Breaking Habits

BREAKING HABITS by Terri Pray

BREAKING HABITS A Lady Aibell Press/Chippewa Publishing Publication, July 2006 Chippewa Publishing LLC P.O. Box 662 Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin 54729 Available Formats: Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF) Other available formats: Palm Doc (PDB), Rocket/REB1100 (RB), Pocket PC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB), hiebook (KML), iSilo (PDB), Mobipocket (PRC), OEBFF Format (IMP), Microsoft Reader (LIT), (HTML). BREAKING HABITS Copyright © 2006 Terri Pray Edited by Catherine Chant Cover Art by T. Jay Proofed by Tammy Xanthakis ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book may not be reproduced in whole, or in part, by any means, without the written consent of the publisher. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination, or are fictitiously used. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. WARNING: The contents of this book are intended for mature audiences 18 years of age and older only. Language, violence, and sexual situations may apply. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Breaking Habits

“I’d like to return this.” Alice didn’t meet the clerk’s eyes as she pushed the package across the counter. “Weren’t you in this morning picking this out?” The clerk’s face lit with recognition. “Yes, you were with your friend, the one that picked out a suit and two blouses.” The clerk couldn’t have been much older that Alice, yet the slight narrowing around the woman’s eyes left Alice feeling like a school girl explaining why she was late for class. “Yes, well, when I got home, I realized that it just didn’t work for me. The length is all wrong.” She flashed a well practiced smile at the woman, praying there wouldn’t be too many questions. The clerk frowned. “Are you sure? It looked really good on you when you tried it on here. I didn’t see a problem with the length.” “I tried it on with the dress shoes I normally wear, and it just didn’t work. I thought it would match the shoes.” She struggled to keep the smile in place, a dozen new excuses forming in the back of her mind in case the clerk asked any further questions. Please let her buy it, no more questions. Just exchange the damn thing and let me get out of here. “We used to see you in here quite a bit. Something happen?” Alice shifted her weight a little, fighting the urge to chew on her bottom lip. What was it with the woman? She had never been this chatty before. Why now of all days? “No, I just haven’t needed anything for a few weeks.” I didn’t need this dress either. “I see, well will a store credit do?” Dresses lined one wall; pants and jeans hung from racks, enough clothing choices to thrill any woman that walked into the store, but all she wanted to do was escape as quickly as possible. A store credit would have to do. She needed to prove to herself she could go through with it. “Yes, of course, a credit would be fine. I know I’ll be back to buy something in the next few months.” Or would she ever return to store again? She knew the temptation to buy more clothing would be there the minute she walked back in through the door. Was it worth the risk? If only she managed to finish this chore on time. Bad enough that she had been caught; it would be even worse if she failed again. “Is everything alright?” the clerk asked. “You look a little nervous.”

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The dress, still unworn, vanished under the counter before the narrow faced woman reached for the small book of vouchers. Alice forced a wider smile to her face. “It’s just been a long day.” She hoped the woman wouldn’t see the blush she now felt creeping a path across her cheeks. A heat that matched the twin spots on her well spanked ass… **** The clear, thin plastic crinkled under her fingers as she laid the dress down on the table. A soft, blue cotton with flowing lines, it had looked so right on her when she had pirouetted in front of the mirrors in the store. In that moment, she’d felt almost like a child trying on her first party dress. He’d understand. This once he wouldn’t mind. Not when she slipped it on for him and danced until the skirt flared outwards, rising to show off her legs in a mock Monroe image. With any luck he’d fall in love with the dress just as she had and then... then she would face a dozen questions over why she had broken her promise. Just like an addict. Maybe if she hid the dress, waited for a few days, then tried to pass it off as one she had bought a few months ago? No, that wouldn’t work at all. He knew what she owned and lying to him would only make matters worse. The dress was beautiful, but she would never wear it. She had a dozen or more outfits already hanging in her closet that she had yet to use. Clothing, shoes, make-up, purses and more, they had all piled up over the first year of their marriage. She’d stuffed them in closets, under the bed, into the backs of drawers, even in to the cellar in the hope of hiding the problem from him. And now she’d done it again. Her throat dried out, fear clutching at the pit of her stomach. He’d be so disappointed in her. She couldn’t stand the thought of what he would say when he found out what she had done. Maybe he didn’t have to find out? He wasn’t home yet. There was a good chance he never had to know about her slip. If she hid the dress and returned it before he discovered what she had done… “And just where have you been?” His voice tore through the daydream even as her fingers clutched tightly into the package she’d had no chance to hide. “Shopping.” She almost swallowed the word. Why couldn’t he have waited just a little longer before coming home? “I see. Well then I best have a look at what you picked out.” He held out his hand, making no attempt to clear the distance between them. His dark eyes fixed on hers, peering into the depths of her shaking soul. “I thought we had agreed you wouldn’t be doing this again? Not without my permission or presence in the store.” “Yes, sir, we did.” Why couldn’t she stop her hand from trembling as she handed over the dress? “I just… I didn’t go into the store to buy anything this time. I was there with Jen…she’s starting a new job next week and asked me to go with her…” “And the dress called to you?” A smile played over his lips, lifting the dark scowl if only for a brief moment. Her stomach knotted, her throat drying even as she forced herself to speak. “Yes, sir.” “Do you actually need it?” He turned the dress over in his hands, never taking it from the store cover that protected the delicate material. “No, sir.” Oh, she wanted to say yes, but it would have been a lie, and that would only make

