Spend Or Save

I clicked my key in the lock, making sure I made as little noise as possible. I hadn’t expected him to be home already, and I knew if he caught me I would be in big trouble. Peaking around the door, I noticed the familiar drone of the television from the den, but he was no where to be seen. Creeping along the hallway, keeping my shopping bags still, I made it to the bedroom undetected.

I knew it was silly; sneaking around like a teenager. But, I also knew I was under strict orders not to buy anymore shoes. Three new pairs now sat in front of me, next to two belts and a scarf I had splurged on that day. My resistance had been pathetic at best. Walking into that mall was a bad idea. I let Becca talk me into a quick trip, just to browse. Somehow, I ended up the same place I always do. The shoe department. The one place I had promised Jake I would stay out of.

Since we had agreed we wanted to move into a house and get out of our crappy apartment, we both decided to cut back. Jake sacrificed his yearly trip to the lake with his buddies, along with a new MP3 player for his car. And, I was to give up shopping. More specifically, shopping for shoes. At first, I had done very well. I managed to go a whole month and a half without even looking at a new pair. But, the draw of a sample sale pushed me over the edge. I still remember the rush of walking around the aisles, finding those sling backs in the perfect shade of blue, in the perfect size. And, half price. I was in heaven. Three hours and four pairs later, I was officially off the wagon.

I hadn’t just broken my promise to Jake, I obliterated it. Shopping online at work was too easy, and the more I bought and got away with, the more I wanted. I had never been so obsessed with shoes until I wasn’t allowed to have them. Now, I could barely go a week without buying something, even if I didn’t really want it. I had become the little kid with a stash of Halloween candy. As soon as I knew Jake wasn’t looking, I was buying. The sick part was I couldn’t even wear the shoes, for fear Jake would notice the new pair. Once or twice I had managed to convince him that the brand new beauties on my feet were an old pair he had simply forgotten about. It worked, since I owned so many shoes. But, I didn’t want him to catch on to what I was up to. So, the shoes sat idle in the hiding place in my closet, waiting for the day when we could move, and my shopping ban would be lifted.

I heard him stirring in the other room, and I quickly threw the accessories in the bags and hid them under the bed. The bags had just made it out of sight when the door opened.

“What are you hiding in here for? I made dinner.” His smile was so sweet, so kind. I felt my stomach turn over as I lied to him once again.

“Nothing, I was just going to get changed. I’ll be right there.” He walked out leaving me with a fresh wash of guilt. I gingerly pulled the bag out and opened a box. The purple Kenneth Cole’s looked up at me fetchingly. I was soothed by their beauty, their intoxicating leather smell. They would look fabulous with my new black dress. Suddenly, my guilt was gone, replaced by the warm feeling only new shoes could provide. Placing them back in banishment, I headed to the kitchen and my sweet, sweet man.

I knew I had to stop, had to rein myself in from all the shopping. Sooner or later, Jake was going to find out, and I knew I would be sorry then. I kept telling myself he would never have to know, as long as I stopped. I could hide what I already had. By this time, the whole top shelf of my closet and under the bed had been taken up by my clandestine purchases. I knew I was on the edge of being discovered.

Walking to the train station after work, I strode past the row of shops I saw every day. Keeping my eyes forward, I tried not to notice the entire display of boots in the front window. My stomach dropped as the black leather knee high boots called out to me from behind the glass. They sat proud on the platform, high above the other merely average boots. Those boots were special.

I soon realized I was fogging up the glass. The boots seemed to be specially lit, shining in all their 40 percent off glory. Before I knew it, my hand was on the door, and I was walking inside. I promised myself these would be the last thing I would buy. The very last thing I would have to hide. The very, very last pair of boots I would ever need.

This time, when I went home, I didn’t bother trying to hide anything. I walked straight into the bedroom, without any fear. Jake had called; he was working late. I had plenty of time to enjoy my boots before they had to go into hiding with the others. I changed my clothes and poured a glass of wine. Pulling down the boxes and bags, I started putting on the shoes, admiring them one pair at a time. I had missed them all so much.

The last thing I did was slide the beautiful boots out of the box and slip them on. I was standing in my underwear, staring into the closet, trying to find a prefect outfit to go with the boots. Just then, I heard the doorknob turn, and felt my heart shoot to my throat. Jake walked into the room and his eyes were wide with disbelief. All around me were shoes, belts and outfits, all out of hiding, all in full view of my unsuspecting Jake. He looked at me, and then the shoes, and back again. Finally, he found his voice.

“Would you like to tell me what the hell all this is? Where did all this come from, Tara?”

I felt sick. The look on his face made me forget every good feeling buying the shoes had brought. I couldn’t think of a single thing to say that would make it better. He walked towards the bed, surveying the damage. The scale of what I had done surprised even me, when I saw it all together in one place. His hand had settled on the Kenneth Cole shoes, the perfect purple ones.

“Answer me, Tara. Now!” I swallowed and bought a few more seconds of time. But, I knew there was no defense. Especially after all he had given up for me.

