Chapter 12: Exposure

“Freeze.” I called out when Cat went to run by in a tiny pair of lace shorts. I had almost finished a late breakfast and had let her sleep in. We didn’t get to bed until after 3:30. “Shower first and get that paint off.”

Ten minutes later she dove into the pool for her morning thirty-minute swim.

“Safety versus other’s image?” I asked once the door was reopened to allow my student to enter in her customary morning towel and what underwear she wore the night before.

“Safety.” She knew the drill.

“Safety versus your fun.”

“Safety.” Frozen in the doorway with it half opened, she knew something bad was about to happen to her. I was not pleased and it had only been a month since the last incident.

“Choose.” I pointed at her spot on the table where three implements awaited her displeasure. Suede glove, whip, and a high lash count flogger.

No protesting of ‘Do I have to?’ or any such nonsense. Picking up the glove she test-swung it against her arm and replaced it on the table, next she tested the flogger lightly against her arm just above the previous test against her sensitive flesh. Not satisfied she struck herself again. The whip she picked up and without a second hesitation put it right back down.

“The flogger.”

Oh, she admitted knowing what it was...

“Hands on the table shoulder width apart, straighten your legs. Don’t forget the towel.” After more hesitation than when she assumed the position, I discovered why, she removed the starched lace panties to swim.

Leaving the towel on the floor under her, I wielded her chosen instrument. “Do you understand why you are being punished?”

“I disregarded my safety. EEP!” As I swished across her bare buttocks.

“You missed something in that response.”

“Sorry, Master. I disregarded my safety, Master.”

“If you relax, it will be easier.”

“Yes, Master.” Steeling herself before visibly giving in to my request. She nodded.

“Eep.” the surprise was less and the pain not at all what she thought it would be. Starting off slowly and gently, I worked to pick up speed as I worked evenly up and down her upper thighs and pointed buttocks. Whenever I came too close for her comfort at her center, she would “Eep.” And tense at first.

After ten minutes I deliberately let more than a few strands touch as I warmed the inside of her left upper thigh and received a moan for my efforts. At fifteen minutes, she was moaning each time I came close to the area directly under her center, which was damp.

Her scent permeated the immediate vicinity.

I stopped, more from worry of what wet ends would damage than any other reason besides not wanting her to come just yet. I admired my handiwork. No bruises or abrasions, just hundreds of soft red marks and a deep glow.

“Why were you punished, Pet?” I asked quietly to the shaken and panting girl. She didn’t or couldn’t respond. Carefully, I placed a hand under her knees, and lifted her up in my arms. Recognizing a different sensation, she curled into me as I walked, first to the kitchen for water followed to the library.

Sitting in my chair with her in my lap, I waited the five minutes or so before she surfaced from her fugue. She sipped some water from my glass without either of us moving. I heled the girl with an occasional stroking of her exposed flanks.

“Master?”

“Yes, Pet?”

“Wow.” She burst out crying worming her way further into my lap and my arms.

After settling down, wiping her tears and snot on my shirt, she declared, “I need to get up.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“I think so, I really need to pee though.” Chuckling, I let her sit up. The naked girl stared in horror at the large wet stain on my pant leg directly under where she rested.

“OH MY GOD.” She ran off stark naked to the main floor’s bathroom. Probably as much as to hide as to pee.

I smirked.

“Do you have a non-scented, moisturizing lotion?” I asked once she was done hiding. If she didn’t, I did.

“Yes, Master.”

“Good. First go in the Optics room for two minutes and look at yourself, then meet me in the bedroom with the lotion.” She gave me a horrified look before she hurried upstairs as I casually followed.

“Painful?” I asked once she was out of our bathroom with the lotion.

“Not as bad as I expected,” she admitted.

“Lotion and lay on the bed.” she knew what that meant. I was going to apply it personally. She, of course froze. “Lotion.” handing it to me the bright red ass and upper legs faced me as I stood over them while she buried her face in my pillow.

Tapping the inside of her right thigh to get them separated only caused them to lock together. Smack, “I said spread them.” She did, not far but it was a start. Soundlessly she accepted the lotion and my touch everywhere that she was reddened, excluding the core. She did flinch a number of times.

“Better,” I asked when finished.

“Better.” she spoke into my pillow.

“Catherine.”

“Yeah?”

“I do not want to talk to the back of your head,”

“What?” She turned to face me, barely, as the remnant of tears and her bright red blush from overheated embarrassment flinched at my gaze.

“You will clean the flogger after lunch, I will place the supplies on your swimming towel under the table. Until then you have the morning free. I expect you to stay in the room for a few hours and think about what happened.”

“ok,” she replied in that small voice of hers.

“Also. I expect you to change my sheets when you are done in here. Her blushing face became even redder. “I need to change my pants. It seems I spilled something on them when I wasn’t paying attention.” And so, the morning’s complete and total mortification of Cat had been completed.

Smacking, lightly, her still uncovered ass on the way out with her head buried again in between a quad of my pillows. “Get some rest.” I did grin when her whole body lifted off the bed at the sudden shock of my spank.

