Rakul showed up the next day, hoping her outfit was suitable. She had agonized over it the night before, pulling clothes out of her closet and modeling them for her roommates. She had remembered Leticia's style, and tried to find one of her own to match. She felt strange about taking up Mr. Taylor's offer to buy things on company credit, so she had made do with what she already had. She was wearing a skirt that she had only previously worn out to the bars-- a tight black one that hugged her hips and fell only halfway down her thigh. She had taller heels, too, ones that made her ass pop when she twirled in front of her bedroom mirror. She had to be careful getting on the train downtown from her campus apartment, watching not to let the stiletto heels trip her up as she walked down the platform. When she sat, she was careful to keep her thighs tightly together, as the skirt was short enough to give everyone a glimpse of her panties if she didn't. She was aware of the eyes on her as she rode the train, some looking at her jealousy, others hungrily. She usually didn't go out like this sober, or without a group of her friends dressed the same. She felt... exposed.
The train stopped about a block from the downtown skyscraper, and she tried to mimic Leticia's confident sway as she made her way down the sidewalk, up the elevator, and onto the sixty-eighth floor. Leticia beamed at her from behind the receptionist's counter.
"Excited for your first day?" Leticia asked, rising. "I'll be training you on the computer stuff and the phones for the morning."
"Do you think my outfit's okay?" Rakul asked. Leticia twirled her fingers, indicating that she should spin around. Rakul did so.
"Girl, you look sexy as hell. It's perfect." Leticia grinned. Rakul flushed pink. "Come on, I'll show you your desk."
She followed Leticia to her station, which was to be just outside Mr. Taylor's office. The door to his office was closed, which made Rakul feel unexpectedly disappointed. Part of her wanted him to look at her, dressed like she was, with those intense eyes of his. But she would have to wait. When Leticia pulled up the calendar on the computer, she could see his schedule-- he was out of the office meeting clients until after lunch.
Leticia sat next to her on the single office chair, their thighs and hips pressed together as she walked Rakul through the necessary programs. She kept catching whiffs of the receptionist's intoxicating perfume as she moved. Leticia's shirt today was so white it was nearly see-through, the lace of her bra and the curves of her breasts perfectly visible, especially when she leaned over Rakul to type in usernames and passwords. Rakul wished she could be as spellbindingly beautiful.
Finally, Leticia modeled how to answer the phone, and how to buzz into Taylor's office. She went in to sit at the boss' desk so that Rakul could practice, answering the call with an artificially deep imitation of a man's voice. They both laughed.
"I think you got it all, girl," Leticia said through the intercom. "Last thing. Come on in here. There's a box of files in here that you can work on. All forms have to get entered into that spreadsheet I showed you."
Soon, Leticia had returned to her post at the front of the office, and Rakul was pulling files, folder by folder, out of a large box in Mr. Taylor's office. She had to enter all the hand-written information herself, to get it saved electronically. It was mind-numbingly boring, but she was pretty confident that she couldn't screw it up. She couldn't bear to mess up on her first day.
As she worked, a few junior members of the firm passed her station on the way to their offices. She tried her best to smile at them, noting that all of them looked her over as if appraising her. A few introduced themselves, but kept the conversations fairly short. Rakul didn't mind. If she could get through the whole file box by the end of the day, there was no way that Mr. Taylor could doubt his quick decision to hire her.
She was in the boss' office, bent over the file box, exchanging one folder for another, when she heard a noise behind her of someone entering. She suddenly remembered the shortness of her skirt, and how anyone behind her had a clear view of her ass and panties. She jerked around in surprise to see Mr. Taylor standing in the entryway to his office. At the same time as she tried to stutter an embarrassed apology, her foot caught on the edge of the box, tripping her. She fell backwards, kicking the box as she fell, sending files scattering across the floor as she collapsed. Her hand flew out, catching another file box on a table, pulling it down on top of her, dumping paper across her body. Horrified, she sat amid the rain of scattered papers, not even realizing that she had fallen with her legs apart.
"I'm so sorry, sir, I'm so sorry!" Rakul stammered. She swung to her knees, trying desperately to collect up all of the papers.
"Stop," Taylor commanded. "You're messing them up worse."
Rakul felt hot tears in her eyes. She sat back on her heels, looking up at him. "I promise, this was a one-time accident. I'm not this much of a screw up." Though she didn't say it out loud, the undercurrent of her voice pleaded, please don't fire me, please don't fire me.
Taylor shut his office door, crossing the room to set his briefcase and suit jacket on one of the chairs. "Why are you in here in the first place?"
Rakul thought she heard anger in his voice. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Leticia..." she said, then stopped to take a deep breath. She looked up at him from her knees, eyes pleading for forgiveness. "Leticia told me to enter the things in this box for you. And then I guess you startled me, and... and I'm so sorry, sir, I really am."
"Stand up." His voice was calm. Maybe he wasn't angry. Rakul did as she was told, rising shakily to balance on her heels. She smoothed her skirt, but couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes.
"You look nice. On brand."
