Strung up in that room; hanging, alone with her own thoughts, Candice knew nothing about Andy strolling around the venue handing out flyers. They were easy to read, her statement and an invitation to watch. When anyone showed any interest, he encouraged them to come.

“She wants an audience,” Andy said to anyone who asked. “Being watched is important for her, but she’ll be wearing a blindfold. You can see everything, but she won’t see you.”

Over the next half hour, Candice heard the door open and close as people came in. Some whispered among themselves, others made their approval known.

“Hell of a body,” a male voice said, whispering as though they didn’t want her to hear. It stuck in her mind, a hell of a body.

When Andy came back, there was a crowd of fifty people waiting. He set the sound system going.

Candice heard her own voice boom out to the audience.

“Thank you so much for coming. You will know by now that I have asked my husband to cane me in public. You may wonder why he would do such a thing.

“Quite simply, I deserve this. I love him very much, but I have treated him cruelly in the past. I know that asking him to do this does not end my cruelty because he will hate doing it. He is not a sadist, he will get no pleasure from marking me, but I need it to be done.

“This is my final cruelty to him; to ask him to mark me, to cleanse me in the way I wish to be cleansed.

“No doubt there are some here who would be happy to take on the task for him. I have asked him not to allow that. Any of you might fantasise about caning me for your own pleasure. By all means, fantasize all you like.

“Tonight is not about pleasure, it is about pain, punishment and absolution. When it is finished I will remain here, bound and displayed until my husband thinks it is time to let me return to the life I share with him.

“After he canes me, you may not touch. You may admire his work, you may pour scorn on my wantonness, but that is all. Later I will be in the bar, doing whatever my husband tells me to do.”

The sound faded away.

“You can see,” Andy said as he moved towards the stage, “That Candy is gagged, so those of you hoping to hear screams will be disappointed. What you can’t see is that she has a remote-controlled vibrator in both her other holes. I am turning these on now.” he stood to one side of the stage. “These vibrators are adjustable over a wide range, right now she is getting a light buzzing, a little distraction, so she doesn’t get too consumed by what she knows is coming.”

He stepped back a little and picked up a cane.

“For the technically minded, this Ratan cane is fifteen millimetres in diameter and has been soaked overnight in order to make sure it is supple and does not splinter. I have spare canes if this one should break.”

Andy walked around Candice once.

“As you can see, Candy has no way of knowing where I am, or how many people are watching. My final piece of preparation is to remove one more of her senses.”

Andy reached into his bag and produced a pair of noise-cancelling headphones and placed them over Candice’s ears.

“For the curious, what she is hearing now is her own voice speaking the message that you heard a few minutes ago. I want the suspense to continue a little longer, so I would invite anyone who wishes to come to the platform and play with her. Nothing violent, but if you would like to feel her or stroke her, then feel free for a few minutes. Nothing is being recorded yet. I will let you know when the cameras are turned on so that if you wish to remain anonymous, you can choose where to stand.”

Andy stepped off the stage and strolled to the back of the room, taking deep breaths, trying to get himself in the mood, though what the right mood was, he was still unsure.

A few people got onto the stage, one girl gave a Candice a long hug and then what looked like her boyfriend stood behind Candice and reached around and lifted her breasts to make the bells ring. Andy saw June and Michael walk up to the platform,

Michael was hesitant still, and shy, but June was clearly excited. She dropped to her knees, carefully avoiding the spreader bar holding Candice’s legs apart, and licked the clit in front of her, sucking it into her mouth for a few seconds. Andy wondered whether Candice would recognise the technique or the tongue.

As the interest died down, he walked back to the stage and a hush fell on the whole place. He held up the camera remote.

“As they say in the trade,” he said. “Lights. Camera...” and to his delight the whole room said “Action”

He turned up the vibrators one more and then walked slowly around Candice with the cane in his hand. He took up a position behind her on the left. Stood stock-still for a moment as the audience held their breath, and then struck cleanly across both buttocks, the cane swishing through the air and striking with a resounding thwack.

