Penny Does a Runner: Part III

If Penny had thought that her embarrassment could not have been greater she was soon to be proven wrong. To her dismay, a class of girls bound for the hockey field came strolling past the window, led by Miss Fraser, the games mistress!

“Penny? Penny Hasler!” cried that lady in amazement. “Whatever are you doing, girl?”

“Oh! Well, I, er...” Penny blushed. “I’m... doing a science experiment?”

“A likely story!”

Penny’s flimsy excuse – and the last vestiges of her smile – were nullified a moment later when, with a gasp of horror, she felt her skirt being lifted and her snug-fitting school knickers tugged down. The next instant a familiar but unwelcome sensation made her heart skip a beat: the slipper being patted against her defenceless rear! As colour rushed to her face she wished to the tips of her toes that she had climbed out of the stupid window feet first.

“Ow!” she yelped as the dreaded item was slapped forcefully home. “Owch! Ooh!”

Poor Penny was treated to twenty-four scorching swats before she was freed from her self-imposed pillory, the giggles of the hockey class at her grimacing yelps making her feel as foolish as any homesick First Year. What a sorry sight she made when she was lifted back inside by her teachers: red-faced and red-bottomed, her knickers lying forlornly atop her shiny school shoes, her face streaked with tears.

“Now suppose you tell me what you were thinking, breaking into the teachers’ lounge like a common thief?” fumed Miss Pinchit, gripping her slipper tightly.

“I... I was dared by another girl, Miss...” Penny sniffed, wiping a tear from her cheek.

“Don’t make excuses, girl!” scolded the strict schoolteacher. “And pull your knickers up! You’re coming with me to see the Headmistress!”

PART II
PART IV

Guest post: Hold My Hand, by Paloma Beck

We interrupt this blog (and the silly school serial starring yours truly) to bring you a very special guest post from a very talented author: the delightful, the fragrant, the one and only… Paloma Beck!

(Paloma has a racy new book out, you see, and like all smart people she knows that the way to megasales and untold riches is an appearance on the mighty Naughty Little Writer).

I’ll be in the next room scribbling the next instalment of Penny’s misadventures, so play nice!

Thanks to Penelope for having me today. This is the start of my promotions for Hold My Hand, my very first self-published book. With my first two series contracted through a publisher, I decided to try something different for my NaNoWriMo project. I wrote 98% of the book in November 2012 but the origins of the book go back even further... to a dream...

I had a dream. That’s how my latest release started. Don’t worry... my hero is not a vampire and I’m not going to tell you he sparkles! However, a character coming to authors in dreams is not such a far-fetched idea. We’re creative people, after all, and I suspect authors’ subconscious is brimming with characters waiting to tell their stories. When we sleep, our subconscious is relaxed and open which makes for the perfect opportunity.

Characters have come to me this way before but never as clearly as Aubrey spoke to me. In fact, the first bit of the book is the running monologue that woke me. Not able to go back to sleep or get it out of my head, I plucked myself out of bed and recorded everything she said. Did she have a story to tell! She’d come from a sad place and was now afraid to embrace her chance at happiness. Since I specialize in Happily Ever Afters, I was up for the challenge. Though she threw more at me than I first expected, William became the perfect hero for her and, I suspect, more up to the challenge of her HEA than even me.

Enjoy an excerpt of Hold My Hand, a story about Aubrey & William. Aubrey has been hurt in the past, discouraged by her family and degraded by a heartless father. Still, William sees something in her that won't allow him to walk away. Instantly drawn to her but intuitive enough to take it slowly, he courts her. Then he bargains, persuades and seduces until his commanding nature ensnares her. Despite the fight she puts up in accepting William's lifestyle, the bonds he places on Aubrey give her a freedom she desperately needs. Together, they heal old wounds and find their perfect love.

Hold My Hand is a contemporary BDSM-lite Romance with consensual Spanking Elements. Enjoy!

EXCERPT ©Paloma Beck, 2013

Drawn from my thoughts by the movement at the coffee shop door, I saw him. William. His eyes surveyed the small shop and then rested on me, a smile lightening his face and causing those strong creases around his eyes to deepen. I wondered about his age. There was more character in his face than I detected in the men my age. I thought maybe he was a lot older than I was but I didn’t know for certain then. He hadn’t told me and I hadn’t asked. I hadn’t asked much of him.

