The sign at the back of our store reads: “Please don’t play with the whips.”

But people nowadays have no respect for authority. We also have a sign that says, “No drinks in the store,” and customers are all the time wandering in with their cups of coffee and cappuccinos from the café next door. Usually, we either have to verbally chastise our customers, or simply shrug and hope for the best.

Around noon today, I watched a man heading toward the whip, crop, and quirt area with his girlfriend. I could guess right away what they were looking for. These weren’t your average horse-types. The girl looked to be about my age, in her early twenties, wearing a black-and-red plaid jumper and thigh-high stockings. She had on black lace-up boots and her blonde hair was in a ponytail with a bow at the back. The man was older, mid-thirties maybe, and he was wearing dark jeans and an expensive-looking black sweater. He had on a pair of well-worn motorcycle boots and wore a striking leather cuff on one wrist.

I heard the couple giggling, even all the way at the front register. We sell horse tack, but that doesn’t stop customers from using the equipment for their own kinky purposes.

“Didn’t you see the sign?” the woman said in a voice that was soft, yet loud enough for me to hear.

“I’m not going to play with them,” the man said. “There’s nothing about what I’m doing that I remotely consider playful. Now turn around, Julie.”

I moved closer to their area. It was in my mind to tell them to quit “horsing” around. That often stops people from misbehaving with the equipment. But when I heard her husky laugh, I didn’t interrupt them. I paused and peeked over the shelf through the towers of cowboy hats instead, and I sucked in my breath at how sexy they looked. The man had the girl in a tight clinch, kissing her lips and then biting her neck. They might have noticed me if they looked my way, but at the moment, they were too busy with their dominance and submission games. Plus, I figured I was fairly well camouflaged behind our stacks of hats.

“Kaz,” the girl said, more serious sounding, “What if someone sees?”

He had one of our crops in his hand, and he looked extremely comfortable with the implement, as if he was used to holding tools like this all the time.

“Someone like who?” the man asked. He turned his head to the left and the right, an expression of mock worry on his handsome face. He was clearly fucking with the girl. Though I had the feeling that they’d dabbled like this plenty of times before.

“There’s a girl at the front of the store,” she said in a hushed whisper. She wasn’t ready to give up so easily.

“We’ll hear her if she comes back here,” Kaz assured her. He was right to a degree. If I got any closer, the old wooden floorboards would definitely squeak to alert them to my presence. But where I was standing, I could see them and they wouldn’t necessarily notice me.

“Okay,” the girl said, taking position in front of him with her hands on the wall. “Just one.”

“Since when do you tell me a number, Julie,” Kaz said sharply. I had foreseen his response coming, and I smiled. I was starting to feel as if I knew them.

“Sorry,” she said quickly, but apparently it wasn’t quick enough. Kaz smacked her ass with the riding crop, and even through the fabric of her dress, I could guess she felt the sting. She didn’t cry out, but I imagined that she was doing her best not to make any noise. She didn’t want an audience. Kaz struck her five more times in rapid succession, and I clenched my thighs together each time the crop hit her ass.

“Lift your dress,” Kaz instructed.

“Kaz — ” She sounded as if she was begging, or close to begging.

“Don’t make me lift it for you,” Kaz said, and I could feel myself getting even more turned on. I wanted her to make him lift her dress for her. I wanted her to make him take her panties down. And I wanted him to make her bend over while he striped her naked ass with the crop. I wanted all those things and more, and I started to slip one hand down my jeans and into my panties to touch myself while I watched them. I couldn’t wait to see how far they’d take their kinky scene.

Slowly, the blonde lifted her jumper. To my elation, I saw that she was only wearing a scarlet thong beneath her dress. Poor girl. She wouldn’t have anything on to temper the sting. Kaz laughed and rubbed one hand over her naked asscheeks.

“Bet you wish you wore your boyshorts today, don’t you?” he teased her.

“Just get it over with before someone sees,” Julie said. Oops. Even I knew that was no way to talk to a dom, and I’d never engaged in a scenario like this one.

Kaz took a step closer to her and pressed his body up against hers. “Can you feel that?“ he asked her. ”Put your hand on my cock. Give me a squeeze.” She obeyed instantly. “Can you feel how hard you make me when you act like a brat?”

“Yes,” she said. It was more of a sigh.

“Why do you think that makes me so hard?”

“Because you like to punish me,” she said.

Oh, God. It was as if she had a key to my diary and had read all of my most secret fantasies. I have always longed to have a man punish me — discipline me for misbehaving or for no reason at all. The thought that Kaz’s cock was hard because she was being insolent was something I knew I would be masturbating to for months to come.

“I’m going to fuck you,” he said, “before I finish your whipping.”

“Kaz — ”

“Don’t say my name like that again,” he warned her, and then he had his jeans open and her dress up once more. He slid her thong to the side and thrust in. “You’re lucky I don’t fuck your ass,” he said, and I pawed myself even harder, my hand working fiercely in my pants.

