched jersey skirt. Pressed against the cloth seat, the heat had intensified, earning her a sharp rebuke from her friend for fidgeting. She was a punished girl. She had to handle her discomfort in public with dignity.

Peeling off her skirt, she pulled down her panties in front of the bathroom mirror. Solid red rectangles overlapped one another, and deep bruises blossomed from the middle of each cheek.

Pulling up her underwear, she took off her top, dropped her bra to the floor and climbed under her comforter. Letting her sore butt burn into the sheet, she slid her hand into her panties.

'Nice panties, they're cute.' His words spun in her mind as her finger circled her clit. She pictured his view of the cute fishes on her butt as she'd bent over his desk. In her mind, he paddled her harder and harder, showing no mercy as she circled her clit with a vengeance.

She skimmed her rock-hard nipples as her self-respect soared. Her aching bottom thrust her pleasure to its peak as her slack attitude got paddled out of her. Holding herself on the precipice for only a moment, her hips rammed against her hand as she came fast and hard, intense pleasure cascading through her curves, flooding her with relief and pride.

She settled, pleased with her soreness, and lifted her comforter to admire her pretty panties. He'd thought them cute. Her sex clenched, and she squeezed her legs in pleasure.

An hour of stunning orgasms later, she paused her pleasure-taking for a shower. It was the best thing about her studio. Rain stormed down over her naked curves. She rubbed the glass wall and turned her wet bottom towards the mirror to study her developing bruises. She had an hour-long meeting with her boss in the morning. An hour sitting on an aching butt was the penance she deserved.