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"There you are," I said, coming around to stand in front of him. He was dressed in a hotel bathrobe, and had probably had a shower after coming home from work.
"I wish you'd texted me that you were going out with Claire," he said, his voice soft, with a note of impatience in it. "I was worried something happened to you."
"I'm sorry," I said. "Claire was supposed to phone Michael. He was supposed to tell you."
"You could have texted me."
I shrugged. "My phone's battery was dead because I forgot to charge it. We let it charge in Claire's car. Then I forgot…"
He didn’t say anything for a moment, his gaze moving over my body, my clothes.
"So you went out to the Institute? You're out pretty late."
"I told you we went for dinner after. I thought we'd be back before you and Michael got finished at the hospital."
He nodded. "You look lovely."
"Thank you," I said and turned in a circle, holding out the skirt of my dress. "I wish you could have been there with us. Claire's fun, but she's quite a social butterfly so I spent a lot of time alone, looking at pictures by myself. But at the dinner, I did show some of the faculty my painting of you and got a few nice comments."
"Which picture of me? Not the full-frontal…"
"No," I said and sat on the couch beside him, leaning in close. "The more respectable one. I wouldn't want to make the male faculty jealous or the female faculty interested."
He laughed softly, but then was silent for a moment. His gaze moved over my face, and he brushed a strand of hair back, then touched my collar.
"I was upset that you were gone when I got back here. I was really looking forward to seeing you."
I sighed. "Drake, I'm so sorry. I thought Michael was going to tell you I was out with Claire. I thought you two would be really late. Besides," I said, remembering what Claire had said earlier. "I have to make a life for myself while you're busy at work."
"I want you to have your own life," Drake said. "But how would you feel if the tables were turned and it was me who never called or texted you when I was going to be late? If you waited for hours to hear from me?"
"It was thoughtless of me. I was a bit intimidated by Claire. She has this way…"
"When I'm free, I want you to be here. I don't want to wonder where you are. When I want you, I don't want to have to wait while you're out partying with people I don't even know."
"Drake…" I shook my head, wanting to reassure him that it was nothing. "It won't happen again. I'll make sure to send you a text if I'm going anywhere from now on so you'll know. My phone…"
He nodded and brushed his fingers over the tops of my breasts. "I feel like I should punish you," he said, his voice soft.
I bit my lip. I didn't like that idea. I thought I had things covered with Claire calling Michael.
"It wasn't my fault that Claire forgot to call Michael…"
"You could have called using the hotel phone and left a voicemail. Or used your laptop before you left the room. You could have called me as soon as your phone was charged."
I exhaled. He was right. I could have done any one of those. "Claire called and I was rushed…"
"It would have saved me worrying. I had these images of you having been abducted, raped, or in a car accident somewhere on the Mombasso road."
"I'm sorry," I said and cupped his cheek, leaning in to kiss him. He didn't kiss me back. "I didn't even want to go, but Claire has this way about her."
He nodded, his eyes half-hooded. "Sometimes, your submissive side extends beyond sex."
I sighed. "With really dominant people, yes. Sometimes it does."
"Maybe I should exert more control outside the bedroom."
I shook my head. "No," I said, the thought upsetting me. "I don't want that. You don't want that."
