Treasured Submission (12 page)

Sam nodded, her expression showing her regret. "I know, I know. I just, well, didn't tell her like I was supposed to. I guess I thought she could handle it. She's a strong woman and, um, I wasn't quite brave enough to tell her."

Everyone was watching Samantha, disapproval appearing on several faces.

Dean leaned forward a little, and thought about his words before speaking. "Your friend is a strong woman, Samantha. She probably expects her best friend to be as well. I admit I'm surprised at your hesitancy to speak to her. I can't imagine why you would purchase such a gift for her unless you knew she would be interested in expanding her knowledge on a rather intimate subject. Could it be because you are ashamed of your chosen lifestyle?"

Sam shook her head vigorously. "No, Sir. I love Ian and my life. I love Abby too, but it was just embarrassing for me to admit to her that the friend who always played the part of the daddy when we played house allows her husband to, to…"

"Spank her?" Dean offered.

She nodded, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Samantha, you know that submission takes strength, love and trust. Honey, living a life focused on domestic discipline and submission could not be successful unless you were a strong woman. Surely Abby would understand that."

Sam felt so humiliated, knowing he was right, and that she had acted like some weak little girl instead of the strong woman her mother had raised. "I talked to her last night," she admitted. "I should have known not to be afraid. We've always been able to talk about anything. She forgave me for not explaining about the review. I–I was punished for disobeying Ian, for disrespecting Abby and for lying. I needed to apologize to you as well. I'm sorry, Dean."

Dean sat back in his chair and took a sip of his coffee, his mind attempting to navigate this labyrinth.
So, Sam isn't a man, isn't Abby's partner
. His mouth turned up in a small smile. "Thank you for the explanation and the apology. I forgive you, especially knowing your husband obviously took you in hand." Sam squirmed a bit on her seat, and Dean knew she was embarrassed at her spanking becoming public knowledge. Dean watched her discomfort and continued. "I know it is hard to be open and honest about domestic discipline to everyone in our lives. It was hard for my wife, Janet, and I'm proud of you for finding the strength to talk to your friend." Sam's face showed her relief at hearing his words.

Ian bent over and gave her a kiss on her cheek, before whispering, "Good girl."

Samantha beamed up at her husband, then heard Dean clear his throat. She turned her attention back to him.

"Um, by the way, how did your friend take your news if you don't mind saying? Is there someone she is perhaps considering entering into a DD relationship with?"

Ian's radar pinged again and he looked over at Dean.

"Pretty well," Sam said, taking a bite of her brownie. "She was a little upset that I hadn't forewarned her, but after I explained everything, she understood. She even told me she was proud of me and knows that Ian and I love each other very much."

Though Dean was happy that the incident hadn't caused lasting damage among the three, her response wasn't quite what he was looking for. He took another sip of coffee. "Do you think it might help if I called her and also apologized? I had no idea why she was unprepared, but could have been a little kinder to her."

Ian suppressed a smile; man oh man, his radar was pinging all over the place. He saw that his wife had no earthly idea of why Dean was asking.

She looked up and said, "Oh, I don't think that's necessary—"

Ian interrupted his wife, "I think that's a great idea, Dean. I know that Abby was a little embarrassed, though she does tend to hide her feelings. You know, you have a lot in common." Sam swung her gaze to her husband, a look of confusion on her face. He smiled at her and continued, "Abby is also an author."

Dean looked surprised. "She is? I confess I'm not familiar with her name."

Sam giggled. "Well, I guess you wouldn't be unless you like to read what you men call bodice busters. She writes under the name Abigail Downing."

"You know Abigail Downing?" Sally exclaimed, and the other women began talking about their favorite books Abby had authored. The men all looked at each other and shrugged.

Dean smiled as he absorbed Sam's news. He knew of Abigail Downing, and in fact, had several of her books at home. His wife had loved the romance novels, especially the ones set in earlier centuries. Janet had devoured each new offering. He'd had no idea that the woman he had met last night was so well-known. Abby had seemed like an ordinary woman to him, her manner hadn't been arrogant at all and he had met some very narcissistic writers, both male and female. He grinned, considering how she had kept both her occupation and her success a secret. His interest was definitely growing. He looked over at Ian and asked, "Will you give me her phone number?"

Ian nodded and wrote Abby's number down, passing it to Dean. Before he released it he said, "I'm warning you in advance. Abby is a hard woman to crack. She has an issue with trust when it comes to men and thinks she is perfectly fine on her own."

