Maid for Spanking

by Madison Kincaide

What in the world had she been thinking? Colleen Palmer wondered as she pulled the minivan to a stop outside the big, two-story home. She didn’t even like to clean her own apartment, so why the heck would she take a job as a maid? Maybe she shouldn’t have been so impulsive about quitting her previous job, she thought.

A month ago, Colleen had decided to quit her high-paying Silicon Valley job as a computer programmer at a major software design firm. Though she had enjoyed the work itself, she hated everything else about the job. While in college, she’d had visions of working side by side with lots of cool people, writing programs that would make the world a better place. Instead, she had been hired to sit in a cubicle and find mistakes in other people’s programs all day. Of course, it was the bottom rung on the programming ladder and lots of recent graduates had to do the same thing, but that didn’t mean she liked it any better.

She probably could have put up with the “debugging” work, but the firm refused to hire enough programmers to do the job right. That meant endless overtime, so much so that she’d often had to put in twelve-hour days as well as go into the office almost every weekend. She’d made great money of course, but since she was always working, her social life was practically nonexistent. She hadn’t had more than a couple of dates in the two years she’d been working at the software company. What was more, she hadn’t even been able to look forward to spending any quality time with the people at the office. Most of her co-workers hid in their cubicles all day, never saying a word to her. And the guys that did try to talk to her were complete geeks that seemed more comfortable communicating with their computers than they did with another human being. Even if one of them had worked up the courage to ask her out, there was no way she would have said yes.

So, after many long, frustrating hours discussing it with her best friend, Kristy Lawson, Colleen had decided she’d had enough and finally quit. The first rush of freedom had been exhilarating, and she’d spent a lot of time hanging out with friends and going on a several dates. But the reality of what she’d done had set in all too quickly, and she realized that she was going to have to get a job. Though she had some money saved up, she didn’t like the idea of spending it all while she sat around trying to figure out what she was going to do. She knew she couldn’t just walk away from her programming degree, but she also knew that there had to be something better out there. A job that involved programming, but that didn’t consume her every waking hour. Unfortunately, those kinds of jobs didn’t come around very often.

But with bills to pay and her savings quickly dwindling, she finally had had to accept that she was going to have to get some type of temporary work while she looked for her dream job.

It had actually been Kristy who had talked her into taking a job as a maid. At first, Colleen had thought her friend had been joking, but Kristy had been quite serious, saying that she had been cleaning houses for over a year and absolutely loved her job.

“Kristy, you have a degree in education,” Colleen had pointed out. “I don’t want to sound insulting, but why in the world would you want to clean houses for a living when you could be a teacher?”

Her old college roommate hadn’t been insulted at all, however. “Because I make more cleaning houses than I ever could teaching,” Kristy had told her. “Not only is there a full benefits package, but I have a big say in my hours, which means I don’t have to work weekends.”

Colleen had still been reticent, though. “I don’t know, Kristy,” she said. “I’m not sure I want to clean up after other people.”

But Kristy had only waved aside her concerns. “All of our customers are rich, Colleen,” she explained. “Their homes are already spotless to begin with; we just keep them that way. So, it’s not like you’re going to be scrubbing the floors on your hands and knees.”

Colleen had still been unconvinced, however, which was when her friend went on to tell her how much money she made. To say that Colleen had been surprised when she’d heard the amount was putting it mildly.

“People are willing to pay a lot of money for top-quality service. One thing that keeps a lot of people from hiring a maid service is the security concern. They’re uncomfortable with letting just anyone having free roam in their homes. The company I work for is the only one in the industry that does full background checks on its employees,” Kristy had said. “Plus, we’re one-hundred percent bonded and insured. People will pay a lot of money for that sense of security.”

“Come on,” she’d added when Colleen continued to hesitate. “Give it a try. We’re like one big family. I guarantee you’ll really like working there.”

Finally giving into her friend’s urging, Colleen had agreed. The money was definitely attractive, and it would give her something to do while she looked for another programming job.

After she had been hired, Colleen had spent a week working with some of the other girls so that she could learn the ropes. To her delight, Kristy had been right. The work was easy and the other maids were fun to hang out with. She hadn’t laughed so much since she’d graduated from college. But now that she was about to tackle her first solo assignment, she was starting to doubt her decision. She didn’t really know that much about cleaning, and the thought of being by herself in a stranger's house was a little unnerving.

