Keri giggled, running from Joe, thinking she was being funny. It was early in the morning – 5:00 a.m. – and Keri had begged him to go with her to the semi-private beach, sure no one else would be around at that ungodly hour – for a quick swim and to search for pretty shells. Reluctantly, he agreed.

He warned her, though, that she would need to put sunblock on even that early in the morning. She giggled when he pulled out the bottle and ran from him.

“You’re going to be sorry, Ker. Now get over her RIGHT NOW,” he ordered in his sternest of voices.

Recognizing his tone, she turned, bowed her head and drug her feet back. He grabbed her arm and marched her to the railing where he scolded her while applying the lotion all over her body.

“Now, it’s time to make that sassy ass of yours as red as your skin gets when you don’t put on sunblock,” he stated.

“But Joe,” she whined, her eyes darting back and forth, “what if someone walks by.”

He said nothing but crossed his arms. Sighing, she bent over the low gate. Joe pulled down her bikini bottom and went to town. Only when she was sobbing and her bottom a fiery red and all tension had left her body did he stop. He pulled her bottoms back up, helped her to stand and kissed her soundly.

“You took that so well, Ker. I’m proud of you.”

Keri smiled, wiping the tears from her face. “Thank you, Joe. I love you.”

That was when they heard applause. Mr. and Mrs. Clems, an older couple who lived next to them, stood applauding and smiling.

“Well done!” Mr. Clems said.

“Very well done, Joe,” Mrs. Clems reiterated.

Joe beamed and Keri thought she’d die of embarrassment.

“Now don’t be shy, girl,” Mrs. Clems stated with a laugh in her voice. “A bit of a spanking does a world of good for some of us, doesn’t it.”

Then, the couple held hands and strolled down the beach.

Keri turned to a widely grinning Joe, her hands on her face, and said, “Do you think?”

“Absolutely I do,” he answered. “Come on. Let’s go for that swim.