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He knocked impatiently, three short raps on the hard wood door, and was relieved to hear the sliding of the chain lock before the door fell open, and Diamond greeting him by jumping into his arms. He entered with her legs still wrapped around his waist, and the scene before him stopped his heart cold.
There was a large suitcase open on the bed, and clothes piled everywhere, both in and out of the suitcase. Sitting on top of it all, was the bright pink bag from Jo’s. Dropping her legs so that she slid to the floor standing, he set Diamond down and crossed to the bed, plucking the pink bag out of the mess, and retrieving the receipt from his pocket, he handed it to her.
“Care to explain what this is about?”
Diamond took the receipt and frowned in confusion. “I bought my little sister some presents for her graduation.” She motioned impatiently to the open suitcase. “That’s what I was going to talk to you about over lunch. I need to go home. I had taken the time off from Aubergine, but…” she trailed off. “I promised, and then in the craziness of everything that happened this past week I forgot.”
Pax’s eyebrows wrinkled in consternation. It was a fathomable explanation for the mess, but it didn’t explain why she had run rampant all over his rules. “Okay, we can talk about this little trip in a minute. In the meantime, do you care to explain to me, why you charged over two grand downstairs?”
She stared at him blankly. “I needed to buy my sister a graduation gift. I just told you that.”
“Who spends that much on a graduation gift, if they can’t afford it?”
Her eyes blazed, as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Who says I can’t afford it? Do you know who I am? Do you know who my parents are? Of course I can afford it. The real question here is how you know about it already, and why the fuck you care how much I spent on my sister’s graduation gift. I get that you’re my dom, or whatever the correct terminology is here, but you need to get the fuck over yourself and quickly. My money is my money, and what I do with it is my business.”
He saw the exact moment she realized she had crossed a line. Pax grabbed her by the elbow, and all but dragged her across the room to the corner, swatting her bottom as they went. When she was in there in the required position, he reached around her, and unbuttoned her jeans, guiding them down her hips and into a pile on the floor. “Naughty disrespectful subs stand in the corner bare-bottomed,” he told her, leaning in close to whisper in her ear. “It appears we may have gotten our wires crossed somewhere, but that is no excuse for you to speak to me the way you just did. So you are going to stand here, quietly, and think about what you want to say, and what would be a more appropriate way to say it, while I do the same. Capiche?”
“Yes, sir.” Having her bottom bared apparently had the desired effect. Already Diamond appeared much calmer than she had been previously.
While she festered in the corner, Pax crossed to the bed and idly examined the contents of the suitcase, reminding himself to breathe, and not act in anger. Shoving the suitcase out of the way, he sat on the edge of the bed, and called her over to him, smiling as she trudged over slowly, the jeans pooled at her ankles impeding her progress.
When she was standing before him, he took her hands in his. “I think I understand what happened, and I think I owe you an apology and an explanation. Anything you charge to your room, gets billed straight to me, and that may not have been clear. If you overspend your allotted allowance on my dime, it is grounds for punishment as you know. But what you might not have realized is the way I track that is by room charges. If it is your intent to spend your own money, for the sake of simplicity, you need to pay for it right away, and not charge it to the room. Do you understand?”
“Oh. That makes sense. Yes, sir, I understand. But it was an honest mistake. Do I have to be in trouble?”
Pax frowned. This was exactly why he didn’t like to blur the lines between work and pleasure. It did seem like an honest misunderstanding, but his other girls wouldn’t have gotten a chance to give an explanation. It would have gone on their weekly roster, and that would have been the end of it. He didn’t want to appear to play favorites. That was a can of worms he didn’t need busting open, but at this point, nobody knew about the gaffe besides Diamond, himself and Joann.
“Am I to understand that you are able to pay the amount outright—you just chose not to?”
“Yes, sir. I went up there straight after my workout. I didn’t take my purse with me. I just had a twenty stuffed in my sock in case I needed a water or something.”
“If you can go up there after lunch and pay it with your own money, I will ignore it, this time. In the future, if you don’t intend for me to pay for something, you need to pay for it out of your pocket immediately, understand?”
“Yes. I understand. I’m sorry for the confusion.”
“I’m sorry too. I jumped to conclusions, but it doesn’t excuse the way you spoke to me.”
She blushed, casting her eyes to the floor. She knew where this was going. It was written all over her face.
Pax turned her around, gently guiding her with his hands on her hips, and tapped her bottom with his index finger. “Okay, naughty girl. Assume the position. This is going to be short and sweet, but with the condition your bottom is already in, that will be enough.”
* * *
“Okay, tell me about this trip. Maybe the fire I just lit on your backside will help you remember how to speak to me.”
She had to agree that it most likely would. Her bottom wasn’t on fire, but it was all numb and tingly, and she certainly didn’t feel like she was going to be inclined to tell him to get the fuck over himself or anything of the sort anytime soon.
She was standing in front of Pax, pants still around her ankles as she stood between his knees. One large hand cupped her bottom as an ever present reminder of what would happen if she failed to heed his warning.
“My littlest sister, Emmy, is graduating from college tomorrow. I promised I would be there, and I have been planning it for months. I had the time off at Aubergine. I had put in for it months in advance.”
“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about it, less than twenty-four hours before the trip?”
“I forgot. Honestly. Until the calendar reminder popped up on my phone this morning. In all the chaos of the week, I just totally spaced it. But my family is expecting me, and Em will be heartbroken if I don’t come. I hardly ever go home anymore.” She didn’t add that the only way she had stopped her father from racing up there on her birthday when the details leaked was by promising that she would come home this weekend. Bringing up the disaster that had been her twenty-fifth birthday didn’t seem like a great tactic for getting what she wanted.
“Home?” His face was fraught with concern. “Home to LA.? To your dad’s house? Where I’m guessing the paparazzi have been camped out since the news broke?”
She didn’t bother denying his assumptions. Dealing with the paparazzi was a necessary annoyance in her life.
