Damn the man. He wasn’t even breathing heavily.
“Yes, Sir. Everything’s fine. Master Parks is showing me the consequences of disrespect.”
“If she’s scaring people, I can gag her,” Jeff said. “But I won’t stop. She asked for this.”
“No gag needed,” Daniel said. “Disrespect is a serious infraction. Continue.”
She gritted her teeth as Jeff started again. Somewhere around twelve she lost count and simply took it, relaxing into him as much as possible. He slipped a hand between her legs and murmured about how naughty she was when he found her wet. She took the brief pause to wipe her eyes.
“Five more.”
Knowing what was expected, she lifted her ass up. The last five were the hardest, and she cried out when the last one came. He kept her on his lap when it was over, rubbing her back, telling her she took it well.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” she finally said.
“Sorry for what?”
“For disrespecting you, Sir.”
“Come here.”
She scurried from his lap and threw her arms around him, desperate to hold on to him, her anchor in the midst of her emotional turmoil, sobbing gently into his neck. He wrapped her in his strong embrace and whispered that it was over and forgotten. For the longest time, she allowed herself to enjoy being in his arms, listening to his gentle whispers, and she wondered if part of why she goaded him in the first place was to get him to spank her so she could end up in his arms like this.
But being in his arms, hearing him say it was over and forgotten made her feel guilty. He thought she’d been disrespectful and late; she hadn’t told him the truth. How could it truly be over and forgotten when he didn’t know the entire story?
“You’re tensing up,” Jeff said, and his arms loosened around her. “Are you uncomfortable being in my lap?”
Damn. Now he thought she had an issue with him. She buried her head in his chest and took a deep breath. “Not for the reason you think.”
“What?”
She pulled back. “I’m uncomfortable because I didn’t tell you the real reason I was late.”
His lips tightened into a thin line. “I had a feeling there might be something you weren’t telling me. Let me take care of your backside and get you a robe. Then we’ll talk.” He shifted her slightly. “I need you on your stomach on the couch.”
She stood gingerly. Each slight motion of her body caused her backside to scream with pain, but she situated herself the way he asked. His footsteps approached the couch, and he draped the discarded blanket across the upper part of her body. Then he placed a cushion under her head. There was silence as he rubbed ointment onto her aching flesh.
By the time he finished, she was warm and relaxed. If she didn’t have to have the upcoming conversation, she’d probably have gone to sleep. In fact, she felt so good, she thought about keeping to her original plan and telling him on Monday.
But he wasn’t going to let her forget. When he finished, he lightly brushed her back. “Sit up and slip this robe on. Then you can tell me what’s going on.”
She pulled herself up and slid her arms into the robe. Jeff sat down beside her, waiting.
She sighed. “I was going to tell you Monday. I was going to come to your office.”
“My office? Why? I can count on one hand the number of times you’ve been to my office.”
“When I got home last night, there was a note slipped under my apartment door.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“It was threatening,” she added.
He looked like she’d slapped him. Or hit him in the gut. “Threatening how?”
She shook her head. “It said, ‘Better watch out, bitch.’”
He clenched his fists so tightly the knuckles turned white. “You called the police.”
“No.”
“Damn it, Dena. You need to call the police.”
“It’s too close to the election, and Dad’s short-listed for vice president. Someone just wants attention.”
“Or some criminal you put away is coming after you.”
“Which is why I was going to hire you on Monday.”
“What?”
“You’re into security. I was going to hire you to keep me safe. I need someone I can trust to keep this out of the press. And I need someone good.” Her eyes darted around the room, and she bit her bottom lip. He was going to flip out when she told him the rest.
“What else?”
She blinked and tried to look innocent. “What else what?”
“What else aren’t you telling me?” he asked, and when she opened her mouth to protest, he cut her off. “Think real good and hard before you say ‘nothing.’”
She almost defied him, but then thought better of it. He’d already punished her once tonight. “I’ve been getting harassing phone calls for the last few months. The last one came tonight.”
“Is that why you …? Fuck.” He shot to his feet and paced.
“What are you doing?” she asked after several minutes.
“Calming down before I do something I’ll regret.” He stopped in front of her and crossed his arms. “I’ll find the fucking bastard and kill him.”
“Sit down,” she said. “And think about it. Then you’ll see it’s probably nothing.”
He didn’t sit down. “That’s why you were late. You were frightened. Why didn’t you tell me this then?”
“I didn’t want to miss the demo. I honestly didn’t know how late it was until I got here and you’d sent everyone away.”
“Forget the demo.” He sat down beside her. “What about your safety?”
“That’s why I was going to come to you Monday. But I wanted tonight. I wanted to do the scene. Maybe tonight was just another demo for you, but it wasn’t for me. You used to tell me you demanded complete honesty. Well, I’m giving it to you. I’d have done damn near anything to feel your hands on me again.”
“And did you enjoy my hands on you just now? Was it worth it?”
It wasn’t what she would have picked, but if she had to choose between nothing from him or a spanking, she’d pick the spanking.
“I’ll take what I can get, Sir.”
“Dena.”
“Let me make it up to you, Sir.” She slid carefully from the couch because her backside hurt like the devil, pushed his knees apart, and knelt between them. She waited for him to say or do something. Anything to signal his approval. Finally, he gave a quick nod of his head. His gaze never left her as she unzipped his pants and pulled out his cock.
He sighed when she kissed the tip of it and moaned when she engulfed his length in her mouth.
“So good, Dena. You feel so good.”
Then take me back, she wanted to say, but didn’t. She’d told him when he’d taken his collar back that she’d return when he begged, and she’d meant it.
But she spoke it with her mouth, her tongue, her touch.
For years Jeff had been the center of her sexual universe, and she’d devoted herself to learning his body. At times she’d felt she knew it better than her own. Serving him had been the source of her greatest pleasure, and though she’d served many Doms in the three years since they’d split, none had come close in comparison.
“Look at me,” he whispered in command.