Valerie

She was caught off-guard when he whisked her discreetly to the security office and questioned her. She felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.

"No. I didn't." She stammered.

"Yes, you did. I saw you. You put it down your..." He motioned to her 34 DDs. "....down your ... shirt."

His accusatory stare sliced right through her making her feel like a vulnerable little girl. Shame welled up in her golden eyes, and she felt the first hot tear cascade down her cheek.

"It was the first time," she sobbed. "I p-promise. I'll never do it again. P-please let me go." Of course, it wasn't the first time. Of course, she'd do it again, but she didn't really want to. She just couldn't help herself and she didn't know why.

Hiding anything from the stormy blue eyes confronting her was impossible. She could see the liar she was in them, and it scared her.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed. "I'm so so sorry!" Casting her eyes down in guilt she caught a glimpse of her tears dripping onto her heaving breasts. A box of tissue appeared somewhere between her eyes and the floor, and she took some. Not able bear her accuser's eyes she kept her gaze beneath his badge as she sobbed and dabbed her eyes. She thought of the movie Mall Cops and all the lame, creepy security guards she had encountered in shopping malls before, but, although he was no prince, he certainly wasn't lame or stupid. Late forties she guessed, a little bit of a belly, strong arms and a rugged, yet, not too ugly, face. The eyes she couldn't look into were intelligent, cold and scary; yet, somehow, compassionate. His eyes were his best feature and... "Oh, my God!" she shuddered to herself. "Am I checking him out? He could be my father!" She heaved another sob, and, with it, her big bare bosom swelled out the top of her tank and jiggled again.

Not that he didn't notice the lithe curve of her young body and her big firm naturals spilling over like root beer floats... he just didn't let it affect him. He noticed but didn't ogle her and averted his eyes whenever he caught himself "noticing." Besides, having raised a daughter of his own, he was more concerned about the young lady's condition than he was her body.

"Okay, then." He said. "Put it on the table."

She dug into the cleavage of her immense shelf and pulled out the eye-brow liner. She still could not meet his gaze.

"The rest," he ordered. She reached in back of her, under the waist of her low-cut jeans to produce a lip-stick that she'd concealed in the crease of her pleasantly round derriere.

"Is that all?" Biting her lower lip and pushing her long blond bangs out of her eyes she looked up at him and nodded.

"Take a seat." he motioned to the metal chair at the plastic table.

He slid a chair up opposite hers, sat down and folded his hands.

"So you aren't some poor, broke girl who needs to steal make-up, are you?"

Valerie shook her head.

"You're just a little spoiled college girl who gets her thrills stealing things she could easily buy. Well, you know what? This is going to cost you a whole lot more than it's worth."

Shaking her head in denial, she started bawling again. "Oh God! Please. No. Can we handle this somehow? I can't have a record. I just applied to law school. I'm graduating summa cum laude. This will ruin my life." Once again the double d's heaved and jiggled with her sobs and the tears formed glistening streams as they dripped into the valley of her beautiful bosom. Steve pushed the tissue to her and she buried her face in its soft white folds.

She whimpered a minute or two before she finally looked up. Big golden eyes, glazed and red from crying, pleaded with him. "Sir, I really need to, somehow, make this go away. I'll do anything, anything you want, if you can just let me go."

"Oh boy," steve sighed. You've a problem, haven't you? Seeing you go down the tubes for a lipstick and eyeliner is a tragedy, but you're not going to stop stealing, are you? You'll get caught, again, because you're a kleptomaniac. You realize that don't you? You can't stop stealing."

"You're good at it, too. Look on the security tape, and, unless someone really knew what was going on, they could never tell. You reach in back to pull your shirt down and you got the lipstick. You reach down your front to pull the v of your tank up and you got the eye-liner."

"I need to see some I.D." The tiny purse dangling from the gold chain on her shoulder barely fit her I.D. which was wrapped in four $100 bills.

Steve chuckled when he saw the money and picked up her I.D. "Valerie... pretty name," he said and copied her information. Then he stared at the writing pad and tapped his pencil. "Valerie, Valerie, Valerie. What are we going to do?"

Steve clicked the ID on the table, handed it back to her and fixed her with a stare. She lowered her eyes and drew her shoulders up as though she considered it all and had no answer. And though she tried to control her emotions, she let out a little whimper, then another and had to struggle from breaking down again.

Steve studied the young lady in front of him and thought about his own daughter. Certainly his girl had had her share of mistakes before she got it right. She made it though, and was living a very successful life. Steve was proud of his daughter and he felt sorry for the young woman sitting across from him. He wanted to help her if he could.

"Tell you what Valerie. I don't think we caught you on security tape, and just between us, I didn't find anything on you; so, we're going to make a deal. Since you can't go into a store without stealing something, you come see me every day. You browse these aisles and buy one thing every day that I'm on duty for 50 days. Maybe if you know you're being watched, you can overcome the impulse to steal."

Hearing what Steve said, Valerie raised her eyes from her despair. She bit her lip for a second, found the courage to meet Steve's gaze, and asked, "But what if I do?"

"Then I'll spank you." Steve dead-panned.

It took a second or two, but Valerie's tear stricken face relaxed and she let out a little chuckle. "Maybe that's what I need," she joked.

"Well, Valerie. You need something, or you wouldn't be doing this. An educated, sophisticated, beautiful, young woman like you has to be missing something in her life to be a klepto. Maybe by shopping here every day without stealing anything, you can find out what it is. If it were simple as a spanking, I'd give you good hard one, but that's probably not it, Valerie."

She wasn't stupid. Valerie knew she was a kleptomaniac, but on her own, she had never been able to do anything about it. She hated herself for it but for some reason the satisfaction, or thrill, or whatever she got out of stealing things, was greater than the self-loathing she felt afterword. She looked at Steve and saw concern and kindness in the eyes that frightened her. "Who is this man?" she thought. "A Mall Cop? Isn't it beneath me to be counseled by an hourly wage employee? ... but he makes sense.."

And he was offering her a chance and some help; so,Valerie put away the shreds of pride she had left, listened respectfully, and nodded in agreement.

"So, listen, I have to get back out there. You leave out that door." Steve pointed to the back entrance of the security office. "That way nobody sees you and neither one of us gets caught. You come at 4 tomorrow afternoon, look over the aisles for 7 minutes and buy one thing. You might not see me but I'll see you, so don't do it, or I will catch you. Okay?"

"Really, Sir? You're really going to let me go?"

"If you agree to my terms."

"Oh, I do. Oh thank you so much. I'll be here tomorrow. I'll do whatever you want."

"Well, just shop and don't steal anything. That's all you have to do. Also, when you come to the store, don't act like you know me or even recognize me. You understand that wouldn't be good, don't you? I need to protect my job. If you need to talk to me or something, when you leave, I'll go to the security office and you can knock on the back door. Sound good?"

Valerie nodded and then the impulse came over her to hug him and Steve caught Valerie's wrists and held them firmly keeping her away. "Hey, it's alright. I'm not your Daddy, okay? Just shop for me, and don't steal. Can you do that?"

"Yes, Sir," Valerie replied. Steve released his grip on her wrists and Valerie offered Steve her hand. Steve wrapped his hand around hers and Valerie asked "May I know your name?"

"Sir is fine, Valerie; just call me Sir. Now go home, and try to figure out what Valerie is missing in her life that Valerie would throw it away so cheaply."