Page 48 of Disciplining Dana

This wasn’t fair. He was blindsiding her with this in front of others, not in private where she could talk him down off whatever ledge his anger had him walking along. Which she was sure she could do if he’d give her the chance because… well… this was him just overreacting, right?

Right?

“Dammit, Dana,” he growled with exasperation, “you just don’t get it, do you? None of that’s going to matter if you’re dead! And the way you keep pressing your luck, that’s exactly what’s going to happen!”

“That’s bullshit!” Dana cried. “Everything in life worth doing, worth accomplishing, takes risk!”

“Not unnecessary risk,” Kurt fired back.

“I don’t take unnecessary risks.”

“Yes, you do! And I’m not the only one who sees it! The board sees it, the underwriters see it, even Gary does. I see it, Dana. And I’m not sure if it’s simply the thrill you get from the risk, or something you’re trying to prove to yourself, or what, but if we can’t find a way to rein this in, provide you with some sort of discipline to stop you from pushing boundary after boundary, then we’re going to need to go our separate ways.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa…

Disbelief drew her mouth open. This was spinning out of control. Kurt had been upset before, but something this time had pushed him beyond that event horizon. He was clearly more than just “oh-I’ll-eventually-get-over-myself” upset. And this “we’re going to need to go our separate ways” crap…

What the fuck?

“I can’t do this anymore,” he finished quietly. “I care for you too much to keep going on like this.”

She blinked rapidly. She’d known Kurt cared for her because… because of course he would in the same way she cared for him. It was perfectly normal for friends—especially ones as close as she and Kurt had become—to feel that way. But this was different. There was more to what Kurt had just said than the care one co-worker might have for another, even if they did happen to be fuckbuddies. No, the way he’d said it… he wasn’t just thinking of her like a casual acquaintance. He was intimating far more than that.

And when he used the word discipline…. He’d mentioned it before, and both then and now the sensation that had pricked at her was impossible to ignore. Kurt had spanked her before, belted her before, even flogged her. But that wasn’t what he was talking about right now. No, this… this was something else entirely. This went beyond the kinks they shared in the club or the bedroom.

And all that portended sent a tendril of thrill racing through her. A feeling that was eerily like what she felt every time she took the risks he was railing at her about this very moment.

“I really don’t think,” she said, darting a glance toward Jagger then Mr. Hawkins, “this is the appropriate time to have this conversation.”

“Maybe it isn’t,” Kurt replied, running his hand over his head, “but I won’t put this off forever. I’m serious, Dana; I care about you, but I can’t keep digging you out of holes in the ground. We need to find a way to come to some sort of compromise over this. Things just can’t keep going on the way they have been.”

The room went silent. Kurt’s eyes were fixed on the ground ahead of him, and the way he was clenching his hands made it clear how serious he was. They’d fought before when Dana had gone her own way; and she’d thought what had happened after Argentina had been the worst. But back then, Kurt had simply been angry over what she’d done. There’d never been any mention of consequences, and certainly never any threat of leaving.

That clearly wasn’t the case now. She’d been worried about how to get back across the line she’d stepped over, but until this moment she’d not realized how serious the issue had become.

And she honestly wasn’t sure what to do.

Mr. Hawkins cleared his throat, and both she and Kurt looked up at him.

“You two clearly have some things you need to talk about. I’m going to give you time to do that.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, for now I’m not going to call Dan Forrester and have him throw you in that cell of his over in Porter’s Corner. And I’m going to hold off on calling your boss as well.”

“Thank you,” Dana replied softly.

Mr. Hawkins pointed. “But we aren’t done with this by any stretch. I’m going to give all of us some time to think things over, but when we get back together, it’ll be so I can lay out my terms, my conditions, and my rules.”

He paused, but his gaze didn’t move toward Kurt. No, his gaze remained fixed, boring directly into hers.

“And make no mistake, darlin’. They aren’t negotiable.”

CHAPTER 12

Kurt

“Are you going to come in?”

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