Marly McRory felt the genesis of a sob building in her throat.

“I will not cry,” she vowed to herself. “I. Will. Not. Cry.”

But then Aidan pitched her forward where she lay over his lap, stretching her out so that the tender strips of skin between buttock and thigh were exposed and – with renewed vigor – concentrated the efforts of the spanking he was administering there, on what he called the Spank Spot.

As always, it got her attention and the promise not to cry was another promise broken, just as she’d broken her promise to Aidan, the one about not losing her temper.

“Aidan!!!” Marly sobbed her husband’s name as she broke into sobs, her small hands thrusting back to cover her stinging bottom. But her police officer husband – always on the alert for evasive tactics – quickly and easily intercepted her wrists and pinned them at the small of her back.

He didn’t miss a stroke as he did this, and had Marly seen the rapidly reddening condition of her tight little bottom, she would have probably cried even harder. With her hands incapacitated, she curled her legs up as if she could protect herself with her feet.

She heard Aidan laugh at this and her face turned nearly as red as her bottom at the sound. This was no laughing matter, her being treated like as small child - which was just how Marly felt as he threw a muscular leg over hers and restrained her completely.

Now all she could do was sob and rock back and forth, repeating please, please, please over and over again. Her litany of pleadings did nothing to stop the ongoing punishment. As the heat built, Marly imagined her bottom bursting into flames. She raised her head from the tear-sodden couch cushion and wailed helplessly as Aidan’s large hand continued to spank her.

Then came the lecture. As always it was delivered after the punishment. There was no need to deliver it beforehand. But the time Marly had pushed Aidan to the point of punishing her, she knew full well what she had done and what was coming.

She hated this part almost as much as the spanking itself and winced as Aidan pushed her to her feet and grasped her hands, holding them at her side so she could not rub her bottom, which she visualized pulsating with soreness.

“Marlene Patricia McRory,” he began. “You’d think that after five years of marriage and a dozen times that many spankings you’d have learned that I’m not going to tolerate these fits of temper!”

“I know!” Marly nodded, squirming in his grip and wagging her bottom unconsciously back and forth. It hurt so badly; this was quite possibly one of the worst spankings she had ever gotten. And her no-nonsense Irish husband had not even used the paddle. This time.

“If you know, then why in the world don’t you try to control yourself?” His tone was exasperated.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Marly said, sniffing pitifully. “Your family is close.”

Aidan shook his head and let go of his wife, who stood there without rubbing her bottom even though she desperately wanted to.

“Marly,” he said. “You can’t let your sister affect your moods like this. The only one it hurts is you.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” thought Marly as she shifted from foot to foot as if that could alleviate the burn in her buttocks. It was just another reason to hate her sister.

“Besides,” Aidan continued, “this competition you have with her is unhealthy. You should be spanked for that alone.”

Marly rubbed the back of her hand over her red, puffy eyes and Aidan reached into his pocket and handed her a tissue.

“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “You’re right. I shouldn’t take my little fits of temper out on you.”

“Little fits?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Marly, you slammed the door so hard you knocked my fish off the wall!”

Marly sniffed again and looked guiltily to where Boris lay. Boris the largemouth bass, eight pounds and three ounces. Boris, the pride, joy and centerpiece of her fisherman husband’s professionally mounted fish collection. Boris, the fish that had won Aidan the Bass Master’s trophy for 2006 and made him the envy of his fishing buddy friends. Boris, laying there, his left fin broken, his skin cracked to reveal the mesh underneath.

“I didn’t mean it,” she said.

“That doesn’t matter,” he said. “You act like a destructive child and you pay the price.”

He stood.

“Now young lady, I expect you to get a hold of yourself. Fast. Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and if you’re already this temperamental before you even see Sarah, I don’t even want to think of what you’re going to be like when we’re all in the same house.”

He paused and looked at her, studying her expression and looking for any indication of argument or defiance.

“Craig and I both work hard,” he said. “We are looking forward to a morning of hunting, and then eating so much at Thanksgiving dinner that we pass out in the living room. Given how hard we both work I don’t think either of us wants to spend what is supposed to be a relaxing day breaking up one of your senseless catfights, understand?”

