Page 19 of Royal Pain

“Come here. Now.” He beckoned with the same finger from before. I sauntered closer, barely allowing my eyes to drift to the screen. But when I did, my stomach dropped. I had to be honest. What was the point in lying? The evidence was right there in vivid color. “My Instagram account.”

He nodded a few times. “Now, I’ll admit, I’m no expert since I loathe social media. I hire people to take care of it for me. But if I’m not wrong, it would appear there are several photographs of the resort, the place named on every single shot. There are evena couple of the great stripper event, which I allowed to go on, I might add. Now, am I missing something?”

“Um…”

“Look again. Now.”

Of course I had to do as he asked. I felt myself pale, my legs shaking to the point I was fearful I couldn’t stand much longer. “You’re correct.”

“Now, make certain I’m not confused about something. You’re not a member of the Royal Players club and neither are your friends. Correct?”

“Correct.”

“Yet, all five of you were allowed to come as guests because one father or a buddy of his is a member and has been for a long time. Yes?”

“Yes.” I felt nauseous.

Gage nodded again, sitting back in his chair and even folding his arms across his chest as he continued to study me.

Taking his sweet time to say anything else. “And you were required to sign an NDA. There was no misstep there.”

“We all did.”

“So you were told and accepted the rules.”

There was no doubt I was going to vomit at any minute. “Yes, all of us did.”

“Okay. Given you’re highly intelligent women, I’m certain at least one of you read the clause where no one, members orguests or employees, is allowed to post a single picture of the resort. Not the beach. Not the pool. Not the casino. And certainly not a single one of our BDSM rooms. Am I missing anything?”

My heart was thudding so rapidly I felt suffocated. “No. We understood that.”

“Yet, here we are, dozens of very nice to scandalous photos taken of various areas of the club, the name titled on almost every post. I am curious. If you’d been allowed access to the lower floors holding some very precious apparatuses, a location where my members and any guests they brought with them can feel comfortable in enjoying their proclivities. Without fear of being mentioned. Without terror of being recognized. They can just relax and be themselves. Would that have even entered your mind?”

“No. I mean yes!” Oh, God. I was losing my shit.

“Okay, so we have a true dilemma here. By all rights, I should do nothing more than toss you off this island,myisland, and sue you for every single dollar I’m entitled to in the contract. The contract you broke. You lied to me. You acted as if the privacy my members demand wasn’t valid. So one more time. Am I missing anything?”

Stars were floating in front of my eyes. “No. But please don’t toss us off. We’re having such a great time. We love it here and this is Heidi’s last hurrah. If you ask me, I think the man she’s going to marry is a controlling pig and won’t allow her to go out with her friends, but I guess to each their own. Right?” I was babbling now? Groovy.

“Hmmm… I can understand your concern. Then you have a decision to make.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning,” he said as he returned to his feet, “I have the authority to handle discipline an entirely different way.”

He left the damn comment open ended. Was he a sadistic pig or what? “What does that mean?”

“It means that I’m not opposed to handling this situation the old-fashioned way.”

“Just spell it out. Please.”

“O-kay. A good old-fashioned spanking.”

His answer caught me so off guard I wasn’t honestly certain what to think or if I’d heard something imaginary. “A what?”

“You know, being turned over the edge of my desk, your bottom spanked into a shade of crimson?”

I stared at him and I was pretty certain my mouth had dropped open. He was dead serious. Did spankings actually occur any longer, even in families with young kids? Wasn’t that illegal? “I know you’re kidding me because as far as I can tell, you’re not a Neanderthal.”

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