Hazel was quite startled and pulled herself quickly from the bedroom doorway. She turned and looked at him momentarily; there was a definite hint of redness on her cheeks. Rod climbed the remaining stairs and stood in his doorway watching her go into the bathroom. He stared at the bed as he began to close the door and smiled to himself, wondering what she must be thinking. In the centre of the bed were four pillows piled high and from each of the bedposts there ran lengths of webbing with wrist cuffs attached to the ends. On the small bedside table by the lamp were a thick black leather belt and a cane. It didn’t take a degree in rocket science to work out what was about to take place.
He was back downstairs by the time she returned, tidying up the paperwork that had been strewn across the dining table. “Sorry about that,” she told him meekly.
Rod smiled. “That’s okay.”
“Have I been holding you back from anything?” she asked him glancing at her watch.
He shook his head. “No, there’s plenty of time yet. I’m in no rush.”
He looked up at her and noticed that her face was still a little flush. “Is... is it anyone I know?”
Rod just stared at her for a few moments.
“Sorry, none of my business,” she responded with a shake of the head.
“That’s okay,” he smiled. “We all get curious, don’t we?”
She smiled nervously back at him.
“Well, outside of work, I don’t know who you know,” he responded. “But whether you do or not know them what happens in my bedroom stays in my bedroom. I’m sure that you would quickly lose respect for me if I started talking to you about her. After all you singled me out from the rest of the management to help you with this project because you know that I can keep my mouth shut.”
Hazel apologised. “Yes, you’re quite right. I should never have asked. Your private life is private and should remain so, I was just being nosy that’s all.”
Rod looked up at her and grinned. “That’s a punishable offence in my book but... we’ll leave it there shall we, boss.”
Hazel laughed. He often wondered about her private life. Hazel was a divorcee and had taken over her father’s company when he retired two years ago. They all said she would never survive in business but she had her father’s business acumen as well as his ruthlessness. He had known members of the management team that had crossed her; they didn’t last long. He had always got on with her quite well but he always felt that he didn’t really know her. As well as respect for her he also fancied her; something told him that deep down inside there was a very sexually adventurous woman lurking under the surface and even though she was the boss he reckoned that there was a submissive side to her that was lying dormant.
“So, she’s going to be punished is she?”
He smiled.
“Must be something serious then?”
He smiled again. A woman’s wiles never ceased to amaze him. When it wasn’t their sexuality being used as a weapon they also had a way of digging beneath the surface to get at what they wanted.
“Very serious,” he told her as he tucked some papers away into a folder.
She laughed.
“Do tell?”
Rod pushed aside a couple of folders and perched himself on the edge of the table. “I’m helping a friend to bring, shall we say, some discipline and order into his marriage.”
Hazel suddenly sat down on the chair at the end of the table. “Discipline?”
Rod nodded. “Yes... she can be a bit wayward as well as unresponsive to her husband’s demands.”
Her eyes widened. “Demands?”
“Yes, demands,” he replied. “He... he likes certain things from his wife. For example, he likes her to dress to his tastes. He doesn’t like to see her in trousers or jeans; he’s, what you might say, a leg man.”
“Well we certainly wouldn’t get on,” she responded, referring to the fact that she always wore trouser suits.
“Well, I tend to agree with him. Yes, there are occasions when trousers or jeans may be necessary but in general trousers are for men and skirts are for women.”
“Are you saying that I should wear skirts?”
He laughed. “You’re the boss and you can wear what you like but... if you don’t mind me saying so, a skirt would make you look more feminine and you would probably get a more positive response from the male members of the management team.”
“Positive response?”
Rod smiled. “Well, put it this way, you are always obeyed because you’re the boss but by showing your feminine side you would get a more willingness to serve and perhaps get more out of people.”
Hazel smiled and then looked away. “Jim always got on at me for wearing trousers all the time.”
“Jim was your ex?”
She nodded.
“Skirts are more interesting,” he told her. “They hold a mystery. Most men like to look and wonder what lies beneath.”
“Everybody knows what lies beneath.”
“I know but a flash of leg; a flash of thigh always gets the imagination racing and calls you back for more.”
Hazel said nothing for a few minutes.
“And she’s okay with this... the discipline?”
Rod nodded. “She’s a very willing participant.”
“And she lets you...?
“Punish her?”
Hazel nodded.
Rod smiled. “As I say, she’s a very willing participant,” he responded. “Also, I have the advantage of being objective. Her husband... well... any husband really, would probably show weakness in dishing out punishment.”
Hazel swallowed hard as he studied him. “I expect you would leave marks wouldn’t you?”
He nodded. “That’s the advantage of having a wife whose husband allows her to explore her... well, you know.”
“And you don’t have to worry about him finding out either.”
Rod smiled. “It can lead to some awkward questions being asked if a wife goes home with a red bottom,” he responded, wondering if she had been in that position before.
She smiled and looked hard at him. “You’re a bit of a dark horse aren’t you?”
He laughed. “We all have a dark side.”
She looked away. Rod knew that he had hit a raw nerve; a raw nerve that could give way to an opportunity.
“And what else does she get punished for then?”
Rod tapped the side of his nose. “I think I’ve told you enough already. I wouldn’t want to corrupt you.”
“Corrupt me?” she laughed.
Rod joined in her laughter.
“And afterwards do you...?”
“Do I what?”
“You know.”
“Fuck her?”
Hazel nodded.
“Well put it this way,” he responded. ”She’s naked and tied down so what do you think a man like me will do to her afterwards?”
Hazel opened her mouth to speak but held back her words.