When Marlene didn’t say anything, Aidan reached out and tipped her chin up until she was looking at him.

“Marly, I asked you a question,” he said threateningly. His eyes shifted to the left, towards the closet door. Marly knew what was behind that door. The Paddle.

“I understand,” she said softly and he nodded and sat back in his chair.

It was his signal that he was finished with her, that she was dismissed.

Marly turned and left the room, careful not to stomp or stalk. She wasn’t safe until she was out of his sight. Only when she was in the bedroom did she pick up a pillow and fling it soundlessly against the wall before throwing herself on the bed she shared with Aidan and bursting into tears of self-pity.

He did not understand. He did not! All Marly’s life her sister Sarah had been the golden child of the Walker family. She was the family’s academic superstar, the star athlete, the homecoming queen with the million dollar smile. She’d won full scholarships to UNC Chapel Hill but had chosen the less prestigious private girls’ school to be closer to their mother in her last year of life. Sarah, the Selfless Daughter.

Or at least that was the image she portrayed to everyone else. To Marly, she was Sarah the Snob, Passive Aggressive Sarah who dropped veiled jibes comparing her superior self with  her younger and less successful sister. She was Sarah, the size seven corporate lawyer with the impeccable dress sense.

And who was Marly? A pleasingly plump children’s book illustrator with a weird, mismatched dress sense and a degree from an art institute, that’s what. While her sister wowed relatives with stories of whatever case she was helping prosecute, Marly was left updating them on her latest project. On the last Thanksgiving they’d attended together two years ago, it was cover art for Polly the Runaway Pig: A Ham of a Tale.

“Isn’t that cute?” Sarah had said with her superior smile and Marly had fought back her anger as she responded.

“It was all I could manage given the time I devote to my husband. He’s such a wonderful guy. I’m lucky to have him.”

Sarah had looked away, her face coloring up with embarrassment. Marriage had been the one area in which Marly had succeeded. Sarah’s husband of two years had just left her, ending what had seemed like the perfect marriage. Later, during divorce proceedings, she would learn that Justin had been banging his secretary after work.

A good marriage was now Marly’s one trump card. Until last winter, that is. That’s when Sarah had announced her rather surprise impending marriage to Craig Summerall, a  man everyone had just thought she’d been casually dating. Craig was a researcher who developed an award winning polymer used by NASA.

That’s right, her sister was marrying a rocket scientist.

They had a set of quickie nuptials in Aruba and then invited their families to a reception at a country club in upstate New York. Marly prayed that Craig would not be as handsome as his picture. He wasn’t. He was more handsome.

Aidan was handsome too, and Marly spent the whole day feeling guilty for making comparisons between the two men. She’d never lacked in attraction for her husband. Aidan was a large, physically fit man who still kept his high and tight military haircut despite being out of the service. He was a cop, but even out of uniform carried himself in a way that commanded authority. It was that authority that had attracted Marly to him; she found it incredibly sexy, even if Aidan sometimes exercised that authority with long, hard, painful over-the-knee spankings.

Craig was handsome, but in a different way. He looked like he’d stepped out of the pages of GQ. His sandy blonde hair was always perfect, his tan natural. He had a beautiful smile. He wasn’t as large as her husband but he was just as toned. Surfer guy toned. And wealthy. They were the golden couple.

How was she going to compete now? Marly stood up and paced. After a moment she stopped in front of the full-length mirror. She turned sideways, assessing her figure. She’d always been a little on the heavy side but even so had never lacked for male attention. In fact, guys buzzed to her like honey. Her mother always told her it was her carefree manner.

“Personality matters and you’ve got lots of that,” her mother had said, which to Marly was a nice way of saying, “You may not be a great beauty, but hey, so what.”

And it didn’t really matter. Marly’s circle of quirky friends kept her mind off of the growing pressure to measure up to her perfect sister.

“Your friends are weird,” Sarah had once said one afternoon when Marly had come home covered in paint from doing a mural. “They’re all going to be starving artists, you know. You’ll all end up on homeless or something.”

