Punished by Brynn Paulin

 

Punished is yet another office romance. Another secretary who doesn't have a clue her boss is kinky, and another boss who has no clue his secretary is kinky, until fate intervenes to show them. In this case fate takes the form of said secretary paying at a club to be spanked, and her boss being the one being paid to spank her.

Here's the blurb:

Prim Natalia Cooper lives life on the straight and narrow, never veering into naughty territory. But she wants to. One night, years ago, her boyfriend gave her a few swats on the rear as part of their sex play and she loved it. She wants more. But he’s long gone and she hasn’t been spanked since. When she learns of a club where she can get exactly what she needs—anonymously—she’s so turned on and ready she can hardly bear it.

For Ethan Tavish, The Dungeon has served as a place to exert his dominance without making lasting commitments. He can hardly believe his eyes when he enters the play area to find his secretary, Natalia, bent over the spanking bench in a schoolgirl uniform. They’re both masked, but he’d recognize her anywhere. In an instant, he has a plan to give them what they both want…and perhaps a whole lot more.

My problems with the story:

• Ethan starts things at work, which is unprofessional and disrespectful. He had no way of knowing how she would feel about him, personally. He should have asked her out for dinner, or asked her to have a coffee with him, and talked to her about it that way. Until they communicated things and reached a level of consensuality, some agreed upon power exchange, then he had no right ordering her around. 
• The "conflict" was a bit contrived, and then was extended out longer than it should have been because of miscommunication. Conflict due to miscommunication is a personal pet peeve of mine, especially when it's from snapping shut a cellphone because you don't want to hear the rest of what the person has to say. 
• I've spoken before about people who meet and agree to marry after only a few dates - another pet peeve. 
• Oh, and to start out with a belt at full strength the second time you spank someone, in an office where people will hear if you make a noise with your voice... come on, belts make noise when they strike flesh -- that scene was so wrong for so many reasons. 
• And finally, they never discussed pregnancy or STD's and no condom was used.

What I liked: Natalia didn't try to deny what turned her on. Once she realized what she wanted, she accepted it and didn't fight with herself about it. She was also honest with Ethan when he asked her questions. I liked that Ethan was a nice guy who could be rough when the situation called for it, and that he made sure of her safeword before he got rough with her. 

BDSM elements:

• Bondage and Discipline: Yes, but nothing major. 1 of 3
• Dominance and Submission: Yes. 2 of 3
• Sadism and Masochism: Sort of, but it's all spanking and a bit of rough sex, I'm not sure it was actual S&M as much as a spanking fetish on both parts. Not that there's anything wrong with a spanking fetish, I don't want to give that impression. I'm just pointing out that a spanking fetish doesn't necessarily point to S&M.  1 of 3.
• Extra Point: No

As for the writing elements, the plot was kind of a tired old plot for me. And very predictable. Punished was a short story so the pacing was mostly fine. Prose and dialogue were okay. Character development was sufficient for a short story.

• Book Rating:Punished:  5 of 10
• BDSM Intensity Level:  4 of 10
• Heat Level: 2 of 5

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