Page 10 of Claiming His Prize

“Hello,” she said with forced cheerfulness. “Dinner’s ready! Perfect timing!”

She gave him a quick, hard kiss before rushing away to the kitchen, hoping he didn’t see her guilt. Diana engaged him in conversation, hopefully distracting him. The damned man was usually way too good at reading Allison’s emotions for her comfort, especially in situations like this, where she was feeling too flustered to cover up anything she didn’t want him to see.Diana managed to keep him from coming into the kitchen long enough for Allison to get herself under control and start filling up the plates with dinner.

It was a fun meal once she managed to get her heart rate under control.Despite the fact Diana still had the urge to constantly prod Todd, trying to get reactions from him, the two of them had worked out a pretty amicable friendship. In fact, they acted more like siblings than anything else, with Diana in the part of the annoying younger sister, who wanted to get her brother’s attention.No set-down ever kept her down for long.

Todd told them about a new project he was assigned at work. He wasn’t in charge, but he was the second in command, and the guy whowasin charge was acting more as a mentor than a lead. Her heart swelled with pride as she listened, knowing exactly how hard he’d worked to get into this kind of position. Even if some of the details were incredibly boring, she thought it was really cute how excited he got about all of it and knew it was a really great opportunity for him, showing upper management, he was ready to move on to bigger and better things within the company.

Since she was only working part-time, Allison had hit the ceiling for how far she could go in her own position, which was okay because she wasn’t sure she wanted to stay in Human Resources. It was great experience, but she’d really prefer to do something in communications. Not like Todd did, with his flair for marketing, but something like writing out the explanation of someone else’s ideas or copy-editing.

Fortunately, that was something she didn’t really need to decide until closer to graduation, although she would be putting in applications before she was done with school. Todd had suggested it, and she thought it was a good idea. Although she’d like at least a week between the end of school and starting a new job, it definitely didn’t hurt to try to get a jump on things.

After dinner, he offered to do the dishes, but Allison and Diana sent him upstairs since he’d already had a long day of work and hadn’t had a chance to change out of his clothes. Plus, it gave them more of a chance to continue their own whispered conversation under the cover of running water and clinking dishes. Tonight, more than once, Allison had seen thatlookin his eye and wanted to know if Diana had seen it, too.

“Allison.”

Todd’s deep voice, laced with more than a hint of steel punctured the air. Even though he hadn’t spoken loudly, there was a great deal of menace in his tone. Allison shut off the water and turned to face him.He only used that particular tone when she’d done something wrong, and when she turned and saw the expression on his face, sheknewhe knew. She just didn’t know how.

“Yes?” she asked, her voice wavering.

For once, the irrepressible Diana seemed to be unsure of what to do. She shifted her weight next to Allison, shooting little glances at Todd, the way a gazelle might look at a lion on a faraway hill, wondering if the lion was hungry and if running would make one safer or just attract attention.

“Would you like to explain to me why the door to our… ah… special room was left open?”

She couldn’t help it.Even though she wasn’t trying to pass the blame, she glared at Diana.Seriously?!

Diana winced. “Sorry.” She looked at Todd. “Allison didn’t go into the sex room, just me.”

Rolling his eyes as if asking for patience from the heavens, Todd let out a sigh, but Allison also saw his mouth twitch when Diana called it a ‘sex room.’

“Following the letter of the law if not the spirit. Why am I not surprised?” It was amazing how Todd could make her feel like a naughty little girl with just a look.Allison bit her lip and shifted from side to side. “Stay here.” Turning on his heel, Todd walked from the kitchen, his stride worryingly purposeful.

Allison and Diana shared a look.

“What do you think he’s doing?” Diana whispered, actually sounding worried.Considering how curious she’d been about the room, Allison had a feeling the best punishment Todd could have devised was not letting Diana know what was going through his head. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any better idea than Diana did. She’d never seen Todd react quite that way.

“I have no idea. Come on, let’s finish the dishes.”Maybe being industrious would give her a bit of a reprieve.

The little Asian suddenly scowled as she helped Allison with the dishes.

“He’d better not think he can do anythingmejust because he spanks you.Roger would throw a fit.”

Despite herself, Allison felt a stab of jealousy at the idea of Todd punishing Diana.

“Does Roger spank you?”

To her surprise, Diana’s cheeks got a little red. With her slightly darker skin, that meant she wasreallyblushing.

“Once or twice.”

“Did you like it?”

“Yes.” Diana looked over her shoulder to make sure Todd wasn’t there to overhear. “Although he’s nowhere near as rough with me as you’ve told me Todd is with you. But I think he might be headed that way, eventually… Hereallyliked it.”

“At least he’s doing it at all.”Allison was having trouble picturing gentle, loving Roger as a disciplinarian.Sure, he’d shown flashes of wanting something rougher, of being a dominant alpha male when they were together, but he’d been fighting against that part of himself.While she realized he must have changed a little in his new relationship—because that’s what Diana wanted and she wouldn’t have stayed in it otherwise—Allison was still having trouble picturing him doing it. On the other hand, that was probably for the best. She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to picture what Roger and Diana got up to in the bedroom.

Silence fell over the kitchen as they finished the dishes, each lost in their own thoughts. Diana kept nervously glancing toward the doorway where Todd had disappeared as if she doubted whether or not he might punish her. For herself, Allison was pretty sure Diana wasn’t in trouble with Todd, although she was and had no doubt, whatever discipline he chose, it would be creative.

When Todd finally strode back into the kitchen, both girls were more than a little on edge. If he had meant to make them suffer by waiting for the blow to fall, he’d definitely achieved that. Diana looked even more anxious than Allison felt—it was pretty obvious, she wasn’t very used to waiting foranything.

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