After getting revision suggestions from my new beta reader (not sure if she wants to be identified publicly so I’ll just say she’s a published romance novelist and leave it at that), I spent the weekend going over Training the Trainer, my novel about the dog-and-personal trainer who wants to be controlled. I’m not going to say that the second draft is completely done, but I have started a new folder called Draft 2, which is a big step.

My biggest concern with this book was that it wouldn’t make sense to readers for Grace (my main character) to jump into BDSM the way she does, but that didn’t seem to cause an issue. It makes sense to me, but then, I’m the author.

Here’s a short preview:

Tim lifted his right hand again, and this time it was more like a good slap when the spank landed on her panties. She shifted and Tim’s hand on her lower back pushed down, holding her in place.

Grace felt an instant flush between her legs. This was what she’d wanted.

Tim spanked her again, on the other side, and then a third time, on her bare skin. It sounded like a clap, and a deeper sting developed almost instantly. A fourth spank, on the bare part of her other cheek, and now Tim was in a rhythm again. He was going slower this time, but definitely harder, alternating between spanking her over her panties and spanking her where they didn’t cover. She glanced back briefly, and as his hand came down it didn’t look as if he was even trying very hard. But the spanks felt real enough, harder than Lewis had ever spanked her when they’d been together, harder than when she’d tried spanking herself. Very soon, her ass was warm all over, tingling in a good way, and she’d lost count of how many spanks Tim had given her. She wondered if he was counting.

When he eventually stopped, Grace took a deep breath — she hadn’t realized she’d been breathing shallowly the whole time until she felt her lungs expand — and let it out in a sigh. Tim’s hand was firm on her lower back, though at some point he must have shifted it without her knowledge because he’d been over her tank top before but now he was touching her bare skin. His hand was warm and there was a slight pressure there, not quite enough to make her arch her back but enough to make her not want to move.

“Is that more like what you were expecting?”

“Definitely,” Grace said. “Can we keep going?”

Tim chuckled. His answer was another firm smack to Grace’s ass, right where it ended and her thigh began. It was harder, too, as if he was swinging through her instead of just at her. It didn’t sting — it hurt.

He didn’t give her time to think about it, though; he spanked her right on the same spot four more times, then switched to the other side and spanked her five times there as well. The build-up from the repeated smacks left her skin feeling hot, and the heat seemed to turn itself almost instantly into arousal, so that every time she shifted even the tiniest bit she was well aware of how wet she was.

It was perfect. Tim was perfect. He was doing exactly what she wanted, and her ass was starting to ache, and she never wanted him to stop.