Dark Favors

“See you Saturday?” I asked, turning to leave.

“Be here by seven,” he said.

Again, I didn’t know what his deal was with early mornings, but if it was some sort of ploy to get me to mess up and then “owe” him even more, it wasn’t going to work. I wasn’t some young college freshman who didn’t know her way around men. I wasn’t some naïve girl who was going to screw this up and then sleep with him out of some strange sense of moral obligation.

Nope.

None of that was going to happen.

Not between me and Locke.

Not today.

Not ever.

“See you then,” I said. I turned and walked toward the door. I left without looking back and made it all the way to the elevators before I realized the asshole still had my phone and my keys. I stood there for a long time, wondering whether it was worth it to go back. I could walk home, and Fawn would let me in. I could get by without my phone...couldn’t I?

Only, I knew it was stupid, and I didn’t particularly want him to feel like he had bested me somehow.

He had, though. He had gotten me all riled up. He’d made me horny. He’d

teased me. He’d punished me in a way that had been both freeing and exciting, and then he’d made sure I wouldn’t forget him. My bottom still hurt, and I had a feeling it was going to for a couple of days. Good. It would be a reminder not to let him get the best of me again.

“Miss Key?” A deep voice said gently, but it wasn’t Locke. I turned around to see the guy at the little reception desk across from the elevators. He was watching me carefully. I’d walked by him several times, but we’d never so much as talked. Of course, he knew who I was, though.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m sorry for loitering. I’m not trying to be weird.”

“It’s perfectly okay,” he said. There was a little nameplate in front of him that said Caleb Montoya: Personal Assistant. So he was Locke’s official assistant, after all. “Can I help you with something?”

“No, Caleb, I’m okay,” I said. My voice trailed off, but then I shook my head, clearing it, and looked at him again. I decided that it was time to get it together. “I just forgot something,” I said. “I won’t be long.”

I turned and walked back to Locke’s office. I thought about pushing the door open, barging in, and demanding my items, but I wasn’t interested in another spanking. If he felt I was being disrespectful, and he tried to spank me again, I’d let him. That was the real problem. He’d smack my ass over and over, and I’d just take it like I had before.

Because I liked him.

Because I was attracted to him.

And because part of me felt like I deserved to be punished.

I didn’t have some deep-rooted sense of self-loathing, but I’d messed up many times in my life. More importantly, I’d messed up with Locke. I knew perfectly well that my treatment of him hadn’t been fair. I understood that. After being spanked, though, I kind of felt like, totally forgiven. I kind of felt like we’d made up, sort of.

It was like there was a clean slate.

And so I knocked on the door.

Three quick, short raps, and then I waited. For a moment, I worried he was on the phone or busy, but then I heard him clear his throat.

“Come in,” he said. His words sounded like something between an order and a suggestion, and I wasn’t sure which of those would be better. I opened the door and went inside, and sure enough, there he was.

Waiting.

He was sitting on the edge of his desk with one leg crossed over the other, and he looked so wildly unburdened by the troubles of life, that I wondered what the hell his story was. Obviously, he was after something. He had some sort of weird quest or mission. Every eccentric millionaire did, right? I just didn’t know what his was.

More importantly, I didn’t know what it had to do with me. Maybe I’d never know. Right now, though, I didn’t care.

“Did you forget something?” He asked me patiently. It was a stupid question. He knew perfectly well what I’d forgotten. My keys and phone were sitting on the desk right next to his hand. There was zero chance he didn’t know exactly what I’d forgotten.

I bit back a snarky response though. Apparently, the spanking really did fix my sassy attitude, because just an hour ago, I would have told him to give me my fucking keys.