“At least we’ll know who we are,” Marly had snapped back. “At least we’ll be individuals instead of little carbon copy yuppies.”

Sarah had snorted in response and tossed her blonde hair.

“Whatever,” she had said.

And that’s how it had always been – two sisters whose differences served as a wall between them.

Now Marly – a grown woman – was sitting in here with a sore bottom and it was all Sarah’s fault.

She fantasized for a moment that Aidan would knock on the door and come in to tell her he really did understand, that she had every right to be anxious about the trip, that he’d never liked Sarah anyway.

But that wouldn’t happen. He liked everyone, and he and new brother-in-law Craig had hit it off at the lavish wedding reception. She was alone with her feelings, and feeling lonely.

Marly wondered if Craig were the type of guy who would feel bad for spanking his wife. That thought just made her feel worse. Like Sarah actually had to worry about that in her perfect little world. Sarah had always gotten her way. All she had to do was smile at their parents and they gave her what she wanted. Things had been different for Marly; she’d been edgier, had gotten into more trouble. She’d been grounded and restricted more times than she could count. Perhaps that is why having a spanking husband – while uncomfortable at times – was a kind of comfort for her. Marly knew herself well enough to know she needed limits and boundaries. Looking back as an adult she’d come to appreciate her parents’ efforts to mold her through the implementation of consequences.

Aidan had first spanked her when they’d been dating. Marly still remembered her surprise – and his lecture on how he would not tolerate what he called her “situation ethics.”

They’d been going to a concert; she was worried because a traffic jam on the freeway had put them behind. When they finally emerged from the snarl of cars and trucks she’d reached under the seat, pulled out a radar detector and gunned the accelerator until they were doing well above eighty.

“Marly, what the hell do you think you are doing?” Aidan had asked sharply.

“Getting us to the concert on time,” she’d replied. “What do you think I’m doing?”

“Slow down,” he’d said icily.

She glanced at him. “No!”

“Marly,” he repeated. “Slow down. You’re breaking the law.”

She’d laughed at this. “Relax, Dudley DoRight. You’re off work today and there aren’t any other cops around.” She pointed at the radar detector. “See?”

“Slow down now,” he said, and this time his tone was so hard she obeyed.

“Aidan..what is your problem?”

He pointed to the next exit. “Get off here.”

“Here? Are you crazy? We’ll be late for –“

“I don’t care, Marly. Either take this exit or it’s over between us.”

Shocked, she’d slowed down and guided the car off the exit. A rest stop was just off the exit. Aidan directed her to guide the car to the very end of the lot where they parked far from other vehicles.

Marly was irritated. She’d been wanting to make up time, and now they were sitting here in a rest stop?

“Marly,” Aidan said. “I want you to get something straight. I didn’t become a cop just for the paycheck. I actually respect the law, and if we’re going to be together then so will you. Speeding is illegal. The consequences can be a terrible accident. Injury? Death? Do you understand that? Do you understand the concept of consequences?”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course, I understand consequences,” she’d said.

“Good,” Aidan had replied. “Because I just wanted to be sure before I administered one.”

He moved towards her and pulled her over his lap. It was a tight fit in the front seat of her sedan, but he managed it and the next thing Marly knew her 6’3” boyfriend was flipping her skirt up and smacking her bottom repeatedly.

He’d administered a few playful spanks in the bedroom before – love pats, she called them. But this was different. Aidan was spanking her, spanking her hard. And it hurt.

At first she thought he was kidding and tried to laugh it off in spite of the pain.

“OK, I get it!” she said. But quickly she found herself not laughing but yelping, and then yelling, and then crying as his large hand had continued to rain down blows upon her tender flesh, until she understood that he was intent on making her very, very sorry for speeding.

And she soon was. Marly couldn’t believe that Aidan was actually spanking her like a little girl. It had been years since she had been spanked, and his authoritative manner combined with his ease of restraining her made her feel small and helpless. Her cries of pain and humiliation grew as she rocked her shapely bottom back and forth, trying to escape the burning pain of his punishment.

“Are you going to speed again?”

