No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

And then in the first term of my third year at university something happened that changed my life for ever. At the time I had moved into Laura's house following the graduation of one of her housemates who had moved away. By then I was twenty one years old and even my mother had to accept, grudgingly, that I was an adult.

It was a crisp Saturday morning in October, and I left the house in the half-light to go for a run. I was almost home when I noticed a wallet lying in the gutter and I stooped down and pushed it into my jog pants pocket and without breaking stride continued to run on. I planned to see if there was an owner's name inside, but later, when I had completed my exercise.

When I arrived home there was a minor emergency ongoing. Laura had managed to fuse the house electricity supply by running a fan heater and hair dryer off the same mains socket and nobody knew where the main fuse box was until I found it in the cellar. In the excitement I completely forgot about the wallet until later on that day.

When I remembered it was mid-afternoon, and I was sitting at my desk studying. I retrieved the wallet from my joggers and for the first time I noticed that it was leather and expensive looking with a clasp, and it was bulging. I opened it up and saw that it contained a wad of green banknotes. When I looked more closely I saw that they were all the same denomination of note and had 100 printed in the top right corner. They were 100 Euro notes, and when I counted them there were 40 of them. The wallet contained 4000 Euros in cash and although I didn't know the rate of exchange I knew it was a lot of money. Next I emptied the rest of the contents of the wallet onto my desk. It contained a number of credit cards including an American Express card in the name of Mr D A York and most importantly some identical embossed business cards with the name D A York, Dealer in Antiques, and an address with both a land line and mobile telephone number.

I imagined that Mr York was probably very upset by the loss of such a large sum of money and my first and only thought was to ring him and arrange for the return of his property. First I rang the landline but there was no reply and then I rang his mobile and on the third ring he picked up.

"David York."

"Hello Mr York, my name is Becky. You don't know me, but I have something of yours. Your wallet. I found it in the street and there's quite a lot of money in it. "

"Oh! Thank you! Thank you! I've been so worried. I can't afford to lose that much," he said.

And then, "I thought it was gone for good."

"It's here. Not far from where you dropped it. When can you collect it?"

And I gave him our address. And he told me he'd be around in an hour or so.

I went downstairs to the lounge where Laura and a housemate Margaret were sitting watching television and I told them what had happened.

Margaret was incredulous. "Are you fucking mad? I would have kept it. Nobody would have known. You must be soft."

And I realised that there was a reason why I had never really warmed to Margaret.

"I would have known, and it would have been theft," I replied.

Laura spoke up. "Becky did the right thing. I just hope he's grateful that his money was found by an honest person."

"Just make sure you get a reward. If he's got that much cash in his wallet he can afford to give you something," said Margaret.

Just under an hour later the doorbell rang and I answered it. There on the doorstep stood Mr York. He was in his late twenties, tall and good-looking with blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He was casually but smartly dressed and suddenly I was aware what a mess I must look. I was wearing baggies and a sweatshirt, and I had applied no make-up. I'm not sure whether I had brushed my hair properly or not. I felt very self-conscious.

"Becky?" He enquired

"I'm David York."

"Hello," I said, and I handed him the wallet.

"Don't you want to see ID," he asked as he offered me his driving license.

"Oh yes."

He opened the wallet and did not bother to count the notes but peeled off four of them and handed them to me. "Ten percent finder's fee. I'm sorry I'm not able to give you more but I am so grateful. You cannot imagine."

I shook my head, gave his license a cursory look and handed it back to him. "Thank you but I can't accept. I did what I did because it was the right thing to do. I'm glad you didn't lose your money and I was able to help," and then before he could respond I retreated behind the front door and closed it behind me.

He stood on the doorstep for maybe twenty seconds when he appeared to be thinking, and then he turned and walked away.

6

On Sunday morning my mobile phone rang and without looking at the caller ID I answered.

"Becky here."

"Hi Becky. This is David York again. I'm sorry I embarrassed you yesterday by offering money. It was so gauche. But I do want to thank you for being so honest and wondered if you would have dinner with me. I'll understand if your partner doesn't want you to, but I wanted to ask anyway."