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matters far worse. “I know I’m supposed to be more careful about buying clothing, but it looked good on me. Even Jen thought it suited me.” Excuses, she offered nothing but excuses. They never worked with him. How long had she been with him now? Long enough to know how he reacted to lies, and now…. Oh how things had changed between them in just the last few weeks. A change they had both wanted, that she had craved, until this moment. “I see.” He set the package down on the table. “What did we agree would happen if I caught you shopping again without my permission?” “You’d punish me, sir.” Gods, she’d asked for his help with this, but never dreamed she’d be facing the negative side of that request so soon. “I just slipped. It won’t happen again. I really do want to get this shopping habit under control, sir.” He reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand, meeting her uncertain gaze. “What would you think of me if I backed down on my promise to you? If I didn’t give you the help you wanted from me?” A warmth shone within his eyes, the love she had come to know mixed with the very strength she craved. “How could you respect me, continue to submit to me, if we both stumbled at the first true hurdle?” Her breath caught in the back of her throat as she leaned into his hand. “I couldn’t.” Two words, just two words, yet they had been the hardest ones she had ever given life to. “Then you know what we have to do, don’t you?” He bent forward, brushing her lips in a tender kiss. “You know, because you begged it of me, pleaded with me to help you, to guide you, and yes, to punish you if you faltered.” Salt heavy tears coated her lips even as she leaned up, pressing her lips against his, seeking comfort from his kiss. It was just a dress. She hadn’t gone out and bought a whole new wardrobe. It hadn’t even been that expensive. The excuses died before she ever gave them a voice. “It’s a bad habit, love,” he said. “One we both want to correct, and I promised I would do everything in my power to help you break this. Even if it does mean I have to punish you.” He murmured the last words against her lips, one hand pressing into the small of her back, melding her against his chest. “I don’t like doing this, please don’t ever think I do. Punishment is a part of being a good dominant, a guiding hand.” Salt. All she could taste was the salt from her own tears. “I could put this off until later…” “No.” The very idea made her feel sick. How could she go through the rest of the day waiting for her punishment? What if he didn’t have the time later on in the day, and she had to wait until the next day or even later on in the week? “It would be like waiting for the axe to fall. Don’t punish me further by making me wait to be punished, sir.” “You’re sure about that?” He brushed his hand across her cheek, into her hair, tangling his fingers into the silken strands. Could he feel the tremble that claimed her body, the soft shake working its path through her form? “If you’re not ready…” Love would stay his hand if she asked him to stop. No, that would do neither of them any good, only put a barrier between them when she needed to strip those masks away. “Yes, I am sure.” Better to do it now than to wait, to go through the long passage of time never knowing when he would have a moment to correct her behavior. Without another word, his fingers tightened into her hair, forming a fist around the trapped locks. She arched, a low hiss slipping free from lips that parted in a soft O. No matter what she had said, she wasn’t ready for what would follow. The edge of the table pressed against her hips.

