Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 58185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 291(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Cathy led the way, her steps sure and unhurried. Her tailored suit accentuated her poised demeanor, every movement precise and deliberate. We weaved through a labyrinth of desks and cubicles, my senses filled by the constant hum of conversation, the rhythmic tapping of keyboards, and the occasional ring of phones.
“First day nerves?” Cathy’s question broke the silence, her tone apparently understanding despite the complete incongruity of the question given that she knew so much—she probably even knew that Joseph had forbidden me to wear panties. Maybe, I thought with another flash of heat, she was even curious to know whether I had obeyed.
“Something like that,” I mumbled, my cheeks flushing even more urgently. Thankfully she didn’t ask anything further, simply offering a terribly ambiguous nod as we approached a sleek, modern cubicle—my desk, my chair, my keyboard, my fancy three-screen setup, all of it just outside Joseph’s office.
“Here we are,” Cathy said, gesturing to the pristine workspace. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Once you hit a key on the keyboard, your tutorial will start up.”
“Thank you, Cathy,” I managed, taking a seat. The chair felt foreign beneath me, and the unfamiliar surroundings only added to the whirlwind of emotions inside me.
At least the seat has a nice, thick cushion, I thought—and then I instantly wondered whether that was because its occupant would frequently be expected to get her work done with a sore backside.
“Good luck,” she added, her eyes holding mine for a moment longer than necessary, until a new wave of color surged in my cheeks. She had pretended so thoroughly, and then she had hit me with that look, that unspoken understanding of what it meant to work at Selecta—under Joseph Alden.
“Thanks,” I whispered, because I couldn’t think of what else to say. I watched her retreat back toward her station at the front desk. I found that my heart had started to pound in my chest as I swiveled my chair to face the keyboard. The reality of my situation—the fact that I had actually gotten off the elevator, that I had actually followed Cathy to this cubicle—sank in deeper with each passing second.
Joseph’s closed door—Mr. Alden’s door—loomed nearby, a much-too-present reminder of yesterday’s terrible lesson. I glanced toward it, wondering if he had arrived at the office yet. I shifted in the chair, and despite its cushion I felt a little flare of soreness there. I bit my lip and reached for the keyboard.
Be ready, I told myself, trying to make the words a promise to resist, to defy—at the very least to negotiate. For whatever he had in store, the man I had to call sir or pay the consequences, and however it made me feel—for all of it, I needed to be ready.
The tutorial that fired up on my screen when I touched the space bar made me feel like I had won the lottery in getting this job. My benefits package alone would put me on the road to financial security—free subway pass, all medical expenses, a retirement plan that made my eyes practically pop out.
My duties really just involved communication and scheduling. Apparently Selecta corporate preferred the old-fashioned human touch, and thought the best way to get that lay in hiring young women like me as the outward face of their executives. I would support Joseph, primarily, but the junior members of his team would also ask me to write up their correspondence and make calls for them.
I couldn’t find a single mention of anything that sounded like ‘discipline’ or ‘sex’ until, face tingling, I actually searched for them in the human resources knowledge base.
As an employee of the Selecta Corporation, certain standards of conduct apply to your behavior. These standards are enforced through Selecta’s proprietary system of discipline, in accordance with the corporate laws.
Should your superior find that you have violated those standards, you will be subject to corporal punishment of his or her choosing, in conformity with Selecta’s parameters, which specify certain implements and certain ways of applying them. Hand spanking, spanking with a standard wooden paddle, and the use of a punishment cane, all on the bare buttocks, are permitted at the superior’s discretion, depending on the severity of the offense.
I swallowed hard, feeling my mouth twist hard to the side as I tried to control the raging conflict that had just broken out in my mind and body. Fingers trembling, I searched for ‘sexual.’
Your superior may at his or her discretion discipline you in a sexual manner, should he or she find such discipline appropriate. Selecta’s proprietary standards of conduct, in accordance with the corporate laws, explicitly permit sexual relationships between a superior and his or her employee, for purposes especially of training and/or mentorship.
I sat there mute, my hands unmoving on the keyboard, for some number of seconds or minutes—I couldn’t tell. I might have sat there for an hour, if the door to Joseph’s office hadn’t opened, and I hadn’t heard him say from it, before I could turn to face him, “Ingrid, come in here, please.”