He watched Candice leap in the air, desperately trying to pull her knees up and together before her legs slowly relaxed. Not daring to look at the audience, Andy moved to the other side, switched to a backhand grip and without waiting any longer struck another blow a cane’s width below the first. It produced the same reaction, a leap, a tense body and slow subsidence until her feet were back on the floor.

He waited, letting himself calm down, closing his eyes for a few seconds before picking up the vibrator remote and turning the front one up to halfway. He heard Candice grunt through the gag and watched her pelvis grind forwards and squirm from side to side.

Andy turned to the audience.

“You may wonder how many strikes she is going to get. In English public schools the traditional punishment for serious transgressions was six of the best, so that should be a clue.”

This time he switched to his left hand with a backhand grip. He turned up the rear vibrator and watched her buttocks clench, and as they reached their most firm he struck, the third stripe being another cane width lower. The strike was met with the familiar leap and as she came down, he moved to the right, changed to a left-handed forearm grip and struck again, hitting with precision a cane width lower still.

He turned both vibrators onto a synchronised cycle where the front one went to the maximum for a second and as that reverted to half speed the rear to over moving to the maximum. He stood back and let the machines work until he could see that she was moving steadily in time, her pelvis jutting forward and sinking back as the vibrators oscillated.

He let her relax into the rhythm for a minute, getting his breath back before setting himself up on the right side, using his right arm with a backhand grip he took a deep breath, killed both vibrators and the sound in her headphones, counted to five and struck diagonally downwards.

He heard her grunt, watched her legs leap again, watched her hang for ten or fifteen seconds before her legs came down and as they hit the floor, he struck left arm, backhand from the other side, hitting the opposite diagonal with great precision. He watched the explosive convulsion, standing motionless until her legs had sunk back to the floor.

He walked slowly around to the front, took off the headphones and simply held her.

The audience was still for a few more seconds into total silence, and then the clapping began. Andy ignored it, holding Candice steady, feeling the vibrators work, knowing that it was only a matter of time before she convulsed in a huge orgasm. When the clapping subsided. He stood back.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank.you for being an appreciative audience. Please leave now. We will be in the bar later on.”

Andy waited until the room had cleared before he took the blindfold off and removed the gag and started to undo the arm chains.

“Not yet,” she said. “Not yet.”

Andy waited, said nothing, waited.

“I wish I could see,” she said.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes... no... God, that was incredible. Yes, it hurts like shit. How does it look? Is there blood?”

“Yes a little, sorry.”

“There damn well should be. Could you lick it for me?”

“Of course.”

“Before you take me down I want the salt.”

“Are you sure?”

“Salt until I look as though I can’t stand it and then the seawater.

“Saltwater? Are you sure? It’ll sting almost as bad as raw salt.”

“It will wash off the salt but keep on stinging. That’s the point. Please.”

 Andy took a handful of salt and rubbed it into the cane marks, waiting for the screams. None came.

He waited a minute until the squirming had stopped, then dipped a sponge in the bucket that was standing just off the stage and gently washed the angry stripes in front of him. He watched her squirm, soaked the sponge again and washed once more before patting dry.

“Do you want the cream now?”

“No, I want them looking fresh and angry for the bar. Some iodine might look good... Was that really seawater?”

“Not quite. I mixed clean salt into cold freshwater to the same dilution and added a little antiseptic.”

“Very thoughtful,” she said through gritted teeth. “It stings like hell. Apply the iodine and let me rest for five minutes. After that, we’ll go to the bar.”

Andy stepped back and moved to face her.

“Shit...” she caught her breath. “You look as bad as I feel,” she said, breathing deep and blowing out through taught lips.“Why didn’t we go to the bar first?"

“Several reasons,” Andy said, trying to sound calm and natural. “I didn’t want anyone to think I was punishing you for whatever goes on in the bar. Second, I thought, after this, you won’t want to sit. I thought you would be more comfortable on your knees. I brought a cushion.” He stopped for a second, finally managing to smile. “And I thought you might want to show off.”

