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“You don’t need to keep paying for things for me, Dominic.”
“I know I don’t have to. I want to. Now, they should have left the food at your door. I want you to go and check the peephole and make sure they’re gone.”
“Don’t you think this is overkill?” she asked as she walked to the door and peeked through. “I’ve had food delivered to hotel rooms before.”
“Yes, before I knew you. Now, you’ll do things the safe way.”
The paranoid way.
Luckily, she didn’t say that out loud or she thought she might get a few more slaps on the ass for her sassiness.
Which didn’t sound all that bad.
What was happening to her?
“They’ve gone.”
“All right, now open the door and check the corridor to make sure they’re not hiding anywhere.”
“Dominic! Don’t you think you’re being a bit crazy?” She unlocked the door and looked around. “All clear.”
“You opened the door quickly,” he drawled.
“Uh huh. I’m pretty good at opening and closing doors. Been doing it since I was like two years old.”
“That so? Because I’m thinking that if you had that lock on your door like I told you to put on the door when I left earlier, it would have taken you a lot longer to open your door.”
Uh-oh.
She put the bag of food down on the table. Right next to the lock.
Which she had not put on the door like he’d told her to.
“I’m in trouble, huh?”
“Oh yes. I’m seriously considering driving into town and reddening your ass.”
Uh-oh.
“In case you didn’t realize, I take your safety very seriously, Gwen.”
“Um, yes, I got that memo.”
“Luckily for you, you haven’t agreed to accept my rules and punishment.”
Holy. Crap.
She wasn’t entirely sure whether she was happy or disappointed.
Weirdly, maybe a bit of both.
“However, I still think some punishment is called for in order for you to remember in the future how seriously I take your safety.”
Well, she had some ideas.
“What sort of punishment? Like going without dinner or something?”
“What? No. Never . . . I would never restrict what you eat, darling girl. And you should never allow someone to do that. I would never put your health at risk.”
“I don’t think skipping one meal could really risk my health. I used to skip meals all the time.”
“Which is now going to stop,” he warned. “Even if I have to call you at each mealtime and make sure you’re eating.”
“Sounds like a lot of hard work.”
“I don’t consider taking care of my girl hard work.”
He didn’t mean it like that, she told herself. But her body couldn’t help but react to him calling her his girl.
“Then how are you going to punish me?” she asked.
“Hmm, I don’t want to punish you when I’m not there to give you comfort after.”
Why the heck would she need comfort after?
“Especially when things are so new. So we’ll do it tomorrow after our ride.”
“No, wait, that’s worse!”
“Worse?”
“I can’t wait.”
He was quiet for a long moment, clearly thinking. “Perhaps we’ll bypass punishment this time.”
That didn’t feel right either. She had said she’d put the lock on when she hadn’t. And that made her feel guilty, which she hated.
“How were you going to, uh, punish me?”
“I was going to make you write lines.”
Lines? Was he for real?
“Write lines?”
“Yes. I would have had you write fifty times, very neatly, that you will not disobey an order given for your safety.”
Holy. Crap.
She really didn’t want to do that and yet . . . would it make her feel better? Get rid of the guilt in her tummy?
“I’ll do it.”
“Darling girl, I don’t like you being punished when I’m not there.”
“I feel . . . bad. This will help, right?”
“Yes, it will help.”
“I’ll do it right now.”
“No,” he said firmly. “If you have to do it now, you’re still going to eat dinner first. Right after you put the lock on.”
“Oh. Right. Yeah.”
“Put the lock on. Eat your dinner. Then I want you to sit at the table and write that fifty times. Number each line please. Then send me a photo of the lines.”
“Yes, Sir.”
A shiver ran through her.
She was in trouble here.
After putting on the lock, she said goodbye and sat down to eat. Surprisingly, the salad was quite good. She longed to reach for one of her energy drinks as she ate, but she resisted. She had to do better. Be better.
After eating, she cleaned up and stared down at the blank piece of paper. A flush of embarrassment went through her.
She couldn’t believe she was going to do this.
Write lines like a naughty girl.
But she sat at the desk and started writing them. About ten lines in she started to see why this was a punishment. Twenty lines in, she was cursing him. This sucked.
It sucked so bad.
Why would anyone agree to this sort of punishment?
Well, she guessed that was just it, right? It was a punishment. So she wasn’t meant to enjoy it.