William was a vision to behold and I sat a bit straighter knowing he was there for me. He walked with purpose, confidence radiating from him like beams of the sun that caused you to shield your eyes and look away. Still, you crave the touch of the sun’s warmth. He’s like that. I sensed I should turn away but was drawn to him at the same time.

I was caught by him; absolutely, unintentionally ensnared. Held by the look in his cocoa brown eyes when he spoke, commanding me. I shivered at his words as if they were touches sliding down my spine. His commands –even the simplest instructions over dinner– invoked a fear in me that served only to feed my need for him, my desire. I wanted to sink myself into him. I wanted my life to become his even though I knew –there’s a part of me that truly recognized–wanting such a deep claiming was maybe somehow wrong, I could no more help my desire than I could resist taking my next breath. It was him. He created this desire within me and I wanted nothing more than to allow him to lead me, to guide me, to dominate me. I craved his power over me so purely that I only needed to follow.

I’m not the only person in the small coffee shop who looked up and noticed him when he entered and that little tinkling bell rang over his head. He was jaw dropping handsome. The black shirt he wore stretched across his broad shoulders and was tucked neatly into a pair of black trousers. William dressed this way every time I’d seen him. His attire reflected his ever-demanding role as the businessman I knew him to be though I didn’t know yet what business exactly. Another question I’d failed to ask.

The dark curls that fell onto his nape and down his forehead were slightly wet. I noticed the gym bag hanging from his shoulder and couldn’t help but consider just a few short minutes ago, this magnificent man was naked, wet in a shower rinsing the sweat from his body. I also couldn’t help but wish I’d been with him to clean him, running my hands down his chest, lathering soap and stroking him. It seemed all I ever wanted, especially since our dinner, was to be with him. Even before I ever was, even just when I was watching him, I would dream of him. Yet my unlearned body doesn’t quite comprehend what being with him would feel like.

“Aubrey” His voice was deep, husky and warm. The word alone kicked up my heart rate. Then he took my hand from the table, raised it towards his lips, turned my palm over and kissed my wrist. The touch of his warm skin on my pulse point made me jump.

*****

Hold My Hand is currently only available through Smashwords but will release at all other major ebook retailers on April 1, 2013. You can check out Aubrey’s Pinterest Board and mark the book as Want To Read on Goodreads today!

About Paloma
Paloma Beck is a Romance Author living a life of contradiction... she's a happily married carpooling mom writing erotic romance. It's almost naughty! Paloma writes in both the Contemporary and Paranormal realms, journaling the stories her characters tell her, and they are anything but PG. She dabbles in vampires, witches, ménage, spanking and bdsm - all in her books, of course. Paloma believes a daily dose of espresso and a good book make any day better.

She is currently working on a contemporary romance series about three brothers. Finding Home, book two, will be released sometime in 2013 with Secret Cravings Publishing. She also has a paranormal romance series, The Seven Sin Sisters, contracted with Secret Cravings Publishing, which will be released sequentially between August 2012 and August 2013.

Paloma has committed herself as a volunteer staff member for MFRW, the Marketing for Romance Writers group, an association committed to the success of romance authors. She manages the MFRW Pinterest Boards.

Connect with Paloma:
Website: http://palomabeck.weebly.com
Tumblr: http://palomabeck.tumblr.com
Blog: http://RomanceBeckons.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PalomaBeck
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PalomaBeckAuthor
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/PalomaBeck
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/PalomaBeck
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Paloma-Beck

Penny Does a Runner: Part II

“Wicked child! Come down from there this minute!”

Penny knew full well that, were she to obey her fuming form tutor’s command and step down from the chair, she would in very short order find herself across that lady’s ample lap for a long and painful slippering. And after the spanking... what then? The teachers’ lounge was strictly off-limits to pupils: her trespassing was sure to earn her a month’s worth of detentions, if not more, and no doubt a very public thrashing in Assembly the next day. Perhaps she would be suspended from school? Or perhaps even... she hardly dared think it... expelled?

In a panic she decided that there was nothing else for it. She leapt from the chair and raced to the window on the far side of the room. It was heavy, but with a grunt she heaved it open so that she might clamber out. “Hasler!” cried Miss Pinchit in astonishment, hurrying across the lounge to apprehend the wayward schoolgirl.

