Page 63 of Disciplining Dana

Work. Work would help do that, same as it had in the past. Dana moved to the small desk in the room and began poring over her notes. The sample in the bag on her bed was the first step in proving she’d been correct about everything she’d researched two years ago. And even if she wasn’t feeling the same excitement she once had in that confirmation, Dana had little doubt her bosses at McKerr-Dennison would be thrilled enough for them both.

Eventually, Kurt would be, too.

When her cell buzzed, a glance showed she’d completely lost track of time since she’d fallen into her work. The big white numbers at the top of her screen told her it was already past one, which didn’t seem possible considering how anxious she’d been earlier. But that wasn’t what sent her heart rate climbing. It was the name that appeared below the time.

Incoming call: Kurt.

She swallowed as she swiped her finger across the bottom of the screen.

“Hey, Kurt,” she answered carefully, making sure not to let any of the nervousness she felt creep into her voice.

“Hello, Dana.”

“I… I wasn’t sure you were going to call. Can I assume this is about dinner?”

“No, it’s not about dinner.” There was a tone to Kurt’s voice. It wasn’t cold, but… reserved, as if he was speaking to a client rather than her. “I’d like you to meet me at the bar in the Dungeon tonight. Nine-thirty.”

Oh, no. “Kurt, we talked about this…”

“Dana, don’t argue with me.”

“Now, wait a minute,” she bristled. “I understand you’re angry, but you can’t just order me around.”

“Just do what I said.” There was a pause, then he added, “Please.”

And the line went dead.

What the fuck?

Had he… had he just hung up on her? As if she needed physical confirmation to answer the question, she pulled the cell back to glare at the screen.

He had! He’d hung up on her. She slowly lowered the phone. Kurt had never hung up on her before.

What the fuck is going on here?

She considered going back to what she’d been doing before he’d called, but it soon became clear work wasn’t going to bail her out this time. Dana tried, but as the hours crept by, all she could focus on was whatever was going on between her and Kurt, and what he might confront her with tonight at the fucking Rawhide Ranch Dungeon of all places.

He wants witnesses.

Oh, come on, and you accuse him of being dramatic.

He’s gonna leverage his anger into getting me to fuck him in the Dungeon.

Yeah. Right. Because that sounds exactly like what Kurt Ellery would do.

It was maddening because she was actually spiraling about this, and until recently, she never spiraled. Something had changed, though. Maybe after Argentina, or maybe it had started before, she wasn’t exactly sure. But she remembered standing at the doorway to the club the first time he’d taken her there after the accident, and as she sat on the bed right now, she could remember a dozen or more instances where these thoughts had taken over rather than fading into the trashcan of her memory where they belonged.

“Discipline you.”

No. Oh, no, she was not going to let that thought intrude yet again. Kurt… he’d planted that one there, and it was his fault it was even coming up right now.

But that’s not true, and you know it.

She growled, and for the third time moved back to the desk to try to make work turn the chaos of random thoughts into order.

It didn’t.

A shower didn’t. Picking out something bland to wear so as not to give Kurt any false ideas didn’t. Pulling her hair back into a ponytail she rarely wore except in the field didn’t, because looking at herself in the mirror just opened the floodgates to thoughts she was trying to escape. Fleeing the bathroom to the bedroom offered only the tiniest reprieve, as did staring out the window toward the Sapphire Mountains as they slowly turned from dark lavender to deep purple as the sun set.

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