"Do you have a partner?," I asked.

When he said no I answered. "I'm not in the habit of going out with strangers but I'll meet you at any restaurant you name and have dinner with you. Just dinner if you are happy with that. When and where did you have in mind?"

"Do you eat meat?"

"I'm a student. I eat anything and everything."

"Good. eight o'clock this evening," and he named a popular Argentinian grill about two miles from where I lived.

"OK. I'll see you there," I said.

"I look forward to it."

"Bye."

"Bye."

That evening I had a shower, washed my hair, and blow-dried it, made myself up, and dressed. I wore a red below knee skirt with a white gypsy blouse embroidered with flowers, and a red jacket. My long leather boots completed the outfit. As I looked in the mirror I realised I had dressed to impress.

Laura summed it up in one word. "Hot."

My taxi arrived at ten to eight and promptly at eight I arrived outside the restaurant. I entered and was immediately asked if I had a reservation and when I informed them I was meeting a Mr York I was shown to a table by the window.

David was already sitting at the table, and he stood as I approached and was seated. That act set the tone for the evening. He was polite, charming, and witty. Up close he was even more attractive, well dressed in tan slacks and a white shirt, close shaven, and had beautiful well-manicured hands with neatly trimmed fingernails.

I remember thinking he might be too good to be true but decided to give him a chance. After all what did I have to lose, except of course my virginity.

The evening went well. The steaks washed down by a robust red wine were perfect and time flew by. As I surmised David was an antique dealer and had completed a cash deal for an old French mahogany table when he lost the cash. He sourced his antiques from Europe and sold them in the UK and was just starting out after inheriting his father's failing business and the money had been very important to him. He lived in his parents old house in Putney which he had also inherited since his mother had died several years back and he had, like me, no brothers or sisters.

Finally he asked the question. "Becky, do you have a boyfriend?"

"No," I shyly replied.

"Girlfriend then?"

I smiled. "Don't worry I'm heterosexual."

"Forgive me. How come a beautiful woman like you hasn't been snapped up?"

"That's simple. Because I've been busy studying. Because I haven't met the right man. Because it's never been right. Lots of reasons I guess. But then I could ask the same reason about you."

And I looked at him enquiringly.

"I was engaged once but it fell through. After that I've been off women, and I've had a lot of distraction with my father's final illness and passing. The business and trying to get his house in shape has been very time confusing."

He paused and looked across the table at me.

"Becky can I see you again."

I didn't hesitate. "Ring me," I said. "Soon."

"Now if you'll get the waiter to call me a taxi I'll be off. I have a lecture early tomorrow morning.I'm free any time after lunch."

7

At one o'clock the following afternoon My phone rang. It was David.

You said soon and you'd be free after lunch. It's a nice day. Do you fancy a visit to Regents Park Zoo?

I met him at the entrance an hour later and we spent the remainder of the afternoon walking and talking together as we visited. He talked about his childhood as the only son of rather dysfunctional parents who apparently did their best to make life miserable for one another. After their relationship floundered because of his father's gambling and alcoholism his mother was unfaithful. But neither would divorce the other, each of them preferring to occupy the same house and make making the other unhappy the purpose of their existence. This left him with an aversion to drunkenness and gambling and a determination to ensure he met the right woman before marriage. He thought he had, but his fiancée had also been unfaithful to him when he was away on business, and I sensed he was now a rather distrustful and bruised individual.

I told him of my strict but loving childhood but remarked how we seemed to have a lot of the same values which we had obtained in markedly different ways.

Finally I slipped my hand into his and held it tight as we walked.

There was something I wanted to ask I said. "What if I didn't like meat and hadn't have been free last night? What if I was vegan and wasn't free until tomorrow?"

He chuckled." I covered myself and made reservations for dinner at a vegan, vegetarian, fish, meat, and Italian restaurant for three nights running. It took an age booking them and then cancelling them again."