I returned to my den with the good news from Eli that the Fitzgerald’s accepted the offer already. After expenses and fees, Cat might get four whole dollars out of the deal.

Sigh. Lawyers were just another weapon and the best were needed if at least to deny the others from using them against you.

Catherine came down right before lunch wearing a black leather high-waisted pencil skirt that she particularly didn’t care for. “The kid is taken care of, they signed a NDA and paid the Lawyers’ fees and a little extra. He won’t be bothering you again.”

I could tell from her reaction, that a lawsuit never occurred to her. “thanks.” in her small tentative voice she used when in over her head. Or clearly, as in this case, in the wrong.

I returned to the article on Submission and Subspace, something I never heard of two hours ago. I had definitely underestimated Cat’s susceptibility to being dominated and her extreme reactions to it. So too had everyone else in the report on her behavior profile.

More worries...

That night around eleven, later than normal, since the day was messed up from the beginning. “Want to tell me where you went and how you felt?” I said as she knelt once we finished the review of today’s lessons.

“Not really.”

“Your mind drifted during the flogging. What happened?”

“Do we have to talk about it?”

“Yes. At least this first time. It was a first time for you, correct?”

“Yeah, that never happened before,” she slumped with that admission.

“Posture. And begin.”

After a quick straightening, “I kinda zoned. I felt the stinging and...”

“It felt good, right?”

“Yeah,” she looked away from my downward angle since I was seated above her.

“Yeah, what?” I made her state it clearly.

“Yes, Master. It felt really good.”

“Describe the feeling.”

“You are such a Jerk.” ‘I so-oo don’t want to talk about this.’

“Describe what you felt, Pet.”

“It was hot, my body had lava flowing through, especially where I was being spanked. I was numb. I couldn’t move if I wanted to. My legs and butt ... and when you brushed me. That wasn’t an accident, was it?”

“What else?”

“Jerk.” She didn’t know what to think of that revelation. Even her basic response held no ulterior meanings.

“It was kinda hazy and I saw lights. Then you picked me up and I felt safe.” The last forced admission was extreme even for her.

“Are you going to be okay with your new knowledge?”

“Yeah,” she spoke during a forced out deep breath.

“Catherine.”

“Yes?” she looked up at me questioning. I very rarely called her by her full name anymore unless it was important.

“Your body and your mind, Subspace and Submission. They still have a ways to go yet. You just entered the field, which will be deep for you. We won’t be leaving the estate for a while until you settle down some. Unless something extreme happens.”

“Okay.”

“And I will help you with your tendencies.”

“That’s what I am afraid of.”

I chuckled and had her refill my glass before dismissing her. She was growing on me. I needed to be careful not to let it hinder her studies.

...

As promised, Darrin Weathers arrived at ten Monday morning.

“Good Morning, Mister Weathers. Master is in the den, please follow me.”

“Good morning, Miss Larkin. Snakeskin leather looks good on you.”

“Thank you, Sir. Can I get you anything to drink? Master said it might be a long discussion.”

“A coffee and a few of his ginger snacks please.”

“Be right back.” She left my guest for the food as Moria’s right hand man sat in the left guest chair.

“Machine room?” I opened.

“More than that. The Lady wants one for each section that will be built including redundancies.”

“Size?” After I received the USB and searched the requirements, “She is willing to do all the modifying herself?”

“We enlisted some aid.”

“Is SI interested in the rights to sell the Device or just wants the use of them for the Project?”

“You are willing to sell the rights for the Wave Breaker?” He asked incredulously. “How much?”

“Cat.”

“You didn’t need to yell. I was coming back with his crackers. Here you are, Mr. Weathers.”

“Thank you, Miss Larkin.” Sigh. “Such a low stress environment. One could be jealous.”

“Oh, he can be a Jerk. Some days more than others,” she rebutted Darrin.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Darrin said with a smile making him look younger than his thirty-seven years.

“Cat, SI is interested in purchasing the Device and all the rights to your idea. What do you think?”

“How much?” she directly questioned our guest.

“How much in material was spent for the five Devices in the Vegas restaurant?”

“Twenty-five each,” she unhesitatingly replied.

“A bit expensive. Forty million.”

“Fifty plus one percent of the net.”

“ .3% net.”

“ .6% and I will bring you extra ginger snacks.” I just leaned back and smiled. It was one less thing I had to worry about.

“Eighty million, no net. And six ginger snacks.”

“Deal.” The thirty-seven-year-old, world renown economist, Strife International’s Number Two, and the sixteen year, old getting her feet wet in business for the first time, came to an amicable 80 million dollar deal in one minute, with the addition of six ginger snacks. They shook hands after he stood.

“Miss Larkin you drove a hard bargain. Do you want a job?” He too, was amused and impressed, even if the price was a bit low.

“No thanks Mr. Weathers, I’m still in school.” she replied sweetly. “Would you like your ginger snacks now or at the closing?”

