Stevie and Emma

It suddenly dawned on Stevie that she had never before spoken in such terms to another woman, also that, between them, she and Emma had consumed almost a full bottle of Rioja each over the four hours that had passed since they had returned home.

Emma would normally have been extremely embarrassed at Stevie's remarks, but a combination of trust in this young woman and a real sense of relaxation, enhanced by the effects of good food and wine, made her think more seriously about what they had discussed and to start, for the first time in ages, to feel a little bit more confident about herself and a lot more curious about what Stevie and Ollie got up to from time to time. After a lull in their conversation, Emma was about to raise a question on that subject when, out of the blue, Stevie fired a question straight at her:

"Do you ever think about getting spanked, Em? Or even about spanking someone else?"

Emma was speechless, transfixed by such a direct and relevant question. She nodded mutely and smiled shyly before whispering:

"You know I do!"

She blushed again and sat up, resting on her elbow.

"I don't think there's anything weird about that, Em, but then, maybe I'm weird!" Stevie's words brought a smile to Emma's face.

"Probably we're both weird, but who gives a rat's anyway? Nothing to do with anyone else, unless we choose to make it their business!"

As the glow from the embers in the wood burner began to fade, reality struck home and, uncustomarily, the two women decided to leave clearing up until the morning. Wearily but happily and only very slightly unsteadily, they turned all the lights off downstairs and headed up to their respective bedrooms and, once the usual bathroom bedtime rituals had been completed, fell into a deep sleep across the corridor from each other.

Despite the quantity of wine that they had downed the previous evening, Emma had a perfectly clear head when she awoke at around 8.15 the next morning, the only depressing feature of which was the storm outside that continued to rage. There was not a sound from Stevie's room, so she decided to have a very quick and quiet wash, then to go downstairs and tidy up, still dressed in her night clothes and wrapped in her towelling dressing gown.

To her surprise, the lights were on in the kitchen, the breakfast bar was set and there was a jug of filter coffee simmering on the coffee maker. The smell of freshly-baked croissants mingled mouth-wateringly with the aroma of the coffee and set Emma's taste buds deliciously on edge.

As Emma entered the kitchen, Stevie turned round to greet her, dressed very simply in a cream-coloured camisole top and loose navy blue shorts with a white string belt. Emma grinned and walked over to her landlady. For the first time since she had known her, she gave her a brief but very warm hug. "Thanks for last night, Stevie, I feel better than I have in months. I feel so much more relaxed now, particularly with you! I've been thinking about the things we chatted about."

Stevie held Emma close in their embrace and there was no mistaking her affection for her older friend.

"I'm not surprised you've been thinking, Em. So have I."

Emma blushed very visibly as Stevie locked her in her gaze.

"You haven't been reading my mind, I hope...", came the slightly timid and nervous reply.

Stevie tilted her head slightly to one side and looked Emma straight in the eye.

Emma shivered slightly, despite the comforting atmosphere in the kitchen, sensing that a direct shot from Stevie was imminent. She was not wrong.

Stevie reached forward and took Emma's hands. "Do you trust me?"

Emma now saw the immediate future coming ever more clearly into focus. She nodded slightly and whispered: "Course I do, Stevie. I've never talked to anyone like I did to you."

Stevie, now wearing a more serious expression, squeezed Emma's hands gently.

"Come with me, please, Em. This will only take a few moments."

Together, the two women walked the short distance from the kitchen to the front room, where Stevie opened the door and led Emma in before closing the door behind them.

The wood-burner was glowing again and the room felt warm and comfortable.

Emma felt both apprehensive and relaxed, even slightly excited, but this time she was not surprised.

Stevie walked to the sofa. The coffee table had been moved away and there was now nothing between the sofa and the hearth except the thick rug. Stevie sat down on the sofa and beckoned to Emma to come to her. She looked up with the most amazing, kind expression on her face and simply said: "It's time, Em, let's get this done."

