A New Forever by Carolyn Faulkner, Alta Hensley

rub her upper back and rock back and forth just a little, not enough to disturb her, but just enough to make her feel better than she wanted to. Her tears came more quickly at his kindness. She felt the safety and comfort of him surrounding her, and it made her feel more cared for than she had in years.
    "There, there," he murmured against her hair.
    And it all felt good. Too damned good. It was just what she wanted, almost, close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades. She was trying to stand there and enjoy and absorb as much as she could of it for later, when she could roll the moments around in her mind at a more leisurely pace. But then she didn't want to enjoy or revel in it—he'd just spanked her! She didn't think she'd ever get over it! He'd taken her over his knees and paddled her with his hand!
    Reaching back to rub her bottom, she realized that it looked as though she needed to make a trip to Goodwill, as much as she didn't want to.
    Clay looked down at her as she clutched awkwardly at her own butt. "What shall we do together next week?" he asked.
    "How about avoid each other entirely?" Elodie suggested sourly, fidgeting within his arms.
    Clay squeezed her tight, then let her go. "No, I don't think so. Why don't we go bowling?"
    Elodie sighed. Another week without lunches... and a lot of dinners. "Sure." She started to wander towards the door again, wondering if he was going to reclaim her again.
    But he didn't. Instead, he drove her home without further incident, and on the way he decided that they'd bowl in a week, then maybe go out to eat. The last thing he said before driving away, though, was that he expected to see her winter coat the next time they met, or what she'd just gotten would resemble friendly pats.
    Elodie watched him drive off after tooting his horn, and wandered into her apartment. They'd essentially gone out on two dates. They had kissed—the most amazing kiss of her life. He'd seen her naked from the waist down, and had spanked her—hard. So much for keeping him at a polite distance.
    What the hell was she supposed to do now?
     
     
     

Chapter 8
     
    When she got back to her place, the first thing Elodie did was go into her bathroom, where there was a full-length mirror on the back of the door. She shucked her jeans and panties down and turned around to see if there was any evidence of her bottom getting smacked, and there was plenty. She was so fair that she could see not only a definite all over pinkness, but also telltale separate and distinct handprints. His hand was so big that he'd gotten all of her butt in one hard whack! The odd thing was that she wasn't appalled, in fact, quite the opposite. Seeing the marks of her spanking made her smile. She actually liked seeing the leftover signs of his discipline. Was she losing her mind?
    Elodie climbed into her loosest set of pajamas and sat down gingerly on the side of her bed, snuggling under the covers, even though it was only about six thirty in the evening. She was almost numb—except in some strategic areas; and she was exhausted... yet she was humming with what had happened to her within the past several hours.
    Clay didn't spank at all like her father, or what she could remember of being spanked by Daddy, which wasn't much. It was so much more intimate; so much more real, not faraway and fuzzy, to be spanked as an adult. It was a memory that was literally seared into her—brain and bottom. How his legs felt beneath her, crushing her too ample for her figure breasts, the unexpected part of him drilling into her tummy at the same time as she could both feel and hear each swat, distinctly, as it landed. He hadn't attacked her with a barrage of small smacks. They had all been horridly individual and aimed for maximum impact, as her poor sore flesh would certainly attest to.
    But it had been Clay's lap that she was over. He was the one who had been staring down at her wobbling hillocks, touching them if somewhat impartially, peering