I shook my head. "I can't imagine not being with you. Not loving you."
He sighed and played with a lock of my hair. "People stop loving you, Kate. I know."
"Not always."
He looked so sad, so hurt, I felt terrible and tears came once more to my eyes.
"Drake, I'm so sorry," I said, my voice breaking. "This is all my fault. I should have told you right away, as soon as you woke up."
He nodded and touched my cheek with his fingers. "You should have."
"Please forgive me."
He forced a smile. "I do." His gaze moved over my face, before finally coming to rest on my lip. "But I'm going to have to punish you."
"What?" I pulled back in shock.
He nodded. "You broke the rules about truth. You know you're supposed to always tell me the truth. You are not allowed to hide things from me. I have to punish you or what kind of Dom would I be?"
"I don't want you to spank me."
"Kate. You intentionally didn't tell me about Kurt. You intentionally deceived me. I asked you if you saw anyone I'd know at the function. You saw Kurt. A lie of omission is as bad as one of commission."
"I don't want you to punish me," I said again, shaking my head, trying to get away from him. "I don’t want you to spank me again."
"It's not about what you want," he said, holding me, preventing my escape. "This is about the rules, Katherine."
"That's not fair," I said, afraid of where this was going. "You let the rules fall by the wayside when it suits you, and enforce them when it suits you."
"I'm the Dominant. I'm the Master. It's my prerogative. You should re-read the agreement."
I pushed away from him and finally succeeded in extracting myself from his arms.
"I'll rip the fucking agreement up." I stormed away, tears starting fresh. This was going sour very fast. I was not going to let him spank me again. I stopped inside the door to the bedroom. "Look," I said, trying to get control of my emotions. "I was wrong to hide what happened with Kurt, but as far as I'm concerned, if you spank me, it will be overkill."
Drake came to me, his arms on either side of me, preventing me from moving. "In case you misunderstood, in our power exchange, I'm the one who decides about punishment. Your breaking the rules about lying was not accidental. It was intentional. You have to be punished. I choose the punishment."
He grabbed my arm, then he sat on the bed and pulled me over his lap, one of his legs thrown over mine, confining me completely. I could only wriggle, my arms flailing to try to stop him, but he finally succeeded in controlling me, one hand holding mine.
"You better not spank me," I said, anger filling me.
"You better just take it, Katherine. You agreed that I'd punish you if you broke the rules. Did you break the rules?"
I said nothing, frustrated that he was using the agreement against me. Yes, I had agreed that he could punish me, bare-handed spanking me if I disobeyed deliberately.
"Did you break the rules?"
I stopped fighting, but I said nothing, furious.
"Katherine, I promise you, I've been doing this now for five years. I have more than enough patience to wait for you to reply properly."
"You're very selective about what and when you punish."
"That's my prerogative, as I said and as is spelled out in the agreement. Maybe we better sit down and re-read it. I've been exceptionally lenient with you since we've been together, but there are some things I can't tolerate. Lying is one of the things I will not tolerate." His voice was completely calm. "So once more, did you break the rules?"
I was breathing fast, my body tense. He was going to spank me and there was nothing I could do.
Finally, I gave in.