A little later he dropped me off at my front door. We had come by taxi, and I had already told him I couldn't invite him in since I had neglected coursework to finish, and he did not protest. Instead he asked if I could come to his house for dinner sometime in the week and after a moment's thought I agreed to Thursday evening which was three days away. He saw me to the door smiled and pecked me on the cheek before returning to the cab. He waved as the cab drove off and as the cab receded I rubbed my cheek where he had kissed me.

Over the next few days I found myself increasingly anxious to see David again and the days moved slowly. Finally Thursday evening arrived, and I showered and changed and took a cab to David's house. When I arrived I was surprised to see it was a large, detached house set back from the road. The garden had not been looked after for some time and was overgrown with weeds.

I rang the bell and David answered promptly and opened the front door for me. The vestibule was filled with cans of paint and assorted solvents, paints, and brushes. We passed through into a large open spaced room which had a bay window facing onto the garden. The walls were painted white. The carpet was a beautiful light violet and the room furnished in minimalist style with a large white lacquered table and chairs and a modern Scandinavian tubular steel sofa set facing a large wall mounted television. A few original and modern abstract art works hang on the walls and a large Chinese vase sat in the corner of the room.

David took my coat.

"Sorry I should have warned you. This house has seen years of neglect. I'm in the middle of decorating. So far it's been rewired, and the plumbing, gas and central heating sorted. The kitchen and upstairs bathroom have been renovated plus one bedroom and this room. I'm doing most of it myself and its slow progress. This room was originally two rooms, but I knocked the wall through. Its only recently finished and you are my first guest."

"It's beautiful I said. But I would have imagined an antiques dealer would surround themselves with Chippendale chairs or French Regency furniture."

"Don't like it and can't afford it," he said. "I deal in it because its profitable, but I don't have to like it. That was my father's mistake. He bought what he liked and could never make a profit. He nearly ran the business into the ground."

He showed me the kitchen which was through a doorway behind the lounge/dining room. It too was a large modern affair with a large oak table set for dinner. Behind the table sliding doors led out onto a patio. Simmering on the stove was a pot of Bolognese sauce and the pasta was boiling. A large bowl of salad, a basket of crusty bread and an open bottle of red wine sat on the table.

"Do sit," he said.

As he moved to serve the food I moved behind him and spoke his name and he turned. Then I looked up, put my lips to his, and kissed him on the lips. He kissed me briefly, then pulled away and looked deep into my eyes before he kissed me. I kissed back and as he put his arms around me, and I held him tight our tongues danced and flickered. After what seemed an age we disengaged and as I stood there reeling he spoke.

"Time to eat?"

A little later as we were enjoying the food I decided I needed to clear the air.

"David I've never kissed a man like that before which means I must like you. I don't know what got into me just now, but I hope you feel the same. I'm just not one for frivolous relationships. I want you to know what you are getting into. I've never been with a man and don't plan to until I'm married. Some women want a big ceremony when they marry and are happy to spend a lot of money pouring food and drink down the throats of people they don't know or even like, having slept with multiple men beforehand. And then some of them are divorced just a few years down the line. I don't want a big marriage, but I want it to last, and I want to go to my marriage bed a virgin. That's how I am."

David had put his knife and fork down and had listened intently to me. Then he spoke. "Becky, you are a truly remarkable human being. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met bar none and don't even know it. You are beautiful inside and out. You are bright, educated, kind and honest. Only one person in a thousand would have returned that money and many of those would have taken the reward. It was your honesty that convinced me to ask you out. For now your company and kisses will be enough. Let's see how it goes.

After all you have the most kissable lips I have ever encountered."

8

We became "an item." When I wasn't studying I was with David. After the first few weeks of restaurants and walks we simply wanted to be together, and the house needed work. Most weekends were spent painting and decorating the large, neglected house in Putney. At some indeterminate time during this time I realised I was in love

Just four months later, on February the twenty ninth, I asked David to marry me. It wasn't the most romantic of affairs because David hadn't realised the date, and we were wearing boiler suits painting one of the upstairs rooms and I was splattered with paint. I remember even now what I said.