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His grip forced her to bend over the unyielding polished surface. Even if she had wanted to fight her way free, she would have been unable to. With a firm tug, her skirt was yanked up to her waist and her panties pulled down until they tangled about her ankles, baring her ass to his view. For a moment nothing happened, then the first blow landed on her taut skin. A gasp tore from her lips, hips jerking against the edge of the wood, nails scraping at the smooth surface beneath her body. Pain melded with shock. The blow barely registered before the second one landed with a crack that echoed around the small room. Twice more his hand slapped against her taut cheeks, pressing her body hard to the table, all but knocking the breath from her body. “I am very disappointed in you.” His hand rested against her rapidly heating cheeks long enough for the words to sink in. Under normal circumstances, she would have enjoyed the spanking, the feel of his control, but any shred of satisfaction she might have felt vanished with those cutting words. A long sob wracked her body before the next punishing blow landed. Tears spilled onto the polished surface with each crack that resounded through the dining room. It didn’t matter how hard his hand struck her ass, nor would it have changed if he had grabbed a paddle or strap, his words bit into her with a thousand times more pain than any blow could have caused. She had failed him. Long moments passed before Alice realized the stinging strikes had ceased. Pain and warmth had turned into a raging heat spreading across her bottom, a deep throb that spoke of bruises to follow. How she’d craved bruises once, welts, small reminders of their sessions—not this time. “It’s done,” he murmured against her ear pulling her back off the table. She tried to move with him, but her panties tangled about her ankles. Her stumbling steps turned into a near fall, prevented only by the strength in his grasp. “It’s over, love. Forgiven.” No. Not over. Not yet. “You took it well, love, so very well.” He eased her down into his lap as he settled on the couch and brushed his fingers through her hair. Sitting hurt, even curled like this on his lap. Her skirt remained about her hips, her skin bare, rubbing against his jeans. Each beat of her heart pulsed through her taut skin. “It’s over,” he repeated, smoothing out the tangles in her hair. “I know you won’t do it again. We both knew you’d test me, push to see if the rules would hold fast, if I would back down. It’s been done now, we can move on.” No, there was one more thing she needed to do first. **** Alice hurried out of the store, searching through the mall for some sign of her husband. He hadn’t moved from the side of the coffee stand, and smiled as she hurried toward him. Even now, two hours after her lesson, she could feel the heat from the spanking. Each step had her hiding a twinge as the soft fabric of her skirt brushed over her cheeks. No panties—it had been one of his conditions after a punishment. Leaving her with nothing to cushion the rubbing of her skirts, or shield the heat from his seeking touch. Please be pleased with me. Let me have done something right to end your disappointment in me.

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If someone had told her five years ago that she would have lived and died by the pleasure or disapproval in her husband’s gaze, she would have laughed at them. Weak women did that, not ones like her, not those with the strength to choose their own path. Yet here she was, walking back to her husband, having pushed herself to return the dress because of the need to see that approval, to make things right. Some of her friends might have understood kinky sex games, dominance, submission, even wearing a collar on occasions. Enough of them did it for Halloween, or just a fun weekend. But to accept his discipline, to let him run the household, correct her mistakes…. They would have never accepted it—would have told her she was insane, or even abused. I’m not weak. This is a source of strength, of hope. I couldn’t do this just for me. I’ve tried. But for him… “You did it.” He reached out and cupped her cheek. No, it wasn’t abuse. How could something she submitted to willingly, accepted with every fiber of her being, craved even now, ever be looked on as abuse? “Yes.” She wanted to lean into his hand, seek the safety of his touch. He bent down and his lips claimed hers, covering them in a kiss that seared past the shame she had been left with. Those same fingers that had pinned her to the table now tangled in her hair for a different reason. They pulled her closer until she no longer knew where his lips ended and hers began. Dozens of people passed by them in the mall, but Alice didn’t care. Mocking words nudged past the rush from his kiss, the cat calls to go get a room. It didn’t matter. Not even when she felt his hand brush under her skirt did Alice fight the delight of his kiss. “I’m proud of you,” he growled softly against her lips. “It’s a step toward breaking this habit.” In that moment, he broke the kiss, but kept her close against his chest. “Even more so because you asked for permission to do this yourself. You wanted to do this without my order, without my having to push you to do it.” The pride in his gaze, in his touch, in his words…she could spend the rest of her life basking in the emotions he shared with her in this one moment. His smile finally put an end to the gnawing pain that had clung around her heart since his words during the punishment. She finally had a reason to put an end to the shopping habit, to any habit that she knew to be self-destructive. At the end of the day she knew herself to be a better person than the one she had become. With his help and willingness to be that corrective hand on matters they had both agreed were problems, she would be able to break the habits she had never wanted to fall into in the first place. How many other women could say their husband, partner, lover or boyfriend had the strength to follow through with the same promise that he had made?

THE END

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About the Author Terri Pray Originally from England, Terri Pray now lives in Iowa with her husband and two children. Her work ranges from sweet romance to wild erotica, horror, and suspense, to fantasy and adventure. With several books in print, more in e-book, and her fantasy series, Erien, now to be the basis of a new D6 Role playing game, it's hard to imagine that this English import has only been writing professionally since 2003.

Our authors love to hear from their readers! You can write to Terri here: Terri Pray c/o Chippewa Publishing LLC P.O. Box 662 Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin 54729

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Lady Aibell Press http://www.ladyaibell.com a division of Chippewa Publishing LLC Catching Your Dreams of Fiction! http://www.chippewapublishing.com

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