Penny had hoped to scramble head first through the window, landing in the flower bed outside, and to some extent she succeeded: in a flash her top half was, indeed, outside. But – alas! – before she could complete her escape the window pane did what her schoolmistresses could not and slid back down, trapping her! “Oh!” she gasped, scissoring her legs in distress.

The hapless schoolgirl squirmed and struggled to free herself but firmly stuck she remained: inelegantly draped halfway through a window and in more trouble than ever.

PART I
PART III

Penny Does a Runner: Part I

Well, your hearts ought to be pretty darn fond of me by now… sorry! I haven’t meant to neglect you or my poor little blog, honest: I’ve just been working, and writing (my sekrit novella), and pregnanting, and Facebooking... that thing is a dangerous time-scoffer-upper!

But I promised you something fun. So how about a silly new story about a girl (a beautiful blonde girl from England who is sweet and innocent and never bratty at all but who gets told off and spanked by horrid, mean grown-ups anyway) who runs away to join the circus?

Yay? Yay!

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with that girl sometimes, Meredith,” sighed Miss Pinchit to her colleague as they headed down the oak-panelled corridor. “It’s almost as if she enjoys being punished!”

“Oh, I quite agree, Dolores. She’s a terror – it’s a wonder the silly girl can sit at all!”

Well-used to the troublesome Fifth Former’s antics though the teachers were, nothing could have prepared them for the sight that greeted them upon opening the door to the teachers’ lounge: the very girl they had just been discussing, tottering perilously on a chair in an apparent act of burglary!

“HASLER!” cried Miss Pinchit in outrage. “WHAT are you doing, you little hoodlum?”

Thrown off-balance at being discovered, Penny grasped wildly at whatever lay in reach to keep herself from falling – and sent a vase of flowers crashing to the floor!

“Oh! M-Miss Pinchit!” stammered the blushing youth, an all-too-familiar sinking feeling in her stomach telling her that she was in serious trouble.

PART II

Absence and fondness and tennis

Hi kids and sorry about the quietness. I’ve just been extremely short on blogging time this past week. I’ll try to come up with something fun and naughty soon, I promise!

Now, I must away to watch the final of a tennis tournament... can you guess who’s in it? :)

The runner-up-to-be is Caroline Wozniacki, funnily enuf, the naughty girl Maria played (and beat) in this exhibition match. Let’s hope the result is the same today!

Facebook 3: Penny gives in

You know that thing I said, not once but twice, about not being on Facebook? Well, forget it cos now I am. On it.

As with most things, it’s Ana’s fault.

If you are on Facebook and would like to ‘friend’ me, go right ahead! Just bear in mind that (as far as I can tell) there are a few Penelope Haslers on there. At the time of writing I’m the one with this profile picture:

Because nothing says ‘adult professional’ to the world like a photo of your butt in pink Kermit pants.

A book you HAVE to read

No silly jokes from me today; just a showcase of a book by an extremely talented author and a friend of this blog. A book that, as the title above says, you simply have to read.

The book is The Way Home by Anastasia Vitsky.

It’s so good that to be honest I’m not sure I can do it justice with my words. But I’ll try.

It’s a F/F spanking story, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a powerful account of love, of vulnerability, of friendship; beautiful in the delicate way that blossom is beautiful, moving and heartbreaking and heartwarming.

I’m spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting an extract as the story is just superbly written from cover to cover. The extract I have chosen is one that, I think, captures something of Kat and Natalie’s characters; something of the chemistry between them.

The words hang in the air for a moment as I struggle for a response. I wait for her to laugh, or crack a smile, or to tell me that she is joking. Instead, I feebly repeat her words yet again.

“A... a... spanking?”

A firm nod.

You’ve got to be kidding, I think. I stare at her, flabbergasted.

Natalie stands up, goes over to her dresser, and takes out a thick, wooden spoon. She holds it out toward me, but I sit frozen on the bed.

“Stand up,” she commands.

Against my will, I find my legs unfolding as I rise to my feet. There is something about the quiet, calm confidence that prevents me from backing away or protesting.

Very gently, almost lovingly, Natalie guides me over to the dresser and puts my hands on the top to brace myself. She puts her left hand on my back and then rests the spoon against the seat of my jeans. I feel a sudden tingle and shiver. She taps the spoon lightly.

