“Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck. You.”

“Your ass is going to give out long before my hand does. As it stands now, you’ll be lucky if you don’t have trouble sitting down for a week.”

She opened her mouth, but shut it immediately when he snapped his fingers.

“The next thing out of that bratty mouth better be, ‘Please, Sir, punish my ass for my lack of respect.’”

She pressed her lips together.

“Say it. Now.”

Her heart pounded, but she felt a spark of arousal at his take-charge manner. The Doms in training she was used to didn’t have the ability to do that to her. “Please, Sir, punish my ass for my lack of respect.”

He patted his lap. “Since you asked so nicely.”

Rarely had anyone put her over his knees since her split with Jeff. She’d forgotten how humiliating it was to be naked across someone’s lap while they were fully clothed. And it was as if Jeff wanted her to remember, because for several long minutes he did nothing.

When he finally spoke, his voice was low and firm. “You disrespected me not only with your mouth, but with your actions. I’m not going to have you count or thank me. You’ll simply take what I give. You showed a serious lack of judgment tonight, and that requires serious consequences. Do you understand?”

Would he not get on with it? “Yes, Sir. I understand.”

He kept one hand on her lower back and started slapping her butt with the other. His spanking was just as methodical as she remembered. Each stroke meticulously planned and delivered.

Fuck. She’d forgotten how much it hurt.

She tried to take them silently, but it was too much and she found she couldn’t. A knock on the door followed the fifth stroke, and the door opened before Jeff could answer.

“Everything okay in here?” Daniel asked, showing only mild shock at finding them in such a position.

“Answer Master Covington honestly.”

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.