Rakul chanced a glance upward, feeling her cheeks redden. He was studying her legs. Standing next to him like this, she realized how large he was, and how small she felt next to him. He was nearly a foot taller than her five foot four stature, and he had fairly broad shoulders. His thick forearms showing beneath his rolled-up shirt sleeves hinted at muscle hidden beneath the tailored suits.
"Just a shame that you've messed up so quickly," he said. "This is a fast-paced business. We don't have time for stupid mistakes."
Rakul's heart sank. "Please give me another chance. It won't happen again, I promise."
"No, it won't," Taylor said. "I believe strongly in learning from mistakes. So we'll just need to make sure you remember this, so it doesn't happen again."
Rakul dropped her eyes. "I will."
"I need to make sure of that," Taylor said. "Turn around. Put your hands on the desk."
Rakul's eyebrows furrowed. "...sir?"
"Or you can go home now, and start looking for another job."
"No! No, I'm sorry, sir!" Rakul turned to his large, mostly clear desk, putting her hands on the edge of it. She glanced back over her shoulder at him. "Like this?"
He stepped towards her, placing a hand on her back between her shoulder blades, nudging her forward. She sank down lower, so her back was parallel with the surface of the desk, her elbows touching it, her ass sticking straight out. She felt the material pull up from the backs of her thighs, knowing full well her panties were on display. She shuffled on her stiletto heels uncomfortably, feeling her face redden even more.
"The best way to make something stick in your memory," Taylor said cooly, "is to give it a connection to some physical sensation. A small child won't listen when her father tells her not to touch a hot stove. When she touches it, how does she remember not to make the same mistake?"
There was a long moment before the embarrassed Rakul realized he wanted an answer. "She... she burns herself?"
"Pain," Taylor said. With that, he brought his hand down hard on Rakul's ass. There was a loud smack, almost as loud as the cry of surprise she let out. She tried to rise, but his other hand had moved up to the back of her neck, holding her down. She tried to reach behind her with one hand to push him away, but that only removed her support, and her face fell, cheek first, onto the surface of the desk.
"It will only hurt a little," Taylor said calmly, tugging up the hem of her skirt onto her waist. "So that you remember."
His hand came down again, this time on the other cheek. Rakul's cry wasn't as loud. Instead, she gritted her teeth against the sting on her ass. A few more strikes, and the hot tears welled up in her eyes. Finally, they stopped, and Taylor's hand was a gentle caress against her reddened skin. She could feel it throbbing as she dared to breathe.
"You have a great ass," Taylor said. "It looks even better like this." He hooked a finger in the waist of her panties, pulling them down to her knees. His touch returned, curling over the curve of her ass, his finger tracing down the center. Rakul burned with embarrassment. She felt his finger slide between the folds between her legs, and realized by how easily his finger moved that she was wet. He didn't enter her, merely sliding the traces of arousal up and down.
"The personality test wasn't wrong," he mused. "You like being dominated, don't you?"
"Please..." Rakul gasped. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, sir."
He spanked her again, letting her cry ring in the air before raining another round of strikes down on her already abused ass. When he was done, she was gasping, her makeup smeared by her tears.
"Do you still need this job?" he asked. Rakul could only nod against the surface of the desk. He struck her ass again. "Use your voice."
"Yes. Yes, sir, I need this job!"
Taylor smiled. "I thought so. Are you going to mess up my files again?"
"No, sir. I promise, I won't."
Finally, he stepped away from her, his touch left her ass, and the pressure holding her down to the desk vanished. She was hesitant to straighten up for a moment. When she did, she reached first for her panties, to cover herself.
"No," Taylor said sternly, and she froze. "Take those off."
Caught in his gaze, Rakul slowly stepped out of her panties. She picked them up from the floor, and her boss held out his hand for them. She handed them over.
"In fact," he said, running his fingers over the soft cotton, "don't wear any panties to work anymore. You don't need them. Understand?"
"Yes, sir," Rakul said, watching him toy with her underwear. She had tugged her skirt down to cover herself-- he hadn't objected to that. The tight fabric put pressure on the throbbing of her ass, but it was better than standing exposed in his office.
"Good. You can pick up these papers, and get them re-organized, then continue your filing."
As if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, he sat down in his office chair, stuck her panties in his top drawer, and attended to his computer. Rakul dropped down to her knees amid the sea of papers, focusing on attoning for her mistake.
--- --- ---
Rakul had thought for a long time about whether or not to return to work the next day. She had fixed up her ruined makeup as best as she could in the bathroom before anyone had seen, and acted cheerful for Leticia when she left for the day. She hadn't been able to sit down on the train home, since her ass was still throbbing from the spanking. She felt like everyone on the train knew, just like they all knew she wasn't wearing anything under her short, clingy skirt, just like they all knew how wet she had gotten when Mr. Taylor had pushed her against that desk and punished her. She was wet even thinking of it now. When she got home and showered, she looked at the light violet bruises on her ass. They weren't too dark-- would likely be gone by morning-- but were a glaring reminder of her mistake.