I couldn’t believe that something like this was happening directly in front of me. I did my best to stay quiet, but I couldn’t help rubbing my clit in fast, dangerous strokes. I was going to make myself come, and I was going to do my best to time my climax to the stars in front of me.

Kaz pinched her asscheeks where they were red from the crop, and then he said, “When we get home, you can bet I’ll be giving you a taste of my belt.”

I would have moaned if I could have. As it was, I sucked my lower lip and rocked my hips back and forth. If another customer had walked into the store at that moment, I would undoubtedly have been discovered. But I didn’t care. I kept rubbing my clit and watching the lovers in front of me until I reached a monster of a climax. I shut my eyes so tightly I saw bands of colors behind my closed lids. Then I carefully, quietly, removed my hand and tried my best to still my breathing.

Kaz said, “Come for me, Julie, so I can finish your punishment.”

Julie murmured something I couldn’t hear, and I leaned forward to see if I could catch her words. That was a mistake. The stacks of hats on the shelf tumbled away from me, scattering in the aisle close to the couple. The lovers turned immediately, and I ducked my head. What would they say? Would they think I was merely restocking and had tipped the hats? Or would they guess I had been listening and watching?

Julie didn’t seem concerned with the whats or the whys of my behavior, busy trying to pull down her dress, but Kaz came around the shelf to face me head-on.

“May I help you, Miss?” he asked.

“I think that’s my line,” I said, blushing. I walked around him to reach the hats. I tried to pick them up quickly and restack them as they had been, but I failed miserably. My hands were shaking. Kaz said, “Julie, come help this lady out. All her hats have fallen.”

Julie hurried to my side and started gathering the cowboy hats from the floor. Her cheeks were blazing. But then, so were mine.

“Is there another way we can help you?” Kaz asked once we had gotten the hats put back correctly. I didn’t know what to say. What was he offering?

“You were watching us, weren’t you?” he asked next. And I knew I could have denied it, but I decided to come clean. What did I have to lose? Aside from my job and my dignity, that is.

“Yes,” I said, and I looked down, but Kaz gripped my chin and forced me to look at him directly.

“I heard you,” he said. “I knew you were there. I was putting on this show for your entertainment.” This seemed to be news to Julie, who looked aghast. Her face went from pink with embarrassment to totally pale. Kaz didn’t stop. He was totally in charge of the show.

“What’s your name?” he asked me.

“Katarina,” I said. I was glad that my voice was strong and firm, even while my nerves were completely out of control.

“Pleased to meet you,” he said, grinning at me. He reached to shake my hand, but I didn’t give it to him. I could just imagine him smelling my scent on my fingers. Julie muttered something that sounded vaguely as if she was pleased, too, and then Kaz grabbed her and spun her around, so that her ass was pointed in my direction. He lifted her dress and showed me the stripes on her ass.

“Do you want to touch?” Kaz asked me.

“I couldn’t,” I said, although I did want to touch the hot lines on her skin.

“Yes, you can,” he said. “In fact, I can tell you want to. Your face is all pink and your eyes are bright. You want to touch her ass and feel the heat there. And then you want to bend over and let me punish your ass for you.”

I let loose a small moan, although I did not mean to. I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation in the back of the store. Yes, I’ve caught a few different couples behaving inappropriately with the gear, but I’d never been invited to participate.

“What do you think?” Kaz asked. “Do you want to shut the store for awhile? There’s nobody here but us.”

He was right. I hurried to put the sign out that read: “Closed for lunch.” My heart was racing so loud I could hear the pounding in my ears. I locked the door and returned to the couple, who were now in a heated conversation. Julie said, “You’re going to punish her, Kaz?”

“The both of you,” he said. Julie looked at me as I approached. Her eyes were a deep, turquoise blue. She was so pretty. I felt out of place in my jeans and plaid shirt with the pearl snaps up the front. I didn’t look anything like the slightly goth girl in front of me.

“I’ve always wanted to spank a cowgirl,” Kaz said, and I realized that we all have fantasies. Maybe while he made one come true for me, I’d make one come true for him. “I thought we could start slowly,” Kaz continued. “You could watch me punish Julie. Would you like that?”

I nodded.

He had Julie assume the position once more, but this time, when he told her to lift her dress, she did so without hesitation. Kaz wasn’t fucking around now. He lowered her thong and had her step out of the tiny garment. Then he began to stripe her with the crop. Without the barrier of her dress, Julie had no protection. But she didn’t whine or whimper, didn’t beg or ask Kaz to stop. I supposed that her prior hesitation had solely been about getting caught. Now that there was no issue with that, she took her whipping like a pro, swaying and moaning as she grew more aroused with each stroke.