"David it's the twenty ninth of February. Once in four years I'm allowed to ask, and I love you so much. Please will you marry me, bring me home here, and make love to me forever."

Unsurprisingly he agreed and just after my graduation (with a first) in June we married.

The marriage was a very small affair and was held at the registrar's office in Walthamstow. My parents were there along with George and Laura and a handful of friends of mine from university and David's friends from school. I wore the same pure white wedding dress that my mother and grandmother had worn.

The reception was held in the Dorchester and our first night as husband and wife were spent there. I remember everything that happened. We left the reception around 8.30 pm. David showered first and lay in bed naked waiting for me and then I showered and put on a skimpy lace nightdress that covered virtually nothing and went to him.

I stood at the end of the bed and looked down at him and drew back the sheets. He lay on his back. His torso was hairless and his tummy flat and for the first time I saw his penis which stood erect and ready. He smiled and reached out to me, and I lay beside him, and we kissed long and deep, and then I felt his hand reach inside my nightie, cup my breast and stroke my erect nipple. He kissed each of my breasts in turn and then he kissed my tummy. Soon after I he placed one hand under my bum cheek and gently squeezed and I felt his fingers gently stroking me between my thighs and instinctively I took his hard flesh between my fingers and slowly moved the foreskin up and down.

His fingers worked their magic and soon I was sopping wet and moaning in pleasure and David's penis was rock hard in the palm of my hand. Then he rolled over on top of me and with my nightie around my waist and my legs spread he entered me. There was a brief moment of resistance and then he was inside of me. That first time he was so gentle; long slow strokes, and he looked into my eyes and watched me as he took me to my first climax of the evening. My thighs tightened around him, and as my vaginal muscles clenched and relaxed I moaned gently.

He moved to withdraw but I had my hands hard against his bum cheeks and held him tight.

"More," I said. "I want much more."

He started to move again although now his rhythm was faster and more urgent, and his need was clear. And so was mine. As he drove into me I started to talk.

"Fuck me! Fuck me! "

"Don't stop! Don't stop! Don't you dare fucking stop!"

And then.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!. Ohhhhhhhh!"

As he climbed to his own peak he brought me to orgasm after foul mouthed orgasm, until finally his strokes shortened, and he stiffened and moaned as he pumped his sperm high inside of me.

We lay still.

"I never imagined sex could be so good," I said. I paused. "If I'd known I'm not sure I could have waited."

When I had recovered David turned and looked hard into my eyes and for a moment I thought I saw uncertainty and then it passed and was replaced by a look of resolve.

"And now if you agree, I'm going to spank you. You know you deserve it don't you? You made us both wait months to consummate our love. Now please remove your nightie and lie over my lap."

And I did. I lay totally naked over his knees with my bare rump in the air and as I felt his strong right hand rest on my cheeks his penis rose hard against my belly, and I felt the fingers of his other hand against my moist clitoris. I welcomed everything that he, my husband, would now do.

His hand slapped on my arse cheeks as his fingers moved in slow circles on my love bud. At first he was gentle, but he slowly increased the intensity of his slaps whilst continuing to work on me with his other hand and soon I was moaning in ecstasy on him and raising my arse to receive each stinging blow of his hand. And then I heard myself shouting, "hit me harder damn you!, harder!, I'm coming!, I'm coming!, "and as he delivered hard stinging slaps to my bum I experienced my longest and hardest orgasm yet, as I writhed on his lap and my thighs spasmed around his fingers and my vagina leaked a moist ejaculate.

But he wasn't finished with me yet and he flipped me over into a kneeling position, head down with arse and vaginal orifice up, and then kneeling himself, he slid the entire length of his bone hard rod into me until he was balls deep. As his penis slid in and out his balls slapped against me I reached between my legs and frigged my hard swollen clitoris. And then when I heard his sighs of passion, screaming in pleasure I climaxed long and hard once more.

Later I lay calm and still in his arms as he kissed my ears and neck, stroked my hair, and told me he loved me.

"David," I said, "whatever possessed you to spank me? How did you know?"