What do you mean, freaks here like in Cali?” she spit his words back to him.
“I don’t know—I guess I would say don’t be surprised if somebody guesses what B.S.A. stands for…or comes damn close. We’ve got some folks into the whole spanking thing, on the down low for real, chica,” he laughed.
“What do you mean? And why are they on the down low?”
Lee looked over the top of his slushy at her like she was crazy, and suddenly Lilliana felt just as crazy as she must look. “Lee! I’m serious! What is it?”
“Girl, I thought you were into the whole tie me up, spank my ass and slap a collar on me while you’re at it scene!” he said in a low voice.
“What?” she said and nearly choked on her tea.
Lee looked around as though he were making sure that no one was listening to them and leaned across the small table. “I just assumed from the ad that you were into spankings…maybe a little S&M too.”
“No, I’m not! Why would you think that?” Lilliana knew her voice was way too high and squeaky when several pairs of eyes turned in her direction in curiosity, but she ignored their looks and allowed her gaze to stay trained on Lee.
“Okay, for one, I thought you were into it because you took a frickin’ ad out asking for a man who knew how to spank your ass! And another…well who the hell takes an ad out asking a man to tap that ass if she didn’t want her ass tapped?”
“Tapped and hit are two different things! I don’t want some man hitting me! I just left one who did that to me! Why in hell would I willingly ask someone to hit me?”
“Hitting and spanking are two different things, chica! Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
“What? You’ve done it? Let a man hit you?” Although the idea of allowing a man to willingly put his hands on her was abhorrent to Lilly, she found herself curious as to what Lee would say.
“Not hit me, Lilly…spank me. Two totally different things,” he told her with a smile. “Girl, no one’s ever introduced you to the sweetness of submission?” Lee laughed coyly and when she shook her head he looked around again, as though someone was trying to listen to their conversation. “Well, let me be the first to tell you. With the right person, it’s a feeling like no other.”
“Really?” Lilly asked in a hushed tone, completely forgetting to eat the spaghetti smothered in marinara sauce that she loved as Lee filled her in, with graphic details, on what he called the sweet side of submission.
“Honey, yes. A nice firm but soft hand, applying just the right amount of sting…chica, ummm…it’s off the chain.” He smiled what she thought was a very happy, reminiscing grin.
“It has to be with the right man. You’ve got to trust him, trust that he won’t hurt you,” he told her thoughtfully as he continued to eat. “Have some candles burning, some Hennessy, maybe a little Luther or Usher playing in the background, and a big beautiful naked man, hard and ready to lay it on you!” he laughed.
The handsome blond guy she’d seen on the elevator instantly sprang to Lilliana’s mind. She had no problem imagining how good he’d look, butt naked and standing tall, hard, and ready to give her what she needed.
“Tell me more and don’t leave out a thing,” she demanded, fascinated, wondering how it could possibly feel good to be totally at the mercy of a man’s hands during lovemaking, and enjoy it.
“Anything I can do for you, Mr. Longmire?” Josh nearly jumped out of his skin when the supervisor tapped him on the shoulder and asked the question.
He turned and barely kept the smile on his face when his eyes came into direct contact with Ms. Hillman. He struggled to keep a straight face as he stared at the floor supervisor’s obvious mustache.
“No ma’am, I was, um, just looking for someone.” Josh had no idea why he stammered, but there was something about the older woman that made him feel all of twelve years old with his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar.
“Tell me who it is. I’m sure I can help you. Everyone has gone to lunch but I can show you to the cubicle of the person you’re searching for. Is there something I can help you out with?” She smiled, showing all twenty-eight of her slightly protruding teeth.
“Thanks, Ms. Hillman. It’s really not a problem—well, if you could show me where Lilliana Michaels’s cubicle is, I can take it from there.”
“Is there a problem? Did she do something?” There was a look of anticipatory glee on the woman’s face that Josh didn’t find particularly attractive.
“No, actually she dropped something and I simply want to return it to her.”
“Oh, well she’s out to lunch with that friend of hers, Lee Gutierrez. Her cubicle is down that aisle, second to last one on the right,” she said, pointing. “But I can return it, sir. No problem.”
“Thanks, but I’ll do it.” Josh was relieved when her phone rang and the woman left to answer. He quickly walked down the aisle as she went inside her office and closed the door to answer the call.
When he located Lilliana’s desk he smiled, noting the scattering of framed self-affirmations on her desk. She was obviously into the positive-thinking craze. He placed her name tag on her desk and was turning to leave when he noticed a crumpled piece of paper lying on the floor, slightly underneath the corner of her desk. As he bent down to retrieve the paper, it occurred to him that the woman sure had a habit of dropping things.
When he was about to place the paper on her desk, he glimpsed three words on it that got his attention, big-time. Damn. What in the world? Feeling like a snoop, he opened the crumpled-up paper and quickly scanned the contents.
BF in search of a real man, one who knows just what to do with a B.S.A! In order to prove you’re up for the challenge, be the first man to respond to this ad with the right answer and tell me what B.S.A. stands for and we can go from there. Respond at this e-mail address bsa1972@…Hurry up, the clock is ticking.
She’d written in a flowing script at the bottom of the page the words Big Spankable Ass, and Josh almost choked. Oh my God. This was way too good. Damn.
She’d written the answer at the bottom of the slip of paper, but the ad itself didn’t have the answer. The ad had been placed in the Reader, Chicago’s free popular weekly periodical. He looked at the date and realized that either she’d just put it in today, or it had appeared in a previous week, as the Reader only came out on Thursday and today was Thursday. He took note of the e-mail address, folded the ad, and placed it on her desk.
He looked around to see if anyone saw him and left the office. If the administrative assistant wanted her pretty brown tush spanked, well, Josh was just the man to do it. He laughed outright in a purely male chuckle as he made haste back to his office and his computer.
4
The walk home after she’d exited the bus was only two blocks and Lilly felt safe in the upper-end neighborhood walking in the light dusk of early evening. She counted herself blessed that she’d secured the cottage that she lived in and knew that she owed Melinda a serious debt of gratitude for finding the affordable