Andy walked around the room, making sure they were leaving it as they found it. He picked up the things he had brought with him, unloaded the memory cards from the cameras and stored them where they’d come from. He carried the salt and the bucket of fake seawater out to the restroom to dispose of it. By the time he returned, Candice looked more relaxed. He unchained her arms, leaving the cuffs on, and undid the telescopic spreader bar.

“I need a mirror,” she said.

“I can show you on my phone.”

“I’d like to see everything in full size.”

“There’s probably one in the ladies room — I wouldn’t know, but it’s a fair guess. It’s just outside.”

Candice returned a minute later.

“Well?”

“Mistress was right, you are a craftsman. When did you learn to do that?”

“That is actually my second time ever. It helped that I wasn’t doing it for my pleasure. If I enjoyed hitting, then I guess a few wild swipes would be all it needed. I was doing this because you wanted it done, so I had to do it right. Any pleasure I took had to be in the result, not the action.”

“And you never insisted on knowing why.”

“I did try to insist, but you promised to tell me afterwards. I relaxed, you told me what you wanted, and I figured that knowing why wouldn’t have helped me do it better. I just had to decide if I could do it, and if I could, emotionally as well as physically, then if you really wanted it, I thought should do it. I did give you plenty of chances to back out.”

Andy wrapped her in his arms and held her, letting the seconds tick by until he felt her breathing calm.

“Ready for the bar now?”

“How many of them were in the audience?”

“I don’t know, there were about fifty watching, so some will be in the bar for sure.”

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

They walked into the bar hand in hand, Andy had dropped most of the kit in a locker and had only his bag over his shoulder. That contained a knee cushion and a towel and not much else.

Candice had insisted on locking the chain from her collar to Andy’s wrist, leaving no doubt that they were attached. When they had the drinks, Andy led her to a table in an alcove. There were seats for half a dozen, but a degree of privacy otherwise.

Andy sat at the table and placed the cushion on the floor. Candice knelt on it and before she could move under the table Andy put her headphones back on. He opened his phone, clicked an app, and said: “I can talk to you through this, but it keeps the rest out unless I let them in.” Candice slid under the table. In five seconds she was invisible to the room. Andy reached down and placed her glass on the floor.

“Would you prefer a bowl?” he said.

“You mean like a dog?”

“You are on a leash.”

He heard her giggle. Maybe that was something for another day. He glanced around the room and spotted the man known only to Candice as number two. On another table, he saw June and Michael, so he beckoned to them.

“Is she under the table?” June whispered?

Andy nodded. He leaned over to talk right into June’s ear.

“Why don’t you go first?”

“What do I do?”

“Spread your legs and see what happens, I know that sounds a bit dirty, but do it anyway.”

“But that’s the point isn’t it?”

A minute later June leaned back against Andy and whispered again.

“She’s good.”

“You should be sharing this with Michael. Lean the other way and when you’re done be nice when she takes care of Michael.”

“Where are you going?”

“In search of more custom.”

Andy unhooked the leash from his wrist and locked it to the back of a chair. He made his way across the room to the guy who had been number two. He was sitting with a group of four others. Fortunately, number two was sitting where Andy could approach easily.

“Could I have a word?”

Number two recognised Andy as the man who had pointed him in the direction of the glory hole.

“The other night,” Andy said, “was it good?”

“Hey,” the guy said to the rest of the table, “this is the guy.”

“But didn’t you just do the stage act?”

“Yes.”

“You mean I was blown by her? Is that why she was thrashed?”

“No, nothing that happened here is any part of it. What you just saw was the end of a much longer story. Candy hopes you enjoyed the hole, but she found it too impersonal. She prefers something more personal and wondered if you were up for it?”

Andy watched his face, saw a frisson of doubt.

“Did her teeth worry you?

The guy smiled. “That was an interesting moment.”

“What about the rest of you?” Andy said, looking at the group. “She’s under the table across there,” he said, pointing across the room. “Come on over if you’re interested.”

“The girls too?”

“Sure, all comers, literally anyone who wants to come.”

Andy strolled back across the room and sat down again. He unlocked the chain from the chair and attached it to his wrist. One look at Michael told him Candice had moved on. A minute later the whole of number two’s table came over.