“Yes,” she answers. “A spanking.”

It takes a lot for me to recommend something unreservedly, but I do just that with Ana’s story. Buy it. You will be very glad you did.

Courtroom drama

Oops, I did it again... missed Saturday Spankings last week, that is. Sorree! It’s probably a good thing I didn’t take to being a Girl Guide as a kid; I’d still be trying for my sewing badge now.

But hey, I’m here this week (tada!) and I have another story extract with which to tease and entice you. The snippet comes from a tale in Spank! 2 with a sillier than usual plot: the CEO of a firm that makes spanking machines is in court defending herself against claims that her company’s products are prone to malfunction. A ludicrous charge, obviously! I’ve actually remembered for once that extracts can have up to eight sentences in them, so I’m taking full advantage of that:

At the rear of the machine was an innocuous-looking white column. Ms Sheely, in the manner of a seasoned salesperson, smoothed her hand down its plastic surface, smiling at the gallery as if she were showing off a prize on a TV game show. “This houses the mechanical arm that delivers the swats to the user’s bottom,” she said breezily. “And now, I shall demonstrate how it works in practice.”

The petite entrepreneur climbed onto the machine, knelt, and lowered herself forward into position over the dark faux-leather mount. “The Spank-o-Matic 8000 has been ergonomically designed for maximum user comfort,” she trilled, taking hold of the hand grips either side of the bench. “There are optional and fully automatic wrist bindings: some people prefer to be bound when they are spanked, you see. Prichard, if you would?”

I wonder if you can guess how things turn out from here? ;D

Here are all the blogs taking part in Saturday Spankings this week:

The writing process and kissably red lips

Oh, I’ll never get it! Never, never! *CLANG!*

Just kiddin. My literary masterpiece is coming along okay, though there’s still a long, long (long) way to go and plenty of struggling to do. Barbara Cartland I am definitely not. But hey, it’s the journey that counts, right? And I always have Matthew Sweet to keep me company in my lonely writing eyrie and pep me up in the moments when I don’t feel so clever and wonderful. (Quite often, then). Mercy me, I love that man.

Anyway, here’s a random thing that might amuse. There I was last night, innocently browsing cosmetics after a hard day at the keyboard... like you do... when cor blimey and stone the crows guv’nor I came across a lipstick called, no word of a lie, Penelope’s Red! (“L’Oreal Color Riche Star Secrets Penelope’s Red,” to be exact, but that’s a bit of a mouthful). Talk about life imitating art!

Look, it’s real:

It’s a sheer, buildable, orange-red lipstick – I’m quoting someone who knows about these things here – a real statement lip! And not only does it offer vibrant colour, it conditions and nurtures lips to keep them soft, smooth, and supple with ultra-hydrating Omega 3! Ooh!

It does look nice, to be honest. And who wouldn’t want me on their lips? :D

Alas, I think this hot, desirable red is actually named after the rather-more-gorgeous-than-I Penelope Cruz, rather than lil ol’ me. But I can pretend. “I always wear Penelope’s Red... because I’m worth it!” (Pouts, flicks hair, turns and stumbles on impractical heels).

Lady of leisure

Four-day weekends rock! I’m on day four and, head cold aside, I feel recharged and relaxed. Weekends should always be this long.

Good: I’ve had some time to work on Project Summer, and it’s beginning to come into some kind of form. I love it when a piece of writing starts to take on its own personality and speak back to you.

Good: I had a lovely birthday, with cards and prezzies and phone calls and visits and kind wishes and a meal out. I felt very loved. And I got a birthday spanking! I think BH might need to work on his arithmetic, though... I turned 25 yet I got close to 100 – how does that work?

Good: We had a lengthy and thoroughly immersive ‘detention’ session the day after my birthday. I was put into my school uniform, given a lovely, belittling telling-off, a short, sharp spanking, and strict instructions to sit at my desk and write 250 lines. It took ages! And despite working as quickly and carefully as I could, I got an ‘F’ and a further week’s detentions for becoming aroused by my punishment! So unfair! (I also got a jolly good thrashing with the cane and a thorough seeing-to, but we won’t go into that).

Bad: Doggie ruined several of my books by wizzing against them.

Bad: I feel like I’ve got a sock sitting on my brain today. And the morning sickness thing is seriously kicking in!

Still, I’d call that a win on balance. :)