Almost as if she were being guided like a drone, Emma took off her dressing gown and laid it over the armchair before turning back towards Stevie, who was now sitting with her legs apart and with a large cushion over her left thigh. Carefully, Emma laid herself across the cushion and felt Stevie's right leg cross over her legs while her left arm held Emma securely, her fingers folded comfortingly round her waist, just above her thin culottes, which felt taut across her exposed behind. Uncertainly, Emma rested one hand on the carpet, whilst the other folded

round Stevie's ankle.

The smacks were firm from the start, delivered initially at a slow pace, covering Emma's entire bottom. The best physical response that Emma could make was to squirm slightly as the sting in her cheeks intensified with the gradual acceleration in the pace of the spanking. At first, Emma tried to keep count, but suddenly she realised that she had stopped counting and squirming. In fact, all she could think about was how good the deepening heat in her bottom felt and how amazing the sound of the smacks was. Suddenly, apart from the muted crackling from the stove, there was nothing, just quietness in the relative darkness inside a room separated from the outside by heavy curtains that were still closed. Two gentle taps on Emma's bottom were followed by a whispered enquiry: "Do you want to go on, Em?", as the spanker's hand caressed her warm cheeks.

Emma turned her head round, smiled at Stevie and nodded.

"Stand up, Em."

Emma stood up, a little unsteadily and uncertainly, then faced Stevie, watching as her culottes were lowered. Stevie paused and looked at Emma's middle, adorned only with knickers; she reached round to caress her spanked cheeks through the oyster coloured garment. Slowly, Stevie's hands moved to Emma's hips and slid inside her knickers, pushing them carefully half-way down her thighs to her culottes. Gently she guided Emma backwards and stood up.

Stevie held Emma's hips gently in her hands as she looked directly into the spanked woman's eyes:

"How do you feel about a short taste of leather before we finish .... for now?"

Emma's heart fluttered with excitement and apprehension as she assimilated all these unfamiliar feelings that were so different from what she had anticipated. She whispered hoarsely: "Yes please, Stevie!"

The cushion was moved to the arm of the sofa and Emma instinctively made her way round and bent herself slowly over it, leaving her bottom high in the air. She felt a rare sense of total relaxation, despite the sting and heat in her behind. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on the sofa. Behind her, she could hear a drawer being opened. The next thing she felt was a softish object, akin to a ping-pong paddle, but pliable, being slid over her now rose-coloured cheeks. Stevie's voice cut through her thoughts. "I know women 15 years younger than you who would happily swap their bums for yours, Emma. You are a lucky woman, believe me."

Emma said nothing, but for once accepted the kind comments, as she was beginning to feel more positive about her body and was experiencing mild sexual arousal for the first time in many months, and for the first time in her life in the presence of another woman.

Emma shook as the leather paddle landed firmly across her buttocks, straddling the cleft. When the paddle landed for the second time, with a resounding 'Crack!', she nearly leapt up, but something kept her down as she drummed her toes on the carpet.

The final two swats, delivered with equal determination and force, brought tears of happiness and exultation to her eyes as she felt the sharp sting gradually mutate into deep heat and paradoxically pleasurable soreness in her skin. The spanking was over, but Emma just lay there for a few moments before standing up carefully and turning round to face the young woman who had just spanked her and who now stood, her arms folded, holding a beautifully crafted leather paddle in her hand.

Stevie put the paddle down on the sideboard, then approached Emma, put her hands round the back of her neck and hugged her warmly. Stevie released Emma briefly, allowing her friend to reciprocate the hug and releasing her own hands to slide down and to caress the warm bottom in the most amazing, comforting way. For the first time in her life, Emma felt deep pangs of sexual attraction towards another woman.

After a few moments, Stevie pulled Emma's knickers up slowly over her bottom then caressed the cheeks through the soft fabric one more time. Finally, Stevie lifted the culottes back into place and tied the bow at the front, before facing Emma and kissing her gently and softly on her cheek, holding the other cheek in her hand.

The street was deserted, apart from a gentleman of some substance on one side, attached tautly to a Jack Russell terrier. On the opposite side, a disinterested, docile Irish wolfhound, was towing a diminutive, timid-looking, bespectacled gentleman along the street. The Jack Russell snarled, unheard, across the street. Suddenly, both pedestrians and both dogs turned to look towards the source of a loud crash from the far end of the street, as a dislodged slate disintegrated harmlessly in the middle of the otherwise empty thoroughfare.

