“Scared? Of what?”

She wanted to run from this man who was exposing her to painful truths, but she was too boneless to do anything more than lay here. She had been ignoring the truth since her eighteenth birthday. That was when her father had steamrolled her into training to be his assistant, which meant she worked, lived, and dressed as he dictated. At least in public. Behind closed doors she did what she wanted.

“I think you’re scared of your father’s disappointment. Of what might happen if you let loose the woman you’re hiding under all those clothes. I also know you’d really like to let loose the sexy, sassy person you keep hidden in this house. The one who runs around her back yard in scanty G-strings and plays with vibrating toys.”

Alaina couldn’t argue with him. He was right. Fear ruled her life. “But how do I know how far to let go?” she whispered.

Gray smiled down at her with a sexy, predatory smile that sent chills rippling through her. That smile reignited the hungry need he had satisfied less than ten minutes before. He laid a big, warm palm in the center of her belly, his fingers fanning up toward her chest.

To Alaina, the feel of his skin on hers was the ultimate aphrodisiac. It did not matter where he touched her. Intertwining their fingers or rubbing the pad of his thumb back and forth across her palm sent shivers through her. Her hips began to shift in silent invitation as Gray leaned over and licked at the nipple closest to him. Alaina felt his cock twitch against her hip as he suckled, teased, and played with both breasts.

“Do you trust me?” His words were a deep growl as he spoke with her plump breast still in his mouth.

“Yes.”

“Will you let me help you?”

“Uh-huh.” She rapidly lost the ability for speech as an orgasm began building in her core.

Gray sat up, then leaned over her. “If I do something you don’t like, or that hurts too bad, I want you to say red as your safe word. You say red and everything stops, then we talk about what’s wrong. Understand?”

Alaina nodded. “I understand. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to give you your birthday spanking.”

Alaina blinked even as her pussy clenched. “But my birthday was yesterday.”

Gray shrugged and gave her a sly smile. “But I didn’t know you well enough to give it to you yesterday. So you’ll get it today. It will help focus and center you as well as help you grow into your new, bolder persona.”

Alaina thought about that for a moment before shrugging. “Okay, I guess.”

“Good girl,” Gray said as he shifted to sit on the side of the bed. “Come lay yourself across my lap and we’ll get this out of the way.”

She hesitated a moment, before pushing off the sheet and following his command. She had never had a boyfriend take control like this before and had to admit she liked it.

Stretching over his lap, she hoped she wasn’t too heavy. But the hard, thick length pressing into her hip told her he didn’t mind.

“I won’t be too hard on you since this is supposed to be more fun than punishment,” he stated as he rubbed a large, warm hand over the globes of her ass, warming up the skin.

“Thank you?”

“You’re welcome,” he said as his hand disappeared for a moment before slapping down on her left cheek. The slight pain barely registered before a matching slap landed on her right cheek and then the center of her ass.

“Relax, baby, and it won’t hurt so much,” he soothed as he continued to pepper her ass with slaps. Left, right, center.

Though she tried, it was nearly impossible to relax as he continued spanking, spreading the smacks from the top of her ass to the tops of her thighs. It only took a few before tears filled her eyes. And a few more before they spilled over, and she began to cry. Something about the pain in her ass cut the cord on all the emotions she had tucked away over the years.

Soon she was sobbing into the bed, no longer trying to count the strokes Gray was laying on her ass. It wasn’t until a hand stroked up and down her spine that she realized her birthday spanking was over. The fact that she was still crying like a baby had her entire body burn with embarrassment. She wondered if he would mind if she ran to the bathroom and locked herself in.

“Shh, baby. Cry it out. Release all that tension, anger, and everything else. Everything is fine,” Gray assured her as he shifted them so they were once again lying on the bed, her head on his chest.

Unable to help herself, she did as he said, letting go of all the yucky feelings she had locked away. By the time her crying slowed and eventually stopped, she felt so light she thought she was floating.

“Feel better?” he asked once she was hiccupping and sniffing in the aftermath of the emotional storm her spanking had dragged her through.

“I think so,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

He kissed her forehead and reached for the box of tissues on the nightstand. After cleaning her up, he sat up and rolled off the bed. “Time to get up, shower, and dress.”