Sam listened to her husband and felt she needed to intervene. "Oh, Ian, it's not like she wants to be alone. She just hasn't found the right person to share her life with." All of a sudden, her eyes widened. She looked between the two men, then smiled. "I think she'll love hearing from you, Dean. Maybe you could ask her out for coffee; believe me, she loves coffee!"

Dean laughed and said, "Now that I do know. She practically inhaled her coffee during the break. I'll give her a call this afternoon. Thank you again, Sam for letting me know about Abby; she certainly seems like a person I'd like to get to know better." He stood up, shook Ian's hand, and bent down to give Sam a kiss on her cheek, noting that her skirt was draping over her chair. "Hope your bottom feels better soon, sweetie," he whispered. He thought her blush was lovely and remembered thinking the same of Abby's frequent blushes the night of the review.

Dean left and the others finished their lunch and helped clean up the hall.

As Ian helped his wife into their car, she asked, "Do you think I should call Abby and warn her about Dean?"

Ian gave her question some consideration before answering, "I don't think so. Let's see what happens. If you forewarn her, she'll put up her defenses and might not even give the poor guy a chance."

Sam smiled and giggled. "I hope she gives him a chance, they'd be perfect for each other, don't you think?"

Ian started the car and grinned back, "Well, except for the spanking part."

Samantha laughed out loud, though she had seen her friend's reactions during their long conversation. She had an idea that the spanking part, as Ian put it, would, if anything, give Abby some restless nights as she thought about possibilities she had never before considered. Smiling, she settled into her seat, wincing a bit as her punished bottom protested her body weight. Sam didn't mind the discomfort, as she felt a lightness in her soul and hope in her heart. She looked over at her husband. "Fair warning though, if she finds out you knew about this and didn't warn her, you should get the spanking, not me!"

Ian grimaced as the memory of a night months ago flooded through him. He, as well as a half-dozen other young men, had gathered for a special meeting held for head-of-households. Each man had lowered their pants and underwear, bent over and willingly accepted several strokes of any and all instruments they were even considering applying to their wives if discipline were necessary. He had come home, his ass aching, with a far better understanding of what it meant to willingly submit yourself to corporal correction, and the absolute trust such submission required. Seeing his wife smile, he reached over and patted her leg.

"Good try, sweetheart, but I can absolutely guarantee that won't ever happen. Your sweet little ass is the only one spanked in our household." He loved the sound of her giggle, and the squeeze of her fingers around his own. "And speaking of spankings, if you don't get that skirt out from under that cute ass, you'll have another as soon as we get home."

Samantha gasped and yanked her skirt clear immediately to sit upon her bottom blanket that Ian had placed on the seat after opening her door. "I'm sorry, Ian, I didn't mean to forget."

Ian smiled over at her and said, "I'll let it go this time, you did very well in church and at lunch, but don't forget again."

"Yes, Sir," Sam answered, grateful for his generosity. Thinking about her chosen life of submission and recalling Dean's words of the strength it took, she couldn't wait to hear how Abby reacted when she took his call.

Abigail spent Sunday morning doing chores around her                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          house. A load of laundry had been done, the kitchen floor given a quick mopping. Cicero and she had played with his favorite toy, which was a stuffed mouse filled with catnip. Fixing a late brunch, she carried it out onto the porch, along with Dean's book. Settling herself onto her swing, she opened the book and was soon engrossed in it, occasionally rereading a paragraph, as if unsure she had really read the printed words correctly. She couldn't stop thinking about all this domestic discipline stuff, and how her best friend had so utterly embraced the lifestyle. Suddenly feeling an undeniable urge to write, she went into the house and into her office.

It didn't take but a few minutes before she was lost in the past, a gentler era where women were unconsciously submissive, far more than they were in modern times. Abby laughed as she realized that she was typing a brand new scene for her book, adding a spanking between the strong-willed Anna and her husband Richard. Somehow it just seemed right. After all, Anna had been mouthing off about how she never got to do anything except basically slave around their covered wagon, and Richard had finally had enough of her being ungrateful for the home he was trying to provide for them and their future children.

Abigail wrote for over an hour and then read, edited, and reread the chapter again and again. She wondered how her followers would accept such a different type of book. Would her novels automatically be moved from the 'romance' to the 'erotic' genre, simply because she added a spanking scene? Almost giggling as she admitted that her own panties were getting a bit moist with the intimate scene she had written, she thought her readers might just love it. Deeply engrossed in her writing, it took a few moments before she became aware that the phone was ringing. She stood and went into the kitchen to answer the phone, taking the opportunity to fix another cup of coffee.