“I’m Joe,” number two said.

“I’m Andy. Jo, maybe you should sit at the end opposite me, and your friends can spread around the table. That does mean you’ll be the last in line, but you did have a go yesterday.” Andy leaned forward when they were all seated and whispered. “I’m really interested to see if she recognises your cock. Anyone interested in taking bets?”

“She’ll hear you,” said one of the girls, whispering and pointing under the table.

“She’s wearing noise-cancelling headphones,” Andy said.

“Why?”

“Think of this as research. What aspect of oral sex is the biggest turn-on? Is it the look of the thing — seemingly not because she found the glory hole uninspiring, sorry about that Joe. So tonight we are adding in more body parts, movement, a crowd, smell, but no sound. In a later experiment, we may have sound but no sight. It’s science.”

“Seriously?”

“Well,” said Andy, “it could be she just prefers sex to have a bit more connection; one way or another we need to know.”

“What does she say?”

“That is the tricky part, she’s less analytical than me, practically clueless at times, so I’m trying to help by breaking it down.”

“What if it’s you she doesn’t like?”

“She says it’s not that.”

“You’re a brave guy. I’d never let a girl of mine do that.”

Andy looked Joe in the eye. “I get why you would say that, and this may sound weird to you, but being brave enough to let her go is the only way to keep a woman like Candy. So far, whatever she’s done, and we’ve been doing this a few years, she ‘s always come back to me. That’s what counts.”

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

It was an hour before Candice emerged from under the table. She stood up, removed the headphones and smiled. Her face was not totally covered in cum. Lightly spattered might be a better description, but she showed no sign of wanting to clean it. Andy introduced her to the crowd, ending with Joe.

“Otherwise known as number two?” Candice said.

“Why don’t you sit down,” Joe said.

“You know damn well why I won’t.” Candice paused for a second. “I am going to have to go home soon, it’s been a hard day, but I’d like to know if you enjoyed the last hour?”

A chorus of voices said yes.

“Have you ever had anything like that before?”

Much shaking of heads. “If you had the chance would you like it again?”

More choruses of yes.

“Would that be better than having me on the table and fucking me?”

“With us all watching?” one said.

“The girls too?”

“All of you,” Candice said, “a full-on gang bang.”

“That would be ...” Joe looked around the room, “well it might be more awkward. You know, some of us might feel kind of exposed. This was more subtle, I mean it was obvious who was getting it, but it was kind of dignified at the same time.”

“Thank you,” Candice said. “Andy, can you take me home now, please?

Andy made Candice take some painkillers when they got back to their chalet, gently rubbed analgesic cream and antiseptic into her wounds and watched her fall asleep flat out in the middle of the bed with nothing spoiling his view of what she called his trademark.

He poured himself a small whisky and sat sipping and watching her breathing. When it was clear that she was sound asleep he unpacked the other thing he’d bought in his morning shop, an inflatable mattress, intended for the beach, but good enough for at least one night’s sleep.

He wrapped himself in the duvet that Candice wasn’t using and allowed himself to sleep. Twice during the night he was woken by the alarms on his watch, set so that he could check how she was doing. All seemed well, but he lost a little sleep each time. He slept long into the morning, so when he awoke there was no sign of Candice. On the table there was a note — ‘Gone to get your present.’

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Walking naked through the resort, even though it was first thing in the morning, was both thrilling and strange. The marks that Candice was carrying were all on her behind, so someone walking towards her saw a young woman with the beginnings of a tan, a completely bare pussy, a pleasant smile, a silver collar and bells dangling from her nipples; the latter almost guaranteeing that they would turn to look at her once she had gone by. If they did, they could not fail to see six angry welts on an otherwise seductive behind. Several times she heard an intake of breath from someone she had just passed. It took ten minutes and passing nine people to get to the tattoo parlour. She stopped before she went in, took a tissue from her shoulder bag and wiped her pussy. It would never do to leak all over the tattoo artist.

The tattooist remembered her.

“What I want,” she said, “is the nearest thing you can do that looks the way my arse is right now, only right here.” She pointed to her pussy mound. “Can you do that?”