“NO!” Marly tried to cover her bottom but he slapped her hands away and she was forced to endure the spanking until he decided she’d had enough. By the time he’d flipped her skirt back down and raised her to sitting, tears had washed away Marly’s carefully applied makeup. She looked and felt like a wreck, but Aidan didn’t seem to notice.

“Respecting authority isn’t something you do only when you think you’re going to get caught,” Aidan said. “You’re a free spirit, Marly, but you need to respect that rules and limits are there for a reason.”

She had wiped her eyes with the back of her shaking hand. “That’s easy for you to say,” she sobbed. “You like rules. I’m not like that. I’m…different.”

He sighed. “That you are.”

“Then why do you want to be with me?” she asked, beginning to sob anew.

Aidan pulled her into his arms.

“Because I love you, Marly.” He smoothed the tear-sodden brunette strands of hair out of her eyes and ran the back of his hand gently across the pale, flawless skin of her face. Even at that moment he found her beautiful..

“You do?” she asked tearfully.

“I sure do,” he said. “I love you enough to correct you if you need it, which I plan to do anytime you give me a reason, for the rest of our lives.”

“The rest of our lives?”

He nodded. “That’s right, baby. Marly, I want to marry you.”

She never could have guessed this was the way he’d propose. In that instant she forgot the pain in her bottom and wound her arms around Aidan’s neck, kissing him through laughter and tears. Even then she knew that everything about the man was just what she needed.

Even now she knew it.

Sighing, she stood and left the room. She walked down the hallway and found Aidan in the kitchen making hot chocolate.

“Hello, sexy,” he said as if nothing had happened. Typical

“Hi.”

“Feeling better?” he asked.

Marly watched him pour two cups of cocoa and bring them to the table.

“I guess,” she said. “I am sorry I lost my temper. I just really wish we didn’t have to go. Can’t we just stay home this year?”

“No,” he said. “You know we can’t. With your mom gone, your dad looks forward to having the family together. You should be ashamed of yourself for even suggesting it.”

He took a sip of is cocoa.

Marly felt her face redden with shame. He was right. It wasn’t fair to deny her father a visit simply because her sister made her so tense.

“Have you two ever just sat down and had a heart-to-heart?” Aidan asked. “Rather than letting this tension just feed on itself, maybe you should just try harder to have a relationship with Sarah.”

Marly stood, walked a few steps and whirled around to face Aidan, her eyes tearing up.

“So this is my fault now? I’m the bad guy? Things are tense because of me?”

“Marly, hold on…”

“Don’t tell me to hold on!” she said, her voice growing shrill with anger. “All my life I’ve heard Perfect-Sarah-this and Perfect-Sarah-that. Nothing was ever her fault, even if it was. She put up a front, Aidan. She was all goodness and light to everyone else but to me she was a total bitch! I’m not about to stand here and have you tell me that I’m the one that needs to step forward with the olive branch…”

“I never said you were the bad guy,” Aidan said, getting to his feet now. He put a hand out to let her know he would not be interrupted.

“I’m simply saying that one of you needs to make the first move. Once you do it might be easier than you think to get past all of this. Who knows, you might find that Sarah’s not as strong and perfect as she thinks. If it is a front it might be because she’s insecure. These family feuds have a way of taking on a life of their own. You may need to be the bigger person.”

“Bigger person?” Marly’s tone was indignant. “Are you saying that because I’m heavier than she is?”

Aidan threw his hands up in the air.

“Never mind,” he said. “There’s no talking to you when you’re like this.”

Aidan walked over and took Marly gently by the shoulders.

“But let me tell you something right now, just so we’re clear young lady. I understand that you’re not looking forward to seeing your sister, and it’s clear that you’re not interested in working things out. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to put up with a bunch of cattiness from you, regardless of how you think she makes you feel. Because if I do, I won’t hesitate to spank that bottom of yours again, and it won’t matter one bit to me that your family is there. Got it?”

Marly nodded, defeated. She would be good. She’d have to be. Sarah would just love to know that Marly’s husband spanked her like a child. That knowledge would be powerful ammunition for her sister to use against her. She was determined to see Sarah not get that information. No way did she want her sister to know she was a spanked wife.