It didn’t help that Kristy and the other girls had smiled and giggled when they’d given her the address. The way they had been acting made Colleen wonder if there was something they weren’t telling her about this particular customer. What if this were some kind of initiation-thing, and they were setting her up with a jerk that would nitpick everything she did?

Tightening her grip on the clipboard in her hand, Colleen took a deep breath, tucked back a stray strand of blond hair that had escaped her ponytail, and rang the doorbell. Though she had both a key to the house, as well as the code for the security system, the other maids had told her to always ring the doorbell first to see if the client were home instead of going directly inside. She was actually hoping that he weren’t there because she was a little nervous at the thought of someone standing around watching her fumble through the act of cleaning.

As she stood there waiting, Colleen glanced down at her clipboard for the owner’s name. Steven Hughes, she read.

When Mr. Hughes didn’t answer after a few minutes, Colleen took out the key and was just about to unlock the door when it swung open. Startled, she stood there for a moment, speechless. As expensive as the house obviously was, she had expected Steven Hughes to be up in his years, but the man who stood in the doorway looked like he wasn’t much older than she was. Tall, with dark hair, well-chiseled features, and a body that obviously spent a lot of time in a gym, he was absolutely the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen. Even the wire-rimmed glasses he wore, which should have detracted from his good looks, made him look even more scrumptious.

“Can I help you?” he asked, taking in her long blond hair, gray eyes, and tall, slender figure with a sweep of his gaze.

God, even his voice was sexy, Colleen thought. Abruptly realizing that she’d been staring at him, she flushed. “I’m Colleen Palmer,” she said, and then quickly added, “From the cleaning service.”

His gaze went to the embroidered “You’ve Got it Maid!” logo on the left corner of the navy blue T-shirt she’d been given to wear, his blue eyes narrowing. “What happened to the other girl?” he said.

She frowned, a little taken aback by the question. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I’m new.”

Steven Hughes hesitated for so long that Colleen thought he wasn’t going to let her in, but then he took a step back. Clipboard in hand, she stepped past him into the entryway.

Wow, was the first word that came to mind when she looked around. The place was nice, she thought, really nice. It wasn’t huge, but everything in it spoke of quality and money. Off to the left was a sunken living room with expensive-looking furniture and bookcases. To the right was a large, open kitchen and connecting dining room. But even as she took it all in, she couldn’t help but notice that there wasn’t a single personal touch anywhere that she could see. There were no photos or knickknacks. In fact, everything looked liked it had been selected by an interior designer.

Closing the door, he glanced at his watch before turning his attention back to her. “I suppose that the service gave you a list of instructions, but I should show you around anyway, so that you’ll know what I require,” he said.

Having been told that each customer usually had special instructions, Colleen wasn’t that surprised by his announcement, but as she followed Steven Hughes through the spacious two-story house, she quickly learned why the other maids had been eager to foist him off on her. It was obvious that he was a little obsessive about how he wanted things done.

“The television and stereo equipment need to be cleaned every day. And pay special attention to the TV screen. I hate streaks on my television screen,” he said as they stepped down into the sunken living room. “You’ll need to vacuum every day as well, and when you do, make sure the tassels on the edges of the throw rugs are perfectly straight after you’re finished.”

Colleen lifted a brow. That was a little much, she thought but said nothing as he continued to give her a tour of the house.

“Dust the bookcases every other day,” he continued. “But don’t use a moist cloth. I don’t want my books damaged.”

Colleen looked around for a hidden camera, wondering if this were some kind of joke, but she couldn’t find one. Not only that, but Hughes seemed to be completely serious.

“The windows only need to be cleaned once a week,” he said as they made their way into the huge kitchen. “And be careful not to leave any streaks there, either.”

Again, Colleen simply nodded, but said nothing.

“You’ll need to mop the floors every day, as well as clean the pots and pans, and the glassware that is out,” he said, gesturing to the stem glasses hanging upside down underneath one section of cabinets. “And don’t forget to clean behind the refrigerator frequently.”

He had so many instructions that Colleen began to wonder if she should be writing them down, but was afraid that she might look stupid if she did, so she tried to commit everything to memory. Besides, she thought, he was going so fast that she probably wouldn’t be able to keep up anyway.

After taking her through the rest of the house, and giving her even more detailed instructions upstairs, Steven Hughes took her back down to the living room where he led her over to a set of double doors.