“Of course. Do you want it to look red and angry in places, with touches of iodine, the way it is now.”

“As near to the colours as you can get and as big as there is room for.”

“If I make it the same look as you have there, then some the lower lines should cross the start of your cleft. Is that what you want?”

“Yes,” she said. “Exactly that.”

It took an hour. The most painful part was that she had to lie flat with all last night’s welts on the couch. The artist carefully covered the new design with petroleum jelly and applied a dressing. Candice picked up a leaflet with aftercare instructions. She slipped on a simple shift she’d brought along and strolled back to the chalet, hoping that Andy was awake.

He was more than awake, he’d made breakfast.

“Are you ready for your surprise?”

“With that look on your face that has to be the scariest question.”

Candice laughed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t mess you about. What’s for breakfast?”

“Classic French, coffee, good bread, excellent confiture, and a few croissants. Will that do?”

“Would you classify it as a breakfast buffet?”

“For you dear anything. Am I allowed to ask why?”

“If it is a buffet, and it does look like one...”

“Ah, I get it, a buffet is eaten standing up?”

“So you are a mind-reading genius after all.”

“Was last night what you wanted?

“Did you sleep on the airbed all night?”

“Yes. You know I did, you woke up before me.”

“Yes. I saw you there, I didn’t think... Did you sleep there to make it more comfortable for me? God, I’ve put you through such a lot. Sorry.”

“It was actually quite comfortable, I overslept because I woke a few times to see that you were okay..”

“Oh, love,” she said. “I don’t deserve you. I do one thing after another to you. I can’t seem to help it.”

“Put all that behind you love. Perhaps if I’d been a better husband, it would have turned out differently. It’s all water under. The important thing is whether you are making progress?”

“Progress?”

“With finding yourself, with exploring, with whatever it is.”

Candice tore off a section of a baguette, sliced it down the middle and plastered it with jam. She said nothing as she ate it, smiling at Andy the whole time.

“That. Yes,” she said, “but I’m not going to tell you about it until you see your present.”

“I see,” he said. “I wonder if you could fill me in on our programme for the morning.”

Candice laughed. “You are going to be so surprised at your surprise.”

“You did say you would explain the beating afterwards; is that in the schedule?”

“Yes... I mean, yes I did say that, so I do have to tell you... However... What I am going to do this morning is to watch some rather unique porn videos, but I would like to do it on my own.”

“Would these videos involve some form of corporal punishment?”

“I haven’t seen them yet, but I understand the male lead is very dishy, the sort that makes me go weak at the knees.”

“One of these days I want to watch them with you, but for now I guess I’ll hit the beach?”

“Of course we can watch it together, but please, not this time.”

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Andy spent the morning on the beach, swam a little, dropped by the cafe for a mid-morning coffee, swam a little more, and then quite by chance met Joe and the group he was with last night. By now the group had expanded, the newcomers being disappointed that they had missed the event the previous night.

“I can’t let her do anything like that again,” he said.

“I thought it was her idea, so how can you stop her? There must be plenty of others who’d be happy to give her another dose.” Joe said.

“If she was a pain slut, maybe, but that wasn’t what it was about. I wouldn’t trust anyone else, and nor would she. On top of that, she needs to heal before we do anything else. Sorry you missed out,” he said, nodding to the two new women, and headed back to the beach.

Andy had another swim, lunch in the cafe and arrived at the chalet mid-afternoon. Candice, still wearing the loose white shift, was waiting for him.

“Am I on time?”

“Perfect,” she said. “Come in, sit down, be comfortable.”

Andy sat.

Candice stood in front of him and pulled the dress over her head. She stood naked and on her mound, there was a surgical dressing, not quite as big as a postcard.

“Your present is underneath,” she said. “It should be ready for you to see now, but you’ll have to take off the bandage.”

Candice stepped closer, almost pushing her pussy into his face. He picked at the corner of the dressing and slowly peeled it away. There in front of him was a mini-version of what her backside looked like.

Andy almost fell back into the armchair.

