Page 11 of Daddy's Lesson

I cleared my throat, and covered the surface with the packet of papers, staring down at my own one-dimensional answers. Sure, I’d been more honest and put more effort into it this time, but I’d still been closed off, still certain that I had only one thing to gain from an arrangement like this.

But now… now Lennon had opened up a whole new world. Or at least, he could. If I let him. If he wanted to.

Staring down at the papers, I turned the page, scanning my rote answers until I reached the section about limits. I had nearly everything marked as a limit, as I’d been sure that this could only be a transactional, platonic arrangement. Sure that anything even remotely or sexy should be off-limits. Sure that was what I wanted. But what if it wasn’t? If I changed my answers, would it even matter?

It was true that Lennon was a mature worldly adult, no longer an immature college student, but he was still very much my junior, and I was still a woman nearing fifty.

I’d always been told I carried my age well, that I looked younger than I was. I took care of myself religiously, ate carefully, exercised right, indulged in a stringent skincare routine guaranteed to smooth out and delay wrinkles, knocking years of aging away, but there were some things that not even years of meticulous selfcare could help. The crow’s feet still formed around my eyes. Laugh lines still imprinted deep into my cheeks. No matter how many sit-ups I did, I’d still gotten a soft pooch around my middle that I couldn’t get rid of, and hair dye never seemed to cover the gray for more than a week or two. It peeked through.

The idea that Lennon would even care if I changed my limits and opened myself up sexually was preposterous… wasn’t it?

Probably. But it wasn’t about Lennon, I realized as I looked down at the rows of Xs down the page. It was about me. I had to do this, for me, even if it never went anywhere. Even if it meant nothing.

I told myself that and willed my pen to move, but it stayed poised over the page, frozen in terror.

“Zoe.” Lennon grabbed my wrist, and I looked up at him, startled. Heat flushed my cheeks. “Talk to me.”

“I… I can’t.”

He regarded me seriously, staring deeply into my eyes, and I shifted under his penetrating gaze. Had his eyes always been that blue?

He took the packet from me, glancing down at the answers for the first time, and I wished the floor would open up and swallow me whole. I fully expected him to chortle in disgust at the thought that I might change anything, or at the very least, tell me that I didn’t need to, but instead, he looked almost… disappointed.

With a deep sigh, he set the book and the packet on the arm of the couch. “Did you enjoy your spanking?” he asked.

Yes, very much. The truth was on the tip of my tongue but it would never get past my lips. Instead, I gave a strangled laugh. “It’s a spanking. I’m not supposed to enjoy it. Isn’t that the point?”

He didn’t let me off the hook. His eyes stayed locked on mine and his mouth turned up in a smirk. His eyes sparkled. “There are different kinds of enjoyment.”

“Oh.” I licked my lips. My throat was suddenly dry. “I wasn’t expecting it to be that… enlightening,” I admitted. “It never was before.”

Lennon nodded sagely, and paused as if considering my answer, or maybe his own response.

“When done right, with someone who is committed, discipline can open up a whole new world,” he finally said. “And it can be so much more than hand meets ass. If you let it be, of course. Do you want to let it be, Zoe?”

Yes, so much. But I couldn’t say it. Even with the engraved invitation he was handing me, my pride and fear wouldn’t let me. “I… my …uh… the questionnaire,” I stammered, trying to reach around him for it.

He blocked me with his body, clicking his tongue. “I’m not asking what you wrote on the questionnaire, Zoe. I don’t care about what’s on the paper, to be honest. You lied on the first one, and probably on this one, too. Isn’t that right?”

“It wasn’t a lie!” I protested hotly, before I could stop myself. “I just… changed my mind!”

His smile spread slowly across his face and my mouth dropped open as I realized I’d shown more of my hand than I intended. “I mean… I…”

He clicked his tongue. “No lying to Daddy. I’d think very carefully about the next words to come out of your mouth, little Picasso.”

I snapped my mouth closed. Sure, I didn’t want to admit how I was feeling, but I also didn’t want to lie.

Twisting his body slightly, Lennon reached for my packet and the book underneath it, holding both items out to me, along with the pen. Before I could take it, he spoke.

“I don’t really care what’s on the application, Zoe. It doesn’t really matter. If you can’t change your answers, or you don’t want to, then don’t. But answer me this: Did you enjoy your spanking? Did it make you wet? Is your pussy throbbing as much as your ass?” He paused and drew a deep breath. When he continued, his voice was husky and full of unbridled arousal. “Do you want me to touch you?”

I tried to swallow but the motion got stuck in my overly dry throat. My lips parted and I sucked in a sharp breath. God, how I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t. There was a part of me that still thought it was a joke, that he would think I was a joke if I answered honestly. There was another part of me reminding myself that even if he did touch me, I’d just be a client, another notch on his belt, a duty he was performing.

That almost made it better… sort of. But could I really live with that?

“Fine.” Lennon’s voice lacked the sharpness his one-word response conveyed as he took both the book and the packet, placing them again on the arm of the couch, out of my reach. “You don’t have to answer, Zoe. You don’t have to change the things you put in the packet. All you have to do is give me your consent. The consent to be your Daddy however I see fit.”

Was it really that simple? And was that safe? I was pretty sure the questionnaire was a part of the application process because it served a purpose, an important one. But Lennon kept saying it didn’t matter. Was he just doing that because he was as horny as me, and wanted any excuse to get his rocks off? I couldn’t be sure, but I didn’t think so.