"Hey, Sam, are you feeling okay? How's your butt?" Abby asked, not bothering to glance at the caller ID on the phone. She poured her coffee and then almost dropped the creamer when a male voice answered.

"My behind is just fine, thank you," the man chuckled.

"Oh God, I'm sorry!" Abigail blurted out, her face flaming. "I thought, um, I thought… Who is this?" she demanded, not recognizing the number on the phone display.

"Hello, Abby, this is Dean, you know, the other author?"

Abigail nearly fell over but managed to plop down into a kitchen chair, her coffee sloshing over the rim of her mug.

"Dean?" she asked, not believing he had called her.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, Abby. I just wanted to call and apologize for the other night."

"Apologize? Why?" she asked, taking her first sip and settling down in her chair. Her heart had stopped its thudding and she found she was very interested to hear his explanation.

"I had lunch with Ian and Samantha this afternoon and discovered why you were so unprepared the other night. I wanted to apologize for not treating you more kindly. If I had known—" he was interrupted.

"How is Samantha?" she asked, and wished she had called her earlier.

Dean chuckled and said, "She's fine, Abby. She looked happy, and I wouldn't have been able to tell that she obviously had gotten a spanking until she admitted it to everyone."

"Everyone?" Abby stuttered, amazed that she seemed to have been the only person in the dark about Sam's chosen lifestyle.

"Well, I guess not everyone, Abby. Just those at the table. It was the pot luck lunch after church. I assure you she was in a very safe environment. Ian had obviously asked her to apologize to me for her part in the evening's events. Samantha told me that it had been her responsibility to talk to you, that she had not done so, and that she was sorry to have put you in such an embarrassing position. She was quite sincere. I realized that I could have been much kinder to you, and asked them if they believed it would be appropriate for me to call and extend that apology. I hope you don't mind that Ian gave me your number."

Abigail sat quietly, trying to wrap her mind around all he was saying. She couldn't imagine this topic of conversation coming up at lunch, especially a church luncheon!

From her silence, Dean could practically hear her mind working. "I'd like to offer my apology in person. Would you be free to have dinner tonight?"

"Dinner? You want to have dinner?" Abby asked, her heart starting to pound again. God, she sounded like a parrot, repeating his words.

"Yes, dinner. You know, where I come pick you up and we go somewhere to have a nice meal together," Dean explained, his smile wide even though she couldn't see it. This woman was just so darned cute. He held his breath and when she didn't answer, he continued. "Abby, it's just a meal. You don't have anything to worry about."

Abby smiled and said, "Oh, so you can promise that you aren't going to spank me if I don't eat all my vegetables?" She blushed as soon as the words left her mouth, and wished she could swallow them back.

Instead of being outraged, Dean broke into a hearty laugh and gave her his promise. "No spanking, I promise. You don't even have to order vegetables if you don't want. Heck, order dessert first if you feel like it. I'd just love to have a chance to get to know you better."

Despite her trepidation, Abby smiled. "Um, okay. I think I'd like that as well," she said, shocking herself with her answer. Dean didn't give her time to change her mind, telling her that he would pick her up at eight.

Hanging up the phone almost in a daze, she realized she had just accepted a date, a date with a man she barely knew, and one that she did know advocated domestic discipline. What had she been thinking?

Beginning to panic, she picked up the phone and dialed Samantha. When her friend answered, Abigail blurted out, "Sam! Dean called me, you know, Dean, the book author, I mean the one who spanks!"

Samantha laughed, then looked over at Ian and shook her head at him. "Abs, calm down. Take a deep breath and start at the beginning."

Abby did as suggested and it was a few seconds before she continued. "Okay, thanks. Oh, by the way, are you okay? I mean…"

"I'm fine, Abby. Ian and I are both fine. Don't worry about me, tell me about Dean. What did he say, what did you say?" Sam said, sitting down on Ian's lap as she cradled the phone.

"He wants to have dinner with me… I mean, we are having dinner tonight. Oh, Sam, I asked if he were going to spank me!" Abby confessed, still unable to believe it herself.

On the other end of the phone, Samantha gasped in disbelief. "You didn't! Oh gosh, Abs, I can't believe you asked him that. Geeze, did you really think he'd just spank you on sight?" Ian raised his eyebrow at his wife's end of the conversation, but Sam simply poked him in his side and concentrated on the call.

"I know! I was so embarrassed when I just blurted that out, I'm sure I sounded like an idiot!" Abby laughed, remembering the sound of Dean's chuckle. "He took it rather well though, and assured me it was just dinner."

