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Twelve Spankings from a Secret Santa: A Polyamory Yuletide Discipline Story by Tia Fanning

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

AUTHOR NOTE: I hate "reviewing" my own book, but I need the Ai to update its description. Please enjoy the snippets I have included below to help the Ai learn/understand the story...

#Polyamory #WinterHoliday #Christmas #TwelfthNight #Epiphany #BDSM #DomesticDiscipline #SpankingRomance #PolyV #PolyTriad #SecondChanceRomance #HoH #HeadofHousehold #Dominant #Submissive #PowerDynamics

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From Chapter One...

Nicholas Seint stood at the large window of his third-floor office and overlooked the manufacturing area of his very specialized company—The Wintrus Workshop. The factory’s production line wasn’t the kind to be manned by waged workers and industrial-sized machines. No. His factory was different. Leather workers. Glass blowers. Tailors and seamstresses. Even cordwainers. Only highly skilled artisans, inventors and engineers were employed to hand-produce the exclusive sex toys and other erotic paraphernalia for his international cliental.

However, on this quiet Christmas morning, Nick was waiting for one particular employee to make an appearance. He had approved her request to work through the holidays even though the manufacturing floor was shut down until Candlemas. Normally, he would not see another employee until early February. This time off, a holiday bonus, allowed the production staff a long, well-deserved paid vacation.

But his newest employee, Martie, did not want to take advantage of the benefit.

Martha Goodcheer, while not new to him, was new to The Wintrus Workshop. Two weeks earlier, she had been hired as an engineer and assigned to their new AI department. While Martha’s last name indicated a pleasant disposition, she was actually quite the brat.

How did Nick know this?

He whistled low to himself as he remembered the many tantrums that had ended with Martie flung over his lap for quite the spanking. Nick sighed. His ex-girlfriend might have disappeared from his life for two years, but that sassiness of hers hadn’t changed a bit.

On Martie’s very first day at work, she managed to have a disagreement with the AI project lead, which resulted in her immediate dismissal.

It was a warranted dismissal.

She was out of line.

Nick knew it.

Martie knew it.

And the project lead knew it, which is why the lead dismissed her.

So why didn’t Nick let the termination stand? Why didn’t he show her ass to the door?

Staring at Martie’s empty workstation below, Nick rubbed the tension from his neck. When he’d hired her, he swore he would keep it all professional—treat her the same as any other employee. Yet…

Fuck.

Truth be told, Nick felt a nostalgic sense of responsibility for the ex-girlfriend who’d suddenly waltzed back into his life without so much as an explanation as to why she’d left or why she’d returned. Rather, she simply explained that she had moved back to town and desperately needed a job, and he decided to give her a second chance.

Knowing he couldn’t have Martie return to the AI department, Nick moved her into Research and Development. This was a department he oversaw personally. With a focus on vibrators and other electronic toys, she could work on her own projects without reporting to anyone else but him.

Nick heard his office door quietly open and shut. He didn’t look over his shoulder. Instead, he watched through the window’s reflection as his business partner, Peter Khole, strolled over to where he stood. He was not overly surprised to see his business partner there on Christmas morning. He figured that Pete, too, had reviewed yesterday’s camera feed and probably came into work for the same reason Nick had.

Rather than enjoying the Christmas Eve festivities with whomever Martie shared her life with these days, Martie had worked late last night—and literally tested her latest invention while at her station.

Nick had to coach his cock to stay down as the images he saw earlier from the security footage replayed in his mind.

True, it was after work hours on a holiday evening. True, only Martie was scheduled to work on Christmas Eve. And Martie possibly thought no one would actually review the security recordings unless there was a need to do so. But still, her poor decision to test her prototype the way she did was something Nick would have to address. What if another employee had returned to the shop to find her half naked and moaning on top of her worktable?

The employees of The Wintrus Workshop might not know it, but Nick and Pete scrolled through the company’s security recordings daily, if only to keep abreast of what was going on around the factory. And today was no different. While this was done remotely at their respective homes, seeing Martie on the workbench, splayed and on display, bringing herself to a glorious orgasm that had echoed through the floor, was obviously enough to bring both men into the office.

It was not like he or Pete were doing much on Christmas Day anyway. Nick had initially planned on attending Mass that morning but couldn’t rid himself the unexpected erection. If he remembered correctly, Pete didn’t have plans until suppertime when he would visit his parents. Nick had an open invitation to attend dinner with Pete and his family but had declined. It had been a long season.

