He turned his back and I continued up the main trail, pretending to want privacy.
My heart hammered as I looked over my shoulder to make sure he couldn’t see. Then, without letting myself think about it too much, I darted down the right-hand path as silently as I could.
I moved quickly, almost running, following the narrow trail as it wound deeper into the forest. Behind me, after a minute or so, I could hear Chris calling out.
“Valerie? You okay up there?”
I pressed my lips together, not answering. My pulse raced. The trail began to descend, and I could hear water ahead—the sound of a stream or spring.
“Valerie?” His voice was louder now, tinged with concern. “Answer me, sweetheart.”
I kept going, ducking behind a large boulder near where the trail opened onto a small clearing. And there it was—the sacred spring. A pool of crystalline water surrounded by smooth stones, fed by a small waterfall cascading down the rocks above.
It was beautiful. Magical, even.
“Valerie!” Chris’s voice had changed now. He sounded worried. Frustrated. “This isn’t funny. Where are you?”
I peeked around the boulder and saw him emerge onto the clearing, his head swiveling as he searched for me. His jaw was tight, his hands clenched at his sides.
“Valerie, answer me right now!”
He loved me. I could see it in every line of his body, in the genuine fear in his eyes. He wasn’t angry yet—he was scared something had happened to me.
The realization made my chest ache.
He turned in a circle, calling my name again. Then his whole body went rigid and he turned back the way he’d come, breaking into an almost-run.
He was going to get help. Going to start a search.
Oh, God, what had I done?
“Chris!” I called out, stepping from behind the boulder. “I’m here!”
He spun around, and the look on his face made my blood turn to ice.
The fear was gone. So was the love, at least from the surface. What remained was something cold and hard and absolutely terrifying.
He walked toward me slowly, deliberately, his eyes never leaving mine.
“I thought…” I stammered, my heart pounding so hard I could barely breathe. “I thought we were playing a game?”
The lie was so transparent, so obviously false, that I couldn’t believe I’d even said it.
Chris stopped a few feet away from me. I watched him close his eyes and take a deep breath. Then another. His hands flexed at his sides as he visibly worked to control himself.
Part of me wanted him to lose that control. Wanted him to grab me right here, to punish me immediately for what I’d done. To my horror, the thought made my pussy clench with shameful need.
But he didn’t. He kept breathing, kept working to calm himself down.
I felt a wash of disappointment that I didn’t understand.
Finally, his eyes opened. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and measured.
“Valerie, I think I need to make it completely clear just how unacceptable lying is in my house. I’m going to punish you right here.”
