work.
Her suspicion was confirmed when he finally put the pen down and looked at her while taking his glasses off with one hand. Earlier, when he’d opened the door to welcome her inside, she thought he looked ridiculously hot. At the moment, he looked downright frightening.
“Sasha.”
She tried to speak, but her mouth was too dry. She licked her lips and managed to sputter out, “Yes, Sir?”
“First of all, stop looking at me like that. We are nowhere near being close enough for me to punish you corporally. You will be very clearly notified when I think that time has come.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“That does not, however, mean you will find any punishment comfortable.”
“Of course not, Sir.” Why was he talking about punishment?
“When I gave you the journal, I indicated written assignments had to be two things. What were those two things?”
“Insightful and grammatically correct, Sir.”
“Yes, and while I think these goals are insightful, the horrific grammar keeps me from ascertaining them completely.”
She flinched. “Sorry, Sir. Grammar has never been a strength of mine.”
He tilted his head. “You didn’t tell me this when I gave you my expectations yesterday.”
No, she hadn’t. “No, Sir.”
He held the journal and black pen out to her. “Come get these and flip to a page in the back.”
She hurried to do his bidding and stood by his desk, pen in hand and journal opened to a clean page.
“At the coffee shop we went over your position when I’m sitting in your presence,” he barked. “Either kneel or sit down.”
Fuck. How could she forget so quickly? She sat down cross-legged on the floor and waited.
“Write ‘Infractions I Owe Master Johnson For’ on the top.” Her eyes shot up to meet his. He looked pissed. “You will be given a week’s warning before I collect.”
She wrote the title at the top with a shaky hand.
He nodded when he saw she’d finished. “Now write ‘Number One: Neglecting to inform Master Johnson of difficulties with grammar.’” He gave her time to write and then continued. “‘Number Two: Standing before Master Johnson whilst he is sitting.’” When she finished, he held out his hand. “Give me the journal and go back to kneeling in the middle of the floor.”
She swore her heart was going to pound its way out of her chest as she made her way back. He stood up and walked toward her, journal in hand.
“Usually when I find errors like yours in writing assignments, I use a ruler on my submissive’s upturned palms and then have her rewrite the assignment. I find the combination to be an effective learning method.” He lifted an eyebrow. “But you’re not ready for such a punishment.”
She wanted to look at the floor. She hated that she’d already disappointed him so deeply. Hated that there were already two punishments that would be looming between them. And she really hated that she wasn’t at the place where she could take what he thought she deserved for her actions.
“What are you thinking, little one?” he asked in a gentler voice.
His soft tone soothed her. “I don’t like disappointing you, and I’m disappointed in myself for not being able to take an appropriate punishment and having it hang between us as a result.”
“The fact that you’re not ready to be disciplined in a manner I see fit is not entirely your fault. You can’t blame yourself for that. And yes, I’m disappointed, but we’ll correct your behavior and move on. I’m not one to hold grudges, Sasha, and I believe you’ll find I don’t dig up past offenses, either.”
Sasha could feel a small smile bloom at her lips. One of the things she liked about him so far was he seemed consistent. She always knew where she stood with him.
“I will share with you that one of my concerns in agreeing to this arrangement was the fear that you wouldn’t be open and honest with me. Outside of not telling me about your troubles with grammar, you have been delightfully candid.”
“Thank you for being honest and candid with me, Sir.”
“A Dominant should always be honest and candid with his submissive.”
His submissive. Two simple words shouldn’t make her stomach a breeding ground for butterflies. “Everyone says that, Sir, and it sounds good and everything. But I’ve found it’s not always the case.”
“Then you’ve been playing with the wrong Doms.”
She couldn’t help it; she laughed. “I think that much is clear, Sir, or else I wouldn’t be here.”
He gave her one of his rare smiles. “True enough, little one. And another thing we should add to your list of goals: how to identify a good Dom.”
“I would have thought anyone in the group would be a good choice to play with.”
“Yes, that would be the assumption. Unfortunately, no program is perfect, not even with the changes Nathaniel and Abby have worked on. And nothing takes the place of personal knowledge.”
He didn’t push her to talk about the night with Peter. She thought that would be one of the first things he did. But he’d only brought it up casually, leaving her to think either they wouldn’t discuss it or he was waiting until later to do so.
He jotted a note in her journal. “Definitely something we can talk about later. Now, let’s go over some of these errors. I’m going to go through the list first. Pay attention, because then you’ll write them all down on your own.”
She was a businesswoman, so she shouldn’t have any trouble remembering. But she worried anyway.
“‘Its’ versus ‘it’s,’” he started. “When you have the apostrophe, it is always read as ‘it is.’”
That one was just a careless mistake.
“‘Affect’ versus ‘effect.’ There are exceptions, but ‘affect’ is almost always used as a verb and ‘effect’ is almost always used as a noun.”
Affect was a verb. A verb was an action. A, affect. A, action. She could remember that.
“Could have, would have, should have,” he said. “Never, never, never could of, would of, or should of.”
Now she just felt stupid.
“Finally, when you use the word ‘literally,’ it means exactly what you’re writing. For example, ‘He literally dug his fingers into her skin’ means his fingers were digging into her skin, which is probably not what was meant and would be horribly painful. I’ve said it before, but it needs repeating: words have meanings, you must learn to use them correctly.”
“Yes, Sir. I’ll do better in the future.” She would. Her next assignment would blow him away.
“I’m sure you will. For now, you will make a list of your errors and their corrections. Then you will write the absolutely filthiest sentences you can think of using the words correctly. Finally, you will rewrite this paper making the needed edits.”
She hid a half smile. That didn’t seem like a difficult punishment at all. She could handle this, no problem.
“I saw that, Sasha,” he said. “And just so you’re aware, this is only part of your punishment.”
She gulped and went to work. The list of errors and corrections was easy, but it was more difficult to come up with the sentences. She finally finished them and went on to rewrite her goals.
Cole was nowhere to be seen when she put her pen down. Not knowing what else to do, she closed the journal and knelt with her head down.
Minutes later, he entered the room. “Did you finish your assignment, little one?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Stand up,” he said. “I want your hands behind your back, chest out, and your feet spread.”
Even though she was completely clothed, she felt almost as if she was naked as she moved into position. In fact, the way he was looking at her made her feel naked. It was too easy to picture offering her body to him.
He stood by the couch, arms crossed. “Recite your sentences using ‘its’ and ‘it’s.’”
He wanted her to say them? Out