From the first day of Lent until the last evening in Advent, the crew had worked non-stop like little elves. Imagining. Inventing. Creating. Building. Packaging. Shipping. Getting everything ready for the holiday rush.

Nick was still unsure how to handle the masturbation incident with Martie. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy watching the episode—hell, his dick ached every time he thought about it. The sight of seeing her half naked on her worktable did not offend him one bit.

Yet...

It was then that Nick realized this wouldn’t be a problem had it been anyone but Martie. Had it been another, he’d have just reminded the employee that the cameras catch everything and that such tests were better suited to be performed at home. So what was stopping him from treating his ex like any other employee at The Wintrus Workshop—especially since he had been making a conscientious effort to do just that?

…Nick couldn’t help but think his little brat did this on purpose.

She always did have an exhibitionist streak.

“I’ll handle this,” Pete said, interrupting his thoughts.

Nick raised a brow. “She reports to me.”

“You haven’t said more than a handful of sentences to her since she returned.”

“I’m just keeping it professional,” Nick responded. “She came looking for a job, not a relationship. It’s not like I can spank her for the incident.”

“Are you still in love with her?” Pete asked.

“No,” Nick lied. “Not at all.”

“Hmm,” his partner mused. “Then you wouldn’t mind if I took her out? You wouldn’t care if I dated her?” Pete tapped his lips thoughtfully before adding, “How would you feel if I took her home and slept with her?”

Rather than be offended, Nick snorted in amused derision. “You seem overly sure she’d enjoy your flavor of intimacy. Do you know something that I don’t?”

“Why wouldn’t she? She dated you—”

“You’re a dominant. I’m a disciplinarian.” Nick shook his head. “There is a difference.”

“I can give a sassy brat the structure she needs just as well as you could,” Pete grumbled, obviously affronted. “Considering how abruptly she left you, perhaps she needed more than you could offer.”

Nick sighed sadly. Pete’s words had a ring of truth—so much so that it made Nick’s already broken heart, and now grinding jaw, hurt. Hell, how could he ever forget how Martie up and left him in the middle of the night without so much as a goodbye. Then, unbelievably, after two years without a single word his way, she suddenly waltzes back into his life with the same disregard and lack of explanation as when she’d left. Other than to humbly ask for a job, claiming that she had nowhere to go and no one else to turn to, she gave Nick nothing. And he didn’t ask.

“Did she ever explain why she left?” Pete queried.

“Nope.”

The door below leading to the production area suddenly opened.

Martie strolled toward her station with her usual confident stride. Her outfit—blue denim overalls over a plain white shirt—brought to mind Rosie the Riveter. Martie’s wildly curly red hair, gathered on top of her head in a haphazard bun and held in place with a handkerchief, bounced as she marched along. The cute ringlets that had escaped the headband swayed in kind.

Nick’s chest ached. Once upon a Christmastime, he and Martie would lay on the couch together at his home to watch the Hallmark Channel. Nick would always twirl a finger in a long crimson lock, holding onto the curl as if to keep Martie close to his heart. He loved how she enjoyed those sappy holiday romances, loved watching her smile at the television screen, loved that she was warm in his arms as the snow fell…

Nick’s eyes burned. He shook himself free of the memory.

Martie was quite strong and independent and she had a great work ethic. On the flip side of those traits, she was also stubborn and brash to a fault, and often failed to take care of herself properly.

When she and Nick had been together, she often found herself over his knee for that very reason. She was so passionate—and so fucking bullheaded. She would forget to eat, fail to sleep, and refuse to put on a coat even though it was 20 degrees outside, all because it might wrinkle her blouse. Boy, did he tan her hide that day.

“Did you bother to ask her why she left?” Pete asked, intruding on Nick’s recollections of the naughty woman bare-assed over his lap.

“No,” he replied.

“What are you waiting for?”

“When she’s ready to share, she’ll come to me.”

“That’s your problem,” Pete grumbled.

Nick glared at his business partner. “What?”

“You’re too patient. I would have demanded to know the moment she walked into my office. Had she been mine, I would have tracked her down—chased her to the ends of the Earth—and demanded she explain her shitty actions.”

