I kept my cool and just brushed it off...smiled and said a quick "Ooops...my bad...sorry!" and went about my business like nothing happened.
Bomb, you've been doing real good but it's time to crank it up a notch.
The only area that I can see improvement is to stop apologizing for being a man and quit tip toeing around the egg shells.
You did the right thing by giving her a love-pat on her ass and saying what you said.
In that moment, you showed her you were a strong, confident and cheeky man. She challenged you on it and you crumpled by apologizing. You should have laughed off any objection she had.
I suspect that the major reasons why DB success rates for men are so poor is because DBing puts men on the defensive at a time when they should be on the offensive and their mission should be to reclaim their role as the man.
Women DBers can afford to go on the defensive and apologize for their shortcomings and gain respect for doing so. That doesn't work for men and the opposite occurs.