“Is that real, I mean permanent?”

“Yes. It’s a proper tattoo. I thought about having your name as well, but we can do that another day. Take a picture please and then one from behind.”

She handed him the camera. It took him a moment to focus, and then he took several. She turned, and he took some more. Candice knelt in front of him and he turned the screen so she could look. She put her finger on the screen and paged to and fro, comparing the pictures.

“Pretty good, wouldn’t you say?”

“It’s a very good likeness,” he said. “Am I allowed to ask why you wanted it?"

“I couldn’t ask you to keep thrashing me, I don’t think you could take it, but I wanted something there to always remind me.”

“You said this was my present? So this is a gift to remind me of the hardest thing I’ve ever done?”

Candice stood in front of him, the tattoo almost in his face.

“Did I get it wrong? I thought you’d like your brand on me.”

Andy pulled her towards him and kissed her above and below the new brand.

“No love. It was a very clever idea and when it has settled, I think it will look amazing. I’m sure it will all make sense when you explain it all to me. God knows what your mother will say when she knows what it means.”

Candice laughed, breaking the tension of the moment, “We’ll come to that,” she said.

“I think it looks incredible, I don’t know how long these things take, I’d hate for anything to upset it. Did they give you any special instructions, hints, about aftercare?”

“No swimming, no sunburn.”

“Won’t it make all your intended seductions a bit tricky?”

“I’m not doing that any more.”

Andy raised an eyebrow.

“I think I have learned enough. You and I are going to have a proper holiday. Of course if you want to start any adventures, that’s another story.”

“Maybe you should elaborate before I get any wild ideas.”

“Did you want me to fuck around? I mean, will you be disappointed if I don’t?”

“I want you to be happy.”

“What about your happiness?”

“If I have you, I’m happy.”

“As simple as that?”

“As simple as that. The world provides plenty of chances to engage brain, solve problems, all that stuff, and plenty of other distractions, but there’s always been only one you.”

“What about Marsha?”

“Marsha’s great, but if you had died, or you left me, I don’t think she would have been enough. Marsha’s a kind of package deal. She came because of you. She’ll never be a substitute for you.”

“O...kay,” she said. “I kind of get that. I’ve learned two really important things. I get off on making people excited, so although the glory hole was interesting, it was too impersonal, and it didn’t seem to excite you. Under the table was much more fun. I couldn’t hear, because you head-phoned me, but I could smell and see their arousal, and feel the reaction from the others as I moved around. I could tell that you were fine with it. I don’t think you were especially turned on, but you weren’t negative.”

“So what now?”

“We’ll have a holiday, I’ll flirt a little if I feel like it, but mostly I’ll play with you. When we go home, I’ll ask Mum if any of her clients want to suck my tits.”

“You want to work with your Mum?”

“Not exactly, but I think I might get bored with a breast pump and I don’t want to wear you out. I bet some of her clients would be interested.”

“Some of them might want to fuck you too.”

“That’s not going to be easy to do with a tattoo of a gate in view and my pussy laced up.”

Andy sat looking at her for half a minute, obviously thinking.

“Didn’t you say that too much sunshine can bleach a tattoo?”

“Yeah, it would be best if you put a dressing on it for me.”

“And no swimming?”

“Well, I can paddle. I could go in up to my bum. Next week it’ll probably be better.”

“So when do I find out?”

“About why I had to be caned?”

“Sooner or later I have to know.”

“Do you really have to know? You know I still love you, you know I’m not leaving. Why do you have to know?”

“You promised me you’d tell me. It was part of the deal.”

“You mean you wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t promised?”

Andy sighed. “That’s not a fair question because it’s history. You promised you’d tell me afterwards, and I came through with my part. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, but in my mind, we’d struck a bargain.”

“So you didn’t do it just because you love me and I asked you?”

“Love this wasn’t like shopping,  or having another ice cream. This was way over a line. You persuaded me to strike the love of my life, hit her hard, making her bleed, leaving marks. Not knowing why is eating me up, making me feel guilty, making me wish I’d said no. If this was just some silly game then I should have said no.”