"That's great! I'm so happy for you. Dean is such a great guy. We ate lunch with him today and…"

"I know. He told me, and said that you apologized to him for me. Sam, you didn't have to do that. I told you last night that I was fine."

"Abby, I had to. I mean, I was wrong in not explaining it to you, and I felt bad. I apologized and everything was great. Dean agreed with Ian that I had put you in an awkward position and I agreed. I told him that I'd been, well, you know, um, punished for it."

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry. I was thinking about you last night and this morning. Are you sure you are okay?" Abigail asked, concerned for her friend despite having learned that discipline was nothing new to the couple, Samantha admitting it would not be the first time she submitted to her husband's discipline.

Samantha snuggled into Ian's arms and he kissed the top of her head. "Abby, I really am fine. My butt is still sore but I feel good and happy and, well, guilt free. Please stop worrying about me. Where are you going to eat?"

Ian chuckled as his wife squirmed a bit when she spoke about her sore bottom. He knew it still ached, as she bore bruises and welts as well as a blister on her tender skin. He had removed her plug when they had returned home from church—proud of her for not asking when he was going to, allowing him to control the timing. He was proud of her now as well, and pleased she could be open and honest with Abby at last. Samantha and he had spoken at great lengths about her feelings of sadness in not sharing something so important in her life with her best friend. Ian had known that, though the subject would surely surprise Abby, she wasn't the type of person to judge anyone. Now that the topic had been breached, including the fact that Sam confessed she had been disciplined for her part in the situation, Ian was positive that Dean would not hesitate to offer further education on the subject. After all, domestic discipline was a vital part of Dean's life, and Ian had an innate sense that Abby would not be able to disguise her barely concealed interest. It would be quite interesting to watch what he hoped became a lasting relationship between the two.

"He didn't say. I guess I'll find out later. Sam, um, are you sure he isn't married? Oh, God, maybe this isn't a date at all. Maybe he is just including a meal as part of his apology," Abigail said, wondering whether she knew enough about Dean to actually go out with him.

"He's a widower, Abby. His wife, Janet, died a few years ago from cancer. They had been married for about a dozen years when she got sick. They didn't have any children. I'm pretty sure he is looking at dinner as a date. Abby, he's a really good man. Um, he might be a little stricter than, well, you'll find out, I mean…"

More relieved about Dean's marital status than she cared to admit, Abby reassured Sam. "Don't worry about me. I can handle a dinner date. I am interested in learning more about him. I was just a bit shocked and scared after I accepted. I know he has to be a good person if you and Ian are friends with him. Sam, I'm not looking to be married, but a dinner date sounds nice."

"That's great, Abs. Be sure to call me tonight… um, well," Sam hesitated as she realized she probably wouldn't be in any condition to speak to her friend when she returned from her date. "How about calling me tomorrow morning and letting me know how your evening went?"

Abigail heard the hesitation in Sam's voice but didn't want to pry. "That's fine, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Thanks. Oh, and Ian told me to tell you that Dean knows you write. He knows you're Abigail Downing."

Abby groaned at the disclosure. "Sam! He probably thinks I'm some lovesick woman who fantasizes about big burly men hauling me off to their caves to have their way with me!"

Samantha burst out laughing. "Abby, that is too funny. He said he knew of your books, that his wife had loved them. He was impressed and appeared very interested in you."

"Well, I guess I'll find out tonight. At least we'll have a topic to discuss, since we're both authors." She paused and then giggled. "Well, maybe that's not a safe topic either considering the subject matter of his books."

Sam laughed out loud. "You never know, Abby, it could be a very interesting discussion. Hey, you two can compare thoughts as to what makes a woman feel more loved—a good spanking or simply holding hands, like in your books."

"I'll have you know, holding hands is very romantic," Abby said, then giggled thinking of what she had written just that afternoon. "I admit, talking to you has given me some ideas but I'm not ready to share them. Have a good evening, Sam and give Ian my love. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"You're being mean, Abigail Pierce! If you didn't have to get ready for your date, I'd make you tell me now." Sam giggled as her husband tugged on her ponytail. "Good night; I think Ian wants to play cave man now."

Abby smiled at the sounds of laughter coming over the phone. Hanging up, she sat back, thinking about her upcoming date. A glance at the kitchen clock told her it was later than she had realized. Looking longingly at her cup of now-cold coffee, she hoped that wherever she and Dean went, they at least had a decent brew to offer.