Four crows took off from the branches above the Jack Russell terrier and flapped raggedly, seemingly without a care, into course-less flight, exuberantly defying the best destructive efforts of Nature.

The Spring weather had been unusually good, after a disturbing winter, and the summer seemed set to be one of the best on record. Thanks to the most welcome improvement in the temperature and with seemingly endless hours of sunshine nearly every day, people's spirits had risen noticeably and there was an almost Mediterranean atmosphere in parts of the city, particularly around the canal basin, where the bars and restaurants had been doing a roaring trade.

These happy events could not have come at a better time for Emma Casselt, since, early in May, she and her 'landlady'/friend Stevie Wilbray had found a really appealing flat, one of several in a new development overlooking Park End, offering clear views from the balcony that would have suggested a far more rural setting, had it not been for the low roar of traffic along a nearby thoroughfare. The move had gone well and very little had needed to be done to make the flat extremely comfortable for a woman who preferred spacious comfort over cramped clutter. Stevie and Ollie, her partner, had been indispensable and the three of them quite often spent time at the flat, with the French windows wide open, enjoying long conversations and healthy summer dining as the light faded over the carefully-managed semi-wild corner of the park. The air was pleasantly laden with the fragrance of summer shrubs and from just inside the flat, it was the sound of humming insects and birdsong that dominated the scene, rather than the endless flow of nearby traffic.

Not only were Emma's domestic circumstances comfortably established, but her personal life had also benefited enormously from the consistent but discreet support of Stevie, in terms both of physical health, for Emma had really taken to the regular gym routine, and of social comfort, sometimes joining Stevie and Ollie or friends and colleagues from the workplace for light-heartedly noisy evenings at a popular tavern at the canal basin.

Perhaps the most noticeable change, at least so far as Emma was concerned, was gradual restoration of her self-confidence. She had shed a few pounds and her body tone had improved, but the main benefit of Stevie's guidance had been in the way Emma felt about herself, no longer seeing herself as frumpish. Her shyness had become less evident and she had become quite comfortable with undressing and showering with Stevie at the gym, sometimes even when other women were in the changing rooms too. She still cast envious glances at Stevie from time to time, sometimes just out of envy of her physique, sometimes when evidence was there of a recent encounter with one of the items from Ollie's legendary 'toybox'. Very interestingly, Stevie was also drawn with increasing frequency to the very well-proportioned curves of Emma's body and there was no mistaking the fact that both women had become very attracted to one another in a sexual way, although this had never found expression beyond a squeeze of a hand or a friendly, innocent touch.

After Emma's unforgettable introduction to the experience of a warm bottom, Stevie had obliged her a few times, particularly when the social stresses from Emma's relatively recent break-up had placed a severe strain on her reserves of emotional strength. Emma now knew what a comfort it could be to have her attention drawn away from her emotional pain to the sting and heat of a long, slow spanking, administration of which had proved to be one of Stevie's great strengths. Emma had experienced Stevie's hand a few times, but also a leather paddle and a hairbrush. Emma's one remaining goal was to follow Stevie down the path that had led to the startling revelation of four neat and livid ridges across firm young buttocks as the two girls stripped in the otherwise empty changing room late one evening. By now, Emma knew that she was meant to see those stripes, for she had become wise to Stevie's ways.

It transpired that Stevie had earned those emblems as a result of an uncharacteristic outburst when Ollie had given her advice that she had chosen not to follow. As it was, she was left with only four solid stripes. Had the reason for Ollie's warning occurred under different circumstances, matters might have followed a very different course. Stevie assured Emma that the caning had hurt like hell and reduced her to tears, but that she would not have missed it for anything.

One of the changes that Emma had made to the flat was to convert what had been described in the brochure as a 'spacious storeroom' into a tanning room, since she had discovered the benefits of sensible UV therapy. Being 'sensible' came as second nature to Emma, but she was beginning to relish the prospect of adding a little more spice to her life and becoming more daring.