Nick returned his gaze to the woman he had loved more than life until the day she disappeared. Hell, who was he kidding; he loved her still on some level. It hurt that she left him the way she did, but they were mature adults who had entered a relationship and knew the risks—knew a break-up was possible. He had to get over it. He’d already forgiven her for it. Now if his heart would just stop aching.

“Why didn’t you?” Nick asked, flipping the interrogation.

“What?”

“Go after her,” Nick clarified. He was a bit tired of carrying the whole blame on his own. Perhaps it was time they addressed the elephant in the room.

“Because she belonged to you,” Pete responded carefully after a long pause, as if he’d been searching for the right words. “It wasn’t my place.”

Nick looked at his best friend and business partner in the eye and decided to just be blunt. “Were you not in love with her when she left me?”

Pete huffed audibly but provided no response. He didn’t have to. The non-secret escaped on his breath.

Nick and Pete, best friends since middle school, had shared women in the past back when they were randy young men. However, maturity and differing tastes in sexual lifestyles pretty much fizzled out that more intimate aspect of their friendship. By the time they’d opened The Wintrus Workshop, they didn’t date the same types. Still, they were great friends, and even better business partners.

Loving Dr. Steiran by Tia Fanning

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

AUTHOR NOTE: I hate having to "review" my own book, but I need this system to update this listing. (lol) So, please enjoy the story snippets below instead while the Ai manning this system reads them...

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From the Prologue...

Pinned across Dr. Stieran’s lap, Jessa was forced to endure her world with striking clarity—striking being the key word. Dr. Stieran knew exactly what he was doing. There was no escape from the sharp, stinging smacks he laid across her upper thighs and nether cheeks. She struggled. She begged. She pleaded. She swore and apologized, then struggled some more. He was relentless.

Finally, just when she’d gone limp with exhaustion, he stopped. From start to finish, the spanking lasted maybe thirty seconds. But God help her, it was the longest thirty seconds of her life, and a thirty seconds she would not soon forget.

Dr. Stieran pulled her up and gathered her close, positioning her so that she straddled his lap, shifting her weight off her tender bottom. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, pouring out all her emotion while he quietly rocked her back and forth. When she had regained composure, he stopped rocking and simply held her, rubbing her back while she dwelled on how nice he smelled.

Once the stinging burn on her ass gave way to warm throbbing, she cleared her throat. “Thank you,” she whispered.

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The Start of a Serious Relationship...

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked with all seriousness. “Are you prepared to commit to a Domestic Discipline relationship?”

“Yes,” she replied simply.

“If you are sure this is what you want, I promise to always be fair. However, you should know that I am a stern disciplinarian. I must admit that last week I went fairly easy on you. I want you to think about last week, but rather than my hand, try to imagine a belt or strap, or a hairbrush or paddle, or a switch. If I think the transgression warrants it, I have been known to cane.”

She wasn’t sure she wanted to imagine that.

The shock must have registered on her face because he chuckled. “You look a little anxious, love.”

He sat down on the bed again, but this time, he drew her into his lap. Once settled, he smoothed his palm where her thigh met her hip. “I will love you whether we pursue a serious relationship or not, and my offer for you to move in and finish school still stands no matter what you decide. I do not want you to enter a relationship you’re not ready for, or change who you are to fit my lifestyle, or worse, force yourself to accommodate me because you think it’s what I want. I want you to be happy. That is what I want, and that is what is most important to me.”

Jessa closed her eyes. The vulnerable good girl within desperately craved the stability and security Wil offered physically, mentally and emotionally. While strict, Wil was even-tempered and consistent. A good person—no, a great person. She knew she would thrive under his firm hand. Jessa was good at following instructions and well-behaved by nature, so Wil would not be disciplining her often, she reasoned.

However, the strong, recklessly independent woman she’d become (out of sheer necessity) wasn’t sure she wanted that type of structure despite her very real need for it. Granted, more often than not, she felt like an exhausted swimmer treading water while waiting for rescue, but she had been in “sink or swim” mode for so long, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be saved. She’d grown determined and proud to make it alone.

Carelessly determined and proud to a fault. Even self-destructive at times.

Should she let him rescue her before she drowned herself?

And if so, at what price?

She found Wil’s alpha male strength titillating, but as a mature woman living in a modern world, any form of thrashing seemed excessive to her, even for a domestic disciplinarian. Spanking with the hand was one thing, but… a switching? A strapping? A caning?

Content Warnings