The silence that hangs in the air seems to indicate that all our thoughts have just gone in exactly the same direction. Quite clearly we are all thinking about that night 8 years ago. Reliving it.

Gideon shifts in his chair and adjusts himself. My breathing is slightly short and the swell of blood in my cöck is urgent, throbbing with the heat of a hundred memories. Charlie looks flushed as she gazes between us both, lingering marginally longer on me before lowering her eyes.

"Fun night," Gideon says breaking the silence. "So, Miss Tennessee kept a copy of the tape and has decided to blackmail us." He nods. "Botany not quite paying what she hoped I take it?"

Charlie looks up and shakes her head. "No. Sara-Lynn gave me the only copy of the tape. When she told me about it I went insane and threatened to sue her for invasion of privacy. She begged me not to press charges. I think she was more embarrassed than I was. "

Gideon sighs loudly. "Okay, as fun as this has been Charlie, exactly how many more brick walls do we hit before you tell us exactly what the fuck is going on here?"

On this one, I can't blame him. I'm as eager as him to get to the bottom of this. I study Charlie, having noticed that in the last moment or two her whole demeanour had changed. Her shoulders tense and stiffen as she nibbles furiously on her lip, struggling to keep eye contact with us.

"None," She says. "I should have called you as soon as I knew what he was going to do. I just... I honestly thought he was bluffing." She whispers, looking down at her hands.

"He?" Gideon and I exclaim, virtually in unison.

"Matthew. He's the one doing this to us." Her whole body seems to deflate as she speaks, as though the space the information had been taking up inside her is now vacant.

I feel my face contort in confusion and I look round at Gideon to see if he's any less perplexed. His eyes are almost black with fury and I can feel the heat of his rage from here. His nostrils are flared and the vein in his temple is threatening to break though his skin. Then something occurs to me and I turn back to her.

"Wait a minute, you said 'us'. Doing this to us?"

She meets my eye, looking tremendously sad. "I got a package too. 3 days ago, sent to the Gallery. Different from yours. The photos are capped to make it look as though I'm enjoying it. A lot. He threatened to send them to my father and every gossip site in the country. 'Senator's daughter in kinky three-way with two of America's most eligible Bachelors' would have quite the repercussions for everyone he said."

"Why the fuck would he do this?" I ask.

"Because I asked for a divorce. Because I left him. Because he thinks I'm having an affair..." She drinks deep of her glass, finishing the contents before slamming it down on the table.

"Are you?" I ask for no reason whatsoever. What the fuck does that have to do with me?

"No," She says, meeting my eye. "I've never been unfaithful to him." The sincerity in her expression is more than evident.

"And he knows the tape is years old?" I ask her.

"Yes."

"Then exactly what does he hope to achieve?" I ask the room more than Charlie.

She shakes her head, shrugs. "He wants to hurt me. I assume he found the tape when he was going through my things. Looking for proof of my infidelity."

"But why send it to us? If this is about hurting you?" Gideon says to Charlie.

"I thought that was obvious?" She says.

"Actually nothing about this is obvious, Charlie," I state.

"Because he thinks it's Gideon I'm having an affair with." She looks at him. "He thinks I'm leaving him for you."

There are a few beats of silence in the room and I hear Gideon make a small noise from low in his throat.

"And me? Where the hell do I come in?" I ask her.

She closes her eyes for a moment. "You're just caught in the Crossfire, I guess. He's on all out destruction mode."

"And why exactly would he think we're having an affair?" Gideon says, running his finger across his bottom lip.

She sighs and runs a manicured hand through her hair again avoiding our eyes. "After we bumped into each other at the Laverne Gala, Matt asked how I knew you. So I told him we'd dated in college for a while and he asked why I'd never told him about that. He immediately seemed suspicious about it. There was absolutely no reason for my not telling him, but he wouldn't let it go.  He kept asking me things.  Things about us, how long we'd been together, why we'd finished it, who had finished it. It was like he became obsessed with the idea. He said I had been acting strange and withdrawn that night and he said it was clearly because there were still feelings there. He thinks that's when it began. It didn't help that you broke your engagement off with Corrine a few weeks later - He read about it online somewhere. A week or so after the Gala I had started meeting with my attorney to discuss the divorce. There was some sneaking around on my part - I guess to him it all added up," she takes a breath. "Five days ago I walked into his office at work and handed him the divorce papers. I told him I hadn't been happy for a long time. That's when he laid it all out. He asked if I was leaving him for you," She looks at Gideon. "When I said he was insane he called me a lying whore and said that he had evidence that would make it very difficult for me to walk out of our marriage unscathed. That he'd contest it every step of the way."

"So if you left him you'd regret it," I say. It's not a question.

"Basically yes." She looks down again and brings her hand up to clutch at her neck. She closes her eyes and swallows once more. "I told him to do his worst. I knew he had nothing because I wasn't having an affair." When she looks up her eyes are wide and shimmering. "When I got up to leave his office he caught me at the door. He slammed me against it and said that I'd tell him the truth or he'd force it out of me." With that, she pulls down the high collar of her dress to expose her neck. The marks are fading but I know that a couple of days ago they'd have been bright red and purple. Today they're greenish/blue and pink.

My fists curl of their own accord as I hear a small growl from Gideon's throat. The bastard had hurt her. Physically harmed her. Not for pleasure or sexual gratification like I had all those years ago, but with force and to cause her actual bodily harm. The rage washes over me like a tidal wave - I feel it in my nose and in my lungs.

"I think he would have killed me. I really think he wanted to kill me. I've never seen him so angry before. I've never seen anyone so angry before." She breathes out and squeezes her eyes shut tight. "In the end, I told him yes, fine. I said I'd been fucking Gideon for months." She shakes her head. "I'd have told him anything to get him to let go." She looks down and I see that she's crying now.  My wild, strong, smart Charlie was crying. It further impounded my rage seeing her like this. I wanted to destroy Matthew Walker. I wanted it to hurt. "I'm so sorry, Gideon. Christian... I never meant for any of this." She stands abruptly and walks quickly from the room towards the bathroom. Gideon and I watch in silence until we hear the bathroom door close behind her. The silence continues for moments until I turn to speak.

"I'll kill him for this," Gideon growls.

"Then we're on the same page."

"He hurt her, Christian. Actually hurt her." There's a surprising amount of tenderness in his voice. Gideon could be volatile, sometimes violent, but with women, I'd always witnessed him be the complete opposite. Caring, tender, and loving. Of course, the only woman I'd ever witnessed him with was now crying in the next room but I knew he abhorred violence against women, as did I. The irony isn't lost on me of course.

I stand. "I'm going to go check on her." I cross the room leaving him sipping at his scotch.

I knock gently on the en-suite bathroom door and press my ear close to it.

"I'm fine," She says from the other side.

"Mind if I come in and check for myself?"

"If you like."

I open the door and poke my head inside. She's braced on the sink, hands clasping the rim of the basin as she stares hard into the mirror like she doesn't quite recognise the person looking back. When she turns her head to look at me she looks calmer than she did next door, however, her eyes are tinged with red and the hair around her face damp where she has splashed water on it.

I feel my chest constrict in pity for her, though I know she'd hate that. I step into the bathroom and close the door softly behind me.

"See. Fine," She says. "Never been better." She smiles before turning back to stare in the mirror. "Christ I look awful."

"You look beautiful. You always do," I say.

When she turns to face me again she looks like the old Charlie, almost - a soft sweet smile plays across her mouth and her eyes glitter