With the summer had come opportunities to exercise outdoors, with the result that Stevie, Emma and several other citizens, of all ages, had developed a habit of taking early morning or late evening exercise in the park. The benefits were all too obvious.

Had anyone told Emma during the previous autumn that within less than a year she would be out exercising in a public park in a T-shirt and jogging pants she would have laughed them out of court, had she been able to laugh under the circumstances that prevailed at that time, in the immediate aftermath of the distraction of her former live-in boyfriend by a young newcomer to the company. Emma had developed a loathing of her own image, blaming it for the ease with which her partner had been so easily side-tracked. It had taken Stevie quite a long time and one or two quite firm spankings to correct Emma's vision and to show her who was really at fault in that scenario.

Midsummer's day was not far away when Stevie and Emma set out fairly early on a Wednesday evening for a quick run around the park. The conditions could not have been better. Cyclists were now confined to dedicated cycle-ways, which meant that the only obstacle for runners would be other runners and pedestrians. Well, almost the only obstacle.

The warm evening air had also brought out a group of male teenagers, who were playing a game of cricket on a makeshift wicket, using rolled up hoody tops for creases, old tennis rackets for bats, and a very worn tennis-ball.

As they jogged along, Emma and Stevie were deep in conversation relating to a particular problem that had developed recently in Emma's team, one or two of whom were starting to murmur about what they saw as the unfairness of bringing in a 'stranger', even if she was from the same company, rather than promoting an existing team member. As the two women kept up their steady pace along the footpath, both of them noticed another runner heading towards them. They altered course slightly, to avoid a conflict, then reverted to a conversation the depth of which left both of them unaware of the grey, almost invisible ball that was rolling out from the grass, hotly pursued by a fresh-faced youth.

Emma and Stevie first realised that the urgent warning was being shouted at them at exactly the moment when Emma's right foot came down onto the ball. The shout also drew the attention of the male runner, who looked to his right, just a couple of feet away, only to see Emma teeter, throw her arms into the air and start to fall forwards. For a moment, Stevie was paralysed by shock at Emma's deafening cry of pain and fear. Paralysed, as it happens, for long enough to allow Emma to fall flat on her face, onto the asphalt surface of the path, which is exactly what would have happened had the male runner not stopped in his tracks, placed his feet instantly into a secure, stable position and reached out to catch the young woman and wrap his arms round her.

The teenage youth looked shocked, even though he had made every effort to prevent what could have been an extremely nasty mishap. Stevie came to her senses very quickly, as Stevie would, and Emma's reflex response in the form of a glare made up of a mixture of fear, shock and anger as she found herself in the unsolicited embrace of a complete stranger, changed quickly to one of relief and gratitude to that complete stranger, as she realised what could have happened. She was shaking, but soon began to calm down.

Stevie reassured the worried teenager, whilst the male runner gradually eased back, noticing that Emma was holding her right foot clear of the ground. The male looked up at Emma, then looked down at her foot. Again he looked up:

"Can you move your foot?"

Stevie was looking at Emma, who now had her eyes closed and was grimacing in a way that suggested quite severe pain.

"Emma, the man's talking to you", she whispered.

Emma looked down. ""Sorry, my ankle hurts quite badly." Carefully, she moved her foot to the left and right, then up and down, grimacing severely at some points.

"OK, Emma .. by the way I'm Chris .. I'm going to ask your friend...."

"Stevie", interjected the owner of the name, with a grateful smile.

Gareth returned the smile and continued:

"Emma, I'm going to ask Stevie to support your right thigh while you put your arm across my shoulders, that way we can try and get an initial picture of what's happened."

Gareth looked across at Stevie:

"Can you lower Emma's foot very slowly please, until it just touches the ground."

He then looked back up at Emma:

"OK, Emma, don't try to weight-bear, just tell me when you can feel your foot touching the ground. By the way, just in case you're worried, I am a trained physiotherapist. I'm just trying to see if we need to call an ambulance to get you to A & E."

Stevie had been on the point of calling for assistance as Gareth made his declaration, but stopped and, following Gareth's advice, raised Emma's foot off the ground again.