When Kaz was done, he palmed the cheeks of her ass, rubbing away some of the hurt. Then he looked at me. I wasn’t sure what I should do. Luckily, Julie came forward to help. Her dress had fallen back over her asscheeks, but she didn’t seem put out. She undid the buckle on my belt and pulled my jeans down my thighs. Then she turned me so that I took her former position, with my palms on the wall right below a poster for our number-one brand of spurs.

“He’ll go easy on you,” she said. “You’re a newbie.”

I was. That was true. But I’d been fantasizing about this for years. I was not going to let the situation escape me. I kept my slick palms against the wall, and I waited. Kaz flipped up the tails of my shirt and stroked my rear with his hand. Then he traced the tip of the crop along the curves of my asscheeks. He didn’t take down my panties, and I didn’t ask him to. I wondered what it would feel like when he started. I didn’t have to wonder long.

He struck me once, across both cheeks, and I bit my bottom lip to keep from crying out. Holy fuck, that hurt more than I’d thought it would, but my pussy grew even wetter.

“Kaz!” Julie said, shocked. “You’re not supposed to start like that.”

I turned to look over my shoulder. Kaz didn’t seem upset that she’d criticized him. In fact, he appeared downright gleeful. “Oh, Julie. You know better, don’t you? You should after all the times you’ve been on the receiving end of my crop.” He said the words in an almost singsong manner, and I felt a chill run through me. Julie was in for it. Then he handed her the crop, and I realized that maybe I was wrong.

“You show me,” he said, “and then I’ll see if I can learn from you.”

This was not going the way I’d expected at all. From the expression on Julie’s face, it wasn’t going how she’d expected either. Kaz pushed the crop into her hands. “Go on,” he said. “Teach me.”

I lowered my head. I had become a tool in their sexy game, but I didn’t care. I was still going to get what I wanted.

Julie took over Kaz’s position and then she let the first blow land. She didn’t hit me nearly as hard as Kaz had, but the sting was there just the same. I groaned and lowered my head. She struck again, then again. I couldn’t believe the instantaneous pleasure that flooded through my pussy after each stroke of the crop against my skin. And then suddenly I felt something else. This was why Kaz had given her the reins. He was standing next to me, and he had his hand thrust into the front of my panties and was working my clit while Julie struck my ass. Oh, God, I thought in my head. And then I said the words out loud. “Oh, God, Kaz.” His fingers worked me so well, thrusting up inside me, and then twisting my clit in the most painfully delicious way. Through it all, Julie continued to smack me. She didn’t seem jealous that her man was playing with me, but she wasn’t going as easy on me as she had at the start.

He took his hand from my panties, and he slid the juices from my pussy over my lips. Then he kissed me, licking away every drop of my sweetness.

“I want to fuck you,” Kaz said. “Will you let me?”

I nodded. “Please.”

“But I want to stripe your naked skin first. Do you think you can you handle that?”

I was pushing my underwear down into my jeans as he spoke. I figured if this was a problem for Julie she would speak up. Who was I to query the rules and regulations of their relationship?

“Hand over the crop,” Kaz said, and Julie quickly placed the tool in his hand.

“Ten,” he said to me, and I moved my legs as far apart as I could with the jeans still on and waited. My ass was already hot from the whipping I’d gotten at Julie’s hand. I wondered how throbbing I’d be by the time Kaz was finished.

Julie took over from Kaz, rubbing my clit as her man whipped me. I could really feel the pain now. The sensation was clear and bright, making me feel awake and alive in a way I’d never felt before. I could get used to this, I thought. And just when the sting got a little bit too much, and I was going to ask Kaz to pause, he was done. I heard him undoing his jeans, and then I felt his cock against me. Julie turned my head so that she could kiss me as her man thrust inside my pussy. I let her, lost in the rush of sensations and emotions that flooded through me.

Kaz gripped my waist to hold me steady, and he drove his cock inside me. He said to Julie, “Play with her clit while I fuck her,” and Julie took that job seriously, rubbing my hot button as if she’d been fingering me her whole life.

Kaz rode me the way I craved — hard, fast, and to the point. With his cock in my pussy and his girl’s fingers on my clit, I came again. And I was loud. Like I’d never been. I moaned for all I was worth, feeling the need spill over and out of me. Kaz held me tight and slammed even harder into me. When he climaxed, he pulled out and shot his cream all over my ass. Julie palmed my skin, rubbing his semen into my heated bottom.

Then she was kissing me again, kissing my cheeks, my lips. I tried my best to pull myself back together, but I felt sweetly used. Like anyone who saw me would know what I’d been up to. As I tucked in my shirt and buckled up my jeans, I caught sight of myself in a mirrors and all I looked was satisfied.

I went back behind the register while Kaz and Julie reunited. When they came to the counter, Kaz placed the crop in front of me. He paid in cash, and gave me his card, as well. On the back, he’d written: We’d like to see you when you get off work. Bring one of the whips.

I smiled to myself after they left, and I’d flipped the sign back to “Open.” And all I could think was “where there’s a whip, there’s a way.”