Three and a Half Weeks(20)

I nod and back out of the door, anxious to be free of this worry, even if only for a little while.



I have a salad for dinner and am lounging on the sofa with a glass of wine when Aretha starts singing her heart out. Squinting at the number on my cell, I don’t recognize it right away but I answer it anyway. “Hello?”

“Ella, it’s Stephen. I’m on my friend’s phone because mine is misbehaving. I wanted to update you so you wouldn’t continue to angst over it. “Jackson and I had a protracted talk and we both think you and Mr. Blackmon should meet face to face and discuss how best to go forward. Since I already had your approval on this course of action and he had Mr. Blackmon’s, we set up a dinner meeting for the two of you for tomorrow evening at eight. Is that doable?”

“So soon?” My throat begins to constrict.

“Ella, the sooner we reach a resolution, the sooner all this unpleasantness goes away. No?”

“Yes, of course. Where will we meet?”

“I’ve given your cell number to Jackson to give to Mr. Blackmon. Expect a call from him either tonight or tomorrow morning. Good luck, Ella, and please feel free to step away and call me if the need should arise. Also, don’t agree to anything until you run it by me first. Are we clear?”

“Yes. Thank you, Stephen. Have a good night.”

“You, too, Ella.”





Chapter 5




He stares at the number Jackson had given him. How many times over the past year did he want to call her? And now? Now she is expecting his call, ready to set up a meeting with him, to discuss their little problem. Ian leans back in his leather chair, gazing up at the ceiling, allowing himself—finally—to reflect on the past year. It still stings.

He’d known he’d made a grave error the moment he saw Ella’s face afterward. After he… lashed her… with a fucking single tail. God, but it was such a stupid decision on his part. He’d been trying to introduce her to his sensual way of life, attempting to show her how pleasure and pain can so easily overlap, mingle seamlessly even, providing they’re delivered by an experienced Dominant—which he was. But he’d done it while in a poor frame of mind and he’d rushed it: she wasn’t nearly ready for that level of pain and he succeeded only in terrifying her. She must have thought him a monster.

He’d decided to wait a few days before calling her again. It had cut him to the quick to let her run from him that night, but he dared not risk making any more mistakes with her. Cultivating relationships obviously wasn’t his strong suit since he rarely had any involving deep affection—he was picking his way through the dark. Adding to this volatile mix was the fact that she had been entirely innocent when they met—virginal, for God’s sake. So he let things lie, hoping she’d be able to process the experience and then come back to talk about it—at the very least.

Those three days were torturous for him. So many times he began to punch in her number so he could hear her lyrical voice. Several days later, he could not tolerate waiting any longer and called her, but by then her cell phone had been disconnected. Panicked, he went by Mariah’s condo and she told him that Ella had moved out of the country. In three days? Impossible, but obviously Mariah had no intention of telling him where Ella really was, so he had to try tracking her down himself. His efforts, however, proved fruitless.

Two weeks later he caved and hired a private detective. The man worked quickly and efficiently and his call came a day and a half later.

“Mr. Blackmon? This is Allan Larson. I tracked down Ms. Strong, sir. I’m putting the case file into a manila envelope and sending a messenger with it to your office tomorrow morning but I thought you might like an immediate report.”

“Yes, Mr. Larson, please.”

“Ariel Strong has indeed left the country, sir. She is presently residing in the United Kingdom where she will shortly be attending classes at Cambridge University. Apparently she was awarded a fellowship to study at the esteemed institution. She left Oregon state exactly one week before you initially contacted me, so she’s been overseas only a little over a week. As far as I could ascertain, her stay is for a finite period of one year, however, she appears to have shut down her life in Portland before she left, closing bank accounts, disconnecting her cell phone service, and leaving no forwarding address for herself, though she did provide her mother’s address for next of kin, so I was able to obtain that as well.

“I have secured for you her present location in Cambridge but I was unable to gain access to any telephone number in her name. It’s all in the report, sir.”