“I can wait until the closing. These four will hold me until then. Have your lawyers draw up and submit the deal this week please.”

“I will get them right on it. Thank you at SI for your patronage. If you can think of anything else that we can assist you with please contact us at your convenience.” She let out a massive grin at the rewording of a typical commercial.

Once she was out of sight, “I would have sold them to you for forty plus a condition.”

“Then I made the correct choice. Some of your conditions are expensive, Smith.”

“Darrin. Take that vacation soon. Suggest one to Moria also.”

“It’s not that easy, Smith,” he replied looking tired.

“It’s only going to get harder as the Project becomes public.”

“I’ll mention it to the Lady. The lawyers...”

“Normally Deals between Moria and I were handshake agreements. In this case, the experience will only help her later.”

“Your call. We weren’t supposed to be in a hurry. But the complete print is too good to pass up.”

“I’ll note the key places for modification with the formulas for the variables.”

...

“Here is Peabody, Peabody, and McCloud’s number. Ask for Jacob Peabody.” I placed the business card for our lawyers on the table beside Catherine’s calculus after Darrin left.

“Eighty million and his formulas for the blueprints including the rights?”

“Yes, Lady, and I am to receive six Ginger cookies too. Smith stated after she left his den that he would only have charged forty plus a condition. Miss Larkin even asked for fifty plus 1% net at one point during the snap negotiations.”

“When is the Fossil going to deliver it to us?” There was no acrimony in her nickname, just fondness.

“Smith gave the contract to Miss Larkin to send to the lawyers as practice, Lady.”

“The delay of a week or two is still well ahead of plans. Peabody’s exactitude, boringness, and pedantry, will drive anyone to tears. It is a good learning experience for Catherine. Thankfully, I have you and our own sharks to spare me from that.”

“Thanks, Lady.” The sarcasm was evident.

“Save me a ginger cookie.”

Feeling put upon, he agreed and left his boss’s office. Dealing with the Lady when she was being whimsical, exhausted his soul.

“Why does the contract have thirty pages of incomprehensible dribble? Get rid of anything resembling a hidden clause. Rewrite it so that it can be understood and I need it by the end of day tomorrow ... You too, Mr. Peabody.”

“ERRRR! Why does that man have to make everything so difficult?”

“Problems?”

“You did this intentionally! Did you call him and ask him to see how much he can obfuscate the deal? Jacob Peabody had kittens when the crackers were included. He refused at first, but when I told him that I would have to find a more cooperative and agile mind. He accepted the condition.

“Why do you even use someone like that?” She was ready to pull out what was left of the old solicitor’s hair.

“That’s the way Jacob is. No one likes doing business with him, but he never makes a mistake.”

“Fine, I won’t throw him off a cliff.”

By the end of the week she took back that promise at least fifteen times. It was a good lesson for her though.

The signing was on the following Friday and Catherine represented me wearing a white sundress, heeled sandals, collar and leash. The little minx even received power of attorney for that one signing.

The time dealing with lawyers took away from her studies, I felt was well worth the learning experience. Even if I was worried about letting her go out of the house this early.

Friday, September 4^th, 2020.

The conference room included Cat, Jacob and his two junior lawyers on our side of the table, Darrin, his senior gofer and three of SI’s Lawyers monopolized the other.

Two hours of quiet while they all reread the contract that was sent over Thursday morning. Cat alternated between doing her homework and studying the men and women at the table. Darrin eyed the small box of ginger crackers placed strategically in front of her like it was a drug.

Darrin’s gopher was watching over her boss, wondering if something was wrong with him. What the hell was with the crackers? There was an eighty million dollar deal on the table.

After the wave of pens settled, handshakes were offered along with the sleeve of crackers, personally delivered to Darrin by the youngest person at the table.

While shaking hands, those two shared a secret smile that had caused both groups of lawyers to pull their collective hair out on how to work out the monetary value of those ginger snacks.

“Do you think they will stage a coup if we added spice drops in the next set of negotiations?” Mr. Weathers, in his immaculately pressed fifteen-thousand-dollar handmade suit, asked the girl in a priceless handmade sundress while each ate a ginger cracker in front of the lawyers with pleasure.

“Master has a huge bed of clover in the left field. Wonder what a few clovers would do?” she giggled at his lost in the clouds look.

“That might be pushing it too far.” There were a number of hostile looks cast in their direction.

Unacknowledged by the rest, I stayed in one corner and read the latest gossip on Villains.

Moria strode in the room as if she owned the room, building, and whole complex, followed by a few women with cameras and notepads. She did own it all, but still... “Ladies and gentlemen; on behalf of Strife International, thank you for your efforts today. Catherine, will you address the press with me?”

That smile instantly froze. In fact, her heartbeat, and brain waves might have frozen as well. She gave a quick glance for help from me. I smiled and nodded before returning to my gossip reading.

“I’d love to Moria.” My teenaged student squeaked out. The use of her first name caught everyone’s attention except for Moria’s of course. Not even Darrin had been aware that Cat had been given that privilege.