Stopping in front of them, he turned to her. “This is the one room in the house that’s off-limits,” he said. “Nothing in there needs to be cleaned, so there’s no reason for you to go in. Is that understood?”

Colleen bristled at his tone. It made her feel like she was being taken to task by the school principal. Biting her tongue, she nodded. “Yes.”

Steven Hughes gave her a curt nod. “Good,” he said. “I have to get back to work then.” Hand on the doorknob, he turned back to her. “Oh, and one more thing,” he said. “I don’t like to be disturbed while I’m working, so please keep the noise down.”

With that, he opened the door and disappeared in the room. Curious, Colleen tried to catch a glimpse of what was inside, but Hughes closed the door before she could see anything. Well, one thing was for sure, she thought. The man might be a total hottie, but he was definitely strange. At least he wasn’t going to be hovering over her while she did her work, she told herself.

Looking around the roomy living area, Colleen wondered where she should start first. Since it looked like she was going to be cleaning his house every day anyway, she supposed that it didn’t much matter where she started. Deciding on the kitchen, she went back outside to the small minivan the cleaning company had given her to drive and took out the supplies she would need. Letting herself back into the house, she went directly to the kitchen.

In her opinion, everything in there, from the state-of-the-art appliances to the terrazzo tile floor was already squeaky clean to begin with, but Colleen dutifully wiped down the expensive granite countertops and polished each and every stem glass. And though it seemed like a waste of time to her, especially since they looked like they’d never been used anyway, she cleaned the pots and pans hanging from the rack as well. Remembering that Hughes had asked her to clean the floor, too, she quickly ran a mop over it before moving into the living room.

Since the television and stereo equipment had obviously been cleaned the day before, it didn’t take but a few minutes to run a cloth over the flat-screen plasma TV and high-tech electronic equipment. Once that was done, she went to get the vacuum out of the utility closet Steven Hughes had pointed out earlier.

As she began to vacuum the plush wool throw rugs, Colleen found herself wondering whether Steven Hughes lived alone. She didn’t know why she would even care, but for some reason, the thought just seemed to pop into her head. She found it hard to believe that a guy as gorgeous as he was didn’t have a girlfriend somewhere. But then again, it would have to be a woman that could put up with his cleaning obsession, she thought. However, with his money, and as hot as he was, most women would probably be willing to overlook his compulsion. Heck, she could.

Smiling at that, Colleen ran the vacuum over the section of the rug on either side of the couch and then in front of the low-slung coffee table. She was thinking how incredibly easy it was to clean a carpet that had probably never even seen dirt when the vacuum suddenly stopped. Her brow furrowing, she flipped the switch off, and then back on, but the vacuum still wouldn’t work. Wondering if she had inadvertently jerked the plug out of the wall, she turned around to see a scowling Steven Hughes standing there with it in his hand.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

Her frown deepened. “Vacuuming,” she answered, though that answer seemed obvious to her.

He looked at her in disbelief. “Now?”

Something in his tone made Colleen’s hackles rise, as if he were talking to a child who should know better. “You told me that you wanted the rugs vacuumed,” she reminded him. “So that’s what I’m doing.”

His brows drew together. “I also said that I wanted you to keep the noise down,” he told her curtly.

Colleen wanted to ask him how the heck he expected her to vacuum and still be quiet, but decided that getting into a fight with a customer her first day on the job probably wouldn’t be a good idea. “Fine!” she snapped, and though she knew she probably should have, she couldn’t let it end there. “I won’t vacuum. But don’t complain that the rug isn’t clean enough then.”

Giving the cord a jerk, she yanked it out of his hand and angrily began to wrap it around the hooks on the vacuum. Across the room, Steven Hughes muttered something under his breath that she couldn’t quite hear. But what he said didn’t matter, because she could fully understand the tone. And it definitely wasn’t nice.

Eyes flashing, Colleen whirled around to face him. “I don’t know who you think you are, buddy,” she said. “But you’d better start treating me with a little more respect, or you can damn well clean your own house!”

Feeling immensely pleased with herself, she turned back to the vacuum with her head held high, sure that Hughes would run back to his little private room at her show of backbone, but a moment later, his hand was on her arm and he was spinning her around to face him.

