He grabbed her so forcefully that she dropped her luggage. He all but dragged her up the stairs. He stopped on the second floor landing, where there was a bench. He sat down, threw her over his knee, lifted her dress, pulled down her panties, and was about to spank her bare ass. He was going to teach her a lesson about defying him if it was the last thing he did.
But Roz wasn’t having it. She wiggled and pushed and turned to break herself free. Her ass was like a moving target, because Mick could not get an aim on it. They were so loud on that landing that many of the downstairs staff, including the chef, had come out into the living room area. The maids, who had shut themselves up in the parlor, came out too. They couldn’t see what was going on upstairs, but they knew it was bad.
Although Mick was determined to teach Roz a lesson, Roz was even more determined not to allow Mick to teach her shit. She did all she could to break free. But Mick was far too strong. He applied the pressure he needed to commence his spanking.
Roz braced herself for the impact as Mick lifted his hand. But as he sat there, with her across his lap, he came to himself and realized what he was about to do. So he was going to spank her now? Was this how he was going to handle all their disagreements? By forcing his will on her? By hurting her?
And he knew he couldn’t do it. He could never harm a hair on her head. He put his hand down, and released her from his grasp.
Roz hurried up from his lap, reassembled her clothes, and looked at him with fury in her eyes. And she left his side and hurried back downstairs.
Mick realized his error almost immediately. He realized his strong arm tactics might have just sealed their fate without realizing he was even damaging it. And he panicked.
“Rosalind!” he yelled, as he hurried behind her. “Rosalind!”
His staff was dumbstruck with disbelief when they saw the great Mick Sinatra run down those stairs chasing after some woman. They knew they could lose their jobs just for standing there, but it was like rubbernecking at a terrible wreck: they couldn’t take their eyes away. The idea that their boss, looking like some bewildered lover, would allow a woman to reduce him to that level, amazed them. She was in trouble now. They were certain of it. Mick Sinatra was not going to let a woman handle him the way she was handling him, and live.
But when Mick caught up to Roz just as she was about to hurry out of the front door, and he grabbed her again, Roz saw something different in his eyes. He was not the man who dared to be defied this time. He was not beating his chest and ready to spank her ass because she wouldn’t go along with him. All she saw was pain.
“Don’t leave like this,” he pleaded with her. “Please. I let my fear get the best of me. I was out of line, Rosalind. I’m sorry.”
Roz was stunned as she stood there.
“I thought I was teaching you a lesson,” he admitted. “But I was wrong. I should have known you can take care of yourself. You can make your own decisions. You don’t need me to teach you shit.” A distressed look appeared on his face. “I’m the one who will have to learn.”
But Roz started shaking her head. She knew he’d never been in this kind of intense relationship before. She knew they would have growing pains. But she also knew she had to make it clear that he was not going to disregard her. “You’re learning a lesson about our relationship, Mick,” she said. “But you’re learning the wrong lesson. You can teach me many things. But the one thing you can’t do is treat me as if I’m one of your men.”
Mick stared at her. She could tell he was truly listening to her. So she kept talking. “You have to respect me enough to know that I’m not trying to usurp your authority or wear the pants in our relationship or anything close to that. I know there will be many times when I’m going to have to do what you tell me to do despite what I want. And I will do it. But this isn’t about what I want. This is about other people, and what I promised to deliver to them. I thought they would accept Marge. They always have when she subbed in for me. But they haven’t accepted her as their permanent instructor. And I can’t just say tough and bump it. I’ve got to do something about it. I have to go and finish the term.”
Mick exhaled. He knew she was being who she was: a woman of conviction. He didn’t want her to go, but if staying meant compromising herself, he wouldn’t have it any other way. But he still worried about her.
Then Roz did something she never dreamed she would ever do. She asked for his permission. “Can I go, Mick?” she asked.
Mick stared into her gorgeous eyes. He stared into the eyes of the woman who could destroy him, not with weapons, but just by leaving him. And he was going to do everything in his power to do right by her. But his number one job was still to protect her, and to keep her safe. “Only on one condition,” he said to her.
She stared at him. “What?”
“You stay at the Carson. You stay in my penthouse where I’ll know my men can keep you safe.”