Page 66 of Disciplining Dana

She swallowed, staring up with a gaze she wanted filled with anger, but it wouldn’t.

“Go on, Dana. Say it.”

“I can’t,” she whispered.

“Good,” he replied. “Then I think we’ve just taken the first step.”

CHAPTER 16

Kurt

It shouldn’t feel this way.

It should feel different. It should feel better. It should feel… right.

Except as Kurt led Dana by the elbow through the Dungeon, it didn’t. It felt unsettling, a nervous feeling not entirely unlike the first time he and Dana had gone to a club together. Yet then there’d been an underlying thrill, but right now the undercurrent was less thrill than one of borderline dread.

Stop. You discussed this with Derek. You made your choice. You’ll only make things worse if you try and walk this back now.

He couldn’t. Derek had been right; he was to blame as much as Dana for what was happening here. He’d let his desire to be her friend, to be with her, allow him to turn a blind eye to what her actions were doing. And, like Derek, Kurt didn’t want to believe—couldn’t believe—that Dana would turn her back on him now that he was drawing his line in the sand. He clung to that belief as they continued through the Dungeon, because to accept the alternative, that she didn’t care about him in the same way he did for her, was too much to consider right now.

They wove between the various pieces of furniture—spanking benches, wooden ponies, a St. Andrews cross, some in use—and still he moved deeper into the space. What Kurt was looking for wouldn’t be found among the normal BDSM fixtures; Derek had explained exactly where he needed to head for what he had planned.

He glanced back as he drew her across the room, but whatever was going on inside her head she kept it well hidden, her face impassive, her lips drawn into a thin line. Kurt took it as a small success she’d come this far, but the true victory would only be if she was still with him once what he’d planned was completed.

They reached the back of the room, and it was exactly as Derek had described. A discreet, inconspicuous corner, with all the Dungeon at their backs and nothing but the dark wood of the paneled walls in front of them. There was enough ambient light from the room that they weren’t in complete darkness, but with nothing here but the bare walls, there was little to draw attention to them.

Her face was expressionless as she turned to him, but her eyes… no, there was nothing stoic about the storm roiling in the darkness of her eyes. “So, what now? What are you going to do? Spank me? Whip me?”

“No, Dana,” he said, shaking his head. “Kneel.”

“What?” She narrowed her eyes, a perplexed look scrunching her face.

“Kneel,” he repeated tonelessly.

Recognition swept away her confusion. He wasn’t kidding. She hadn’t misheard. Kurt could see the thoughts playing out in the way her expression changed, her pupils growing until they flooded her dark irises. “Are you fucking…?” She swallowed, her eyes jerking left and right as she scanned his face. “This is… this is ridiculous.”

He waited, his gaze cold.

“Kurt.” Her tone slipped from demand to imploring.

“Kneel, Dana.”

“Oh my God…” The words were fainter than a whisper, but her next action made clear her decision.

She knelt slowly in front of him, looking up with searching eyes.

His body betrayed him. Blood rushed to his cock, and though he’d little doubt she expected him to command her to reach for his belt, she was wrong. That wasn’t what was going to happen.

“No. Turn around and kneel facing the corner.”

Dana blinked rapidly, confusion dancing across her face with every flick of her eyelashes. Kurt expected the real argument to start now, but she surprised him; she simply shifted on her knees, turning until she faced into the corner. Once in position she stopped, her shoulders rising and falling to the pulse of her breathing.

A part of him wanted to reach for her. To stroke the length of her jet-black ponytail, to let his fingers caress sienna-hued skin soothingly as he’d done with her many times before. To send a signal he was here, and that while they were together, he’d provide nurturing, care, comfort, pleasure—all of the above. Except that wasn’t what was going to happen right now. To do that would only fall back into a pattern that—as Derek had warned—had brought them to this point. It was a siren’s call to give in, but as Kurt looked down, he steeled himself not to walk back what he was determined to do tonight. To force himself not to do what would be oh so easy, but to do what was difficult yet needed.

He placed his hand on her shoulder, and she flinched. That reaction alone almost broke his resolve, but instead he took a deep breath, and leaned forward until he could speak softly into her ear.

“Now I want you to put your nose into the corner, against the wall.”

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