She sighed, closing her eyes, breathing out slowly, once, and then a second time, and then a third.

“It wasn’t a silly game. Will that do?”

“That’s not exactly an explanation.”

“No... you’re right... Would it be completely ridiculous if I said I don’t really know why...”

She opened her eyes, her lips set into a tight regretful half-smile. “Don’t answer. I know. It is ridiculous. I’m ridiculous.”

She knelt in front of Andy. “You know the crazy thing — you probably already know better than me why I needed it.”

“It’s not fair to make me guess love. What if I guess wrong?”

“This is a big deal for you isn’t it.”

Andy threw his head back, almost exploding, “Aaaaah,” he said. “It was a big deal. It is a big deal.”

“This is going to sound terribly trivial.” Another deep breath. “The thing is... it sort of dawned on me that I needed to grow up, and the more I thought about it the more it was true. We’re going to have a baby, we’ve got to be grown-ups.” In a second her face changed, smiling with relief this time. “Actually you already are a grown-up. It’s me that has to grow up.”

“And you needed some kind of catharsis to get there? To start growing up?”

“Sort of... I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. Does it sound as though I’m completely insane if I say that Candice was disgusted with Candy? Candy had to be punished for all the mad stuff she did when really she should have faced up to what happened, taken counselling or something, and grown-up.”

“So it was Candice punishing Candy?”

“Mmmm, yeah... and... sort of… punishing you too. Sorry, but it had to be you.”

“Because I let Candy do all that stuff?”

“Yeah, that, but more importantly, because you love me. That made it real. I could have found some BDSM expert to do it. I know they are out there, ready and willing. Someone like that doing it would have made it into another Candy sex adventure. You doing it and hating doing it made it real.”

“So does that mean that you never want to go clubbing again?”

Candice grinned. “Who knows, but not the way that Candy did it. She was so fucking immature, so naïve and needy.”

“So Candice might have something different in mind?”

“Not another beating, although I did like the beating because it was cathartic, and I felt proud of myself for actually going through with it. The beating was good in lots of ways, but it wasn’t fun. What was fun, was being naked on a leash among a crowd of strangers. What I’d really like to do is to be naked like that, but be the only one naked.”

“With me holding your leash?”

“Oh yes. Absolutely. Never anyone else.”

“So, I’m imagining a room full of guys in tuxedos and women in flowing ball gowns and you naked like last night, is that it?” 

“Absolutely.“

“How often might this be needed?”

Candice laughed. “I have no idea, maybe never, who knows. The great thing is that if we do it, we do it together. We’ll have to try it at least once or twice to make sure you like it.”

“We both have to like it?”

“Absolutely. I thought we could spend our time here fantasising about all this stuff. Really finding out what we both like.” She stopped for a moment. “The opposite of what I said before we came.”

“The opposite?”

“Well yeah. What I was planning, was to find out what your limits were, but I’m not so sure that’s the way to go. Remember that song, ‘Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative’ That’s the right way around. I was starting with the negative.  In my mind, I built up those negatives into a big thing, like huge holes to fall into because I was scared of hurting you. Am I making sense so far?”

“Yes.”

“So let’s start the other end, find the positives, accentuate the positives, do stuff we both like, push as far as we can in that direction. What do you think?”

“That works for me. That could be a lot more fun.”

Candice pulled him to his feet and kissed him.

“That’s what I thought,” she said, “but there is one thing.”

“Go on.”

“I need to find people to suck my tits. When we get back, I’m going to have to do it a lot. You could get tired of it, doing it every day, and a pump might be boring. I need to find out the best way to get people to do it.”

“So?”

“I want to find people here to try things out. Most of all I want to see if I can do it and somehow not upset you. When we get back, I want to see if any of Mum’s clients, or anyone Mistress knows would be interested.”

“And if you get them turned on and they want to fuck you?”

“With my pussy chained up, and a gate tattooed on the front of it?”

“You think Rhona would go for that?”

“I thought you could persuade her.”

“And if I don’t like it?”

“If you don’t like it, then you are going to have to do a lot of sucking for the next six months.”