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table, not neatly hanging from the wall? A pair of panties, crumpled and tossed aside? My eyes searched for any evidence that Alexander was with another submissive, but if he was, the room didn’t tell any tales. It just seemed very empty and though it was spotlessly clean, a testament to the competence of Alexander’s cleaning staff, it felt disused.
    I stepped into the room, my fingers tracing the crops on the wall, the wooden frame of the spanking bench. My eyes rested on the chains that hung from the ceiling.
    “You know,” a voice spoke. A familiar voice, one whose smooth, smoky tones made my heart beat faster. “I would have sworn you’d be in the library.”
    “Alexander,” I breathed, turning towards him.
    I was seeing him for the first time in eighteen months. My eyes drank him in, devoured every detail. The brilliant blue of his eyes, the sexy dimples that flashed into view when he smiled. The stubble that covered his jaw. The hair that I ached to run my fingers through, those full lips that I longed to kiss.
    Yet I hesitated, refusing to close the distance between us. He’d sent me away, shattering my heart into a million tiny fragments in the process. I’d agreed to come with Jean-Luc; I’d picked Alexander’s side over Lucien’s without even thinking about it. But though I still yearned for him, I wasn’t about to make the first move. I needed him to invite me back into his arms.
    However my predominant emotion was relief. After Jean-Luc’s story of the assassination attempt in Hanoi, I was just glad to see him in one piece and to hear the sound of his voice. I blinked back the sudden tears from my eyes.
    “Ellie,” he said softly. “You’re okay. Thank heavens… I was so afraid.”
    “Me too,” I whispered. “Tell me what’s going on.”
    His lips twitched in a very familiar grin, one that put those sexy dimples of his on display. “ Cherie ,” he replied. “Surely in this room, you should remember to say please. ”
    My insides did a little flip-flop at that. Oh, I wanted him, but questions needed answering before anything could happen and I needed clarification on where we stood and what we wanted from each other.
    I needed to have a better handle of what lay ahead before I could lose myself in his body. I folded my arms in front of me and I looked stubborn.
    “Let’s go downstairs,” he said, taking in my expression. “I’ll pour you a drink and I’ll tell you everything I know.”

Chapter 4
    Alexander:
    We settled on the couch in the living room, across from each other. Both of us held glasses of red wine in our hands. She took a sip of her drink while she waited for me to talk.
    I couldn’t take my eyes off her face. For eighteen months, all I had to do was close my eyes and she was there. Her face had haunted both my dreams and my waking hours and even though she’d been all I could think about, I was still unprepared to see her again. She took my breath away. She had always done that, right from the first time I set my eyes on her.
    She looked as beautiful as she had been that first day. Her body was a seductive combination of soft curves and taut muscle. Her hair was once again the blazing red tangle of curls that I remembered from that night in Saint Denis. Her eyes were a little tired, but she’d once told me she was always jetlagged after a journey. The trip to Paris had drained her and this was only the start. Until we sorted this business out, we were going to be on the run.
    “Three weeks ago, I was in Hanoi,” I started. “Routine business, nothing special. Then, as Jean-Luc has already would have told you, someone tried to kill me. I wasn’t hurt but a member of my security team took a bullet for me. Luke.”
    She inhaled sharply, her expression concerned. “He’s okay,” I reassured her. “No major harm done.” I closed my eyes. The bullet had missed Luke’s heart by millimeters. It had been close. Too close.
    “And Lucien was responsible?” Her