Startled, Colleen opened her mouth to protest, only to find herself unceremoniously bent over the back of the couch before she could even utter a sound. Stunned, she could only lay there for a moment, wondering what the hell he had done that for. Well, the why didn’t matter, because she wasn’t going to put up with it! But when she tried to push herself upright, a strong hand on her back firmly pushed her down.

Craning her neck, she glared at him over her shoulder. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded. “Let me go!”

But Steven Hughes only continued to glower down at her with those incredible blue eyes of his. “Not until we get something straight,” he said. “You work for me, Ms. Palmer, which means that I don’t expect you to use such a tone with me.”

Furious at how unbelievably arrogant he was, she opened her mouth to tell him exactly what he could do with his high-handed attitude when she felt his hand come down hard on her jean-clad bottom.

Colleen’s eyes went wide. She had to be imagining things, she told herself, because there was no way that he had just done that! But when his hand came down again, this time on her other cheek, she realized that she hadn’t been imagining it at all. Steven Hughes was spanking her!

“How dare you!” she cried. “Let me up right now, you jerk!”

But he only continued to spank her, bringing his hand down over and over on her ass with a resounding smack! The spanks stung even through the thick material of her jeans, and as much as Colleen would have liked to have screamed at him and called him every name she could think of, all she could seem to do was let out a sharp little cry of protest after each and every smack. Well, that was to be expected, she supposed. She was practically upside down over the back of the couch and could hardly think straight. But it didn’t matter, she told herself, because when he was finished, she was going to really let him have it!

When Steven Hughes finally did stop spanking her, however, she discovered that much to her dismay, all of the fight had drained right out of her. All Colleen could do was stand there glaring up into his handsome face as she rubbed her stinging bottom.

“Consider that a warning,” he told her. “And next time, watch your tone.”

Without waiting for an answer, he turned on his heel and strode back over to his private room, only to turn back around to look at her once he reached the door. “And leave the vacuuming until tomorrow,” he said.

Colleen stared at the closed door, her mouth open in stunned disbelief. She didn’t think she’d ever met a more arrogant, domineering jackass in her whole life. Steven Hughes had to be out of his mind if he thought that any woman would put up with that kind of treatment. She would not be coming back the next day or any other. In fact, the moment she left, she was going straight to the cleaning company and reporting him for what he did. They would blackball him...or whatever it was that maid services did to unreasonable customers!

Back in his office, Steve swore under his breath. What the hell had he been thinking, spanking Colleen Palmer like that? He’d be lucky if she didn’t go straight to her boss and report him for what he did. She might even call the cops on him.

When Colleen had introduced herself as the new maid, Steve had been surprised, especially since Gina, the previous maid hadn’t mentioned anything about her. It had seemed a little suspicious to him, so he had called the cleaning company after showing Colleen around the house to check out her story, and been told that she was indeed his new maid.

Other than being relieved to learn that Colleen hadn’t been hired by one of his competitors looking to get their hands on the computer game he had designed, he hadn’t given the girl much thought since he’d retreated into his office. Actually, that hadn’t been entirely true. With her pouty lips, long blond hair, and curvy figure, Colleen was difficult to get out of his head, and he had to admit that he’d spent more time thinking of his new maid than writing game code. Once or twice, he’d almost left his office under the guise of getting a glass of water, or something else equally as inane, just to see her.

Angry with himself for being so distracted when he had a ton of work to do on the computer program, Steve had determinedly put thoughts of the pretty Colleen out of his head and settled in to work. He had just gotten himself back into a groove when she had started to run the vacuum.

Originally he had just gone into the living room to ask her to vacuum later, but then she had started acting all bratty and petulant, and the next thing he knew, he had grabbed her arm and upended her over the couch for a good, sound spanking.

Admittedly, he didn’t usually make a habit out of spanking women, but his ex-girlfriend Amanda had gotten him into it a little while after they’d started dating and he’d quickly learned just how much fun it could be. Amanda, though, had liked being spanked for being “bad,” and so would act like a total brat whenever she wanted to go over his knee. It had been a little confusing at first, but to his surprise, Steve had found himself falling into the dominant role quite easily. So, when Colleen had started acting all bratty, it had just seemed natural to give her a quick spanking.

But while administering a series of smacks to the seat of Colleen’s tight jeans might have been enjoyable for him, Steve doubted that his new maid had found it acceptable, which meant that he would probably have to break-in a whole new cleaning woman the following day. If the cleaning company bothered sending him anyone else, of course, he thought wryly.

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