“I’m so sorry Jake. I can’t explain it. It was like an addiction. I don’t know why I did it. I couldn’t stop.” Jake came towards me, still clutching the shoe in his hand. I had never seen him look so angry. He was always so sweet, so gentle. Clearly, that Jake had been replaced by a far more serious and pissed-off Jake. He grabbed my wrist and I was overcome by another shot of adrenalin. My hands started shaking uncontrollably.

“You’re sorry. That is all you have to say. We agreed no more spending. I gave up my trip for you; for us. You couldn’t give up some lousy shoes. God, Tara, this is crazy. I knew you were a shop-a-holic, but this is ridiculous. You were willing to lie to me, for this.” He shook the shoe in front of my face and then threw it back on the bed. His hand was still around my wrist.

“And, what do we have here?” He gestured to the boots on my feet. I had forgotten they were still on. “Nice boots. Just get them today?” I nodded, not knowing what else to do.

“Jake, let me try and explain.” But, before I could say another word, he pulled me towards the bed and turned me around to look at the huge pile of extravagances I had accumulated.

“So, how long have you been lying to me, Tara? How long did you wait before you started buying stuff again?” He was behind me, digging his hand into my arm, his breath hot on my neck.

“Since March.” He seemed unsurprised by my answer. I heard him sigh, and I waited for another rant, another onslaught about how terrible I was.

“What am I going to do with you, Tara? What are we going to do about all of this?” His tone wasn’t angry anymore. That didn’t surprise me either. Jake always had trouble staying mad at me, even when I did something really dumb.

I was surprised, however, by his mouth on my neck, gently biting my skin. My bra was soon on the floor, and I leaned back into him and let his hands roam over my body. Just as I relaxed into him and his teasing fingers on my nipples, he stopped. Suddenly, he had my wrists together in his hand, pulling me down towards the footboard of the bed. I tired to break free, but he was too strong. Grabbing a scarf from the pile, he quickly knotted it around my hands and then to the metal frame. I pulled on my restraint, but it was too tight.

“This isn’t funny, Jake. Let me go.” He just smiled down at me. I was bent at the waist, my face close to the mattress.

“Oh, I don’t think so, honey. I think you need to be punished for what you did. For lying to me, for breaking my trust. What else am I supposed to do? You won’t listen, and I only have one other idea.”

He ran a hand over my back, before smacking my ass, lightly. The jolt of contact sent me forward, another surprise from my gentle boyfriend. He slapped again, just hard enough to let me know he was serious. Any thoughts I had about him joking were out the window.

“Let’s have a look at some of these shoes.” Weeding through the pile, he found the purple Kenneth Cole again. Holding it by the heel, he looked it over. “Pretty. How much did they cost?” Before I could answer, he slapped the sole against my skin. Once, twice, three times more, the shoe hit my ass. I gasped, not so much from the pain, but from the whole situation. It was making me impossibly hot, something I had not expected.

“Three Hundred.” With that answer, another three hits came down on my flesh. It hurt more than I expected, but each hit turned me on more than the last. This new side of Jake was having a huge effect on me. He put down the shoe, and reached for another from the stack. It was the black Jimmy Choo I had bought months before.

“What about this one? What did this set us back?” He ran the suede gently over my ass, now hot from the spanking. “I don’t remember. Maybe four hundred.” The words were just out of my mouth when the next barrage came. I lost count of how many times he spanked the beautiful shoe against my ass. Over and over I felt the sting on my skin, the small sole radiating pain out and over my whole body. My panties were soaked through, and I felt the sweat forming on my face. Jake stopped and stood behind me, admiring his work.

“You should see how red your ass is.” I jumped when I felt the palm of his hand. The gentle rubbing felt like sand paper, his touch not doing a thing to soothe me. Soon his fingers found their way to my pussy, and he teased me through the wet fabric. “My, my. You must be enjoying yourself. Maybe you did all this on purpose, to finally get me to spank you. You could have just asked, you know.” He shucked off my thong, pulling it down over the soft leather of my new boots.

“These really are nice boots. Especially from this view. I think they were made for this.” His hands slid up my thighs, continuing up until they came to my nipples, which were hard and aching for attention. Teasing me, I felt his hard cock through his pants, rubbing my raw bottom. But, he didn’t stay for long. The spanking kept going. Chanel, Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin. They all had their turn on my searing, hot flesh.

Finally, he stopped torturing me, leaving the rest of the shoes in the mess around me. My wrists ached from the scarf, and I was desperate for him to fuck me. I whimpered, begging him to fuck me, to release the ache he started inside me. Just when I thought he was going to leave me there, his fingers slipped easily into my cunt. He leaned down and kissed me, softly. His gentle side didn’t stay for long, as he put his hand in my hair, pulling my head back. I couldn’t take much more. I whimpered again as the pain shot straight to my pussy.

“Do you think you’ve learned your lesson yet?” I nodded, pushing myself back onto his thrusting fingers. I think deep down, we both knew I would never be reformed. I heard his belt open, his zipper slowly being lowered.

“We’ll see about that, won’t we?” He groaned as he finally entered me with his hard cock. He fucked me slow, bumping into my tender ass with each thrust. I murmured promises of willpower, self control and no more shoes. But, as my eyes scanned over the bed, I realized there was a sale at Saks next week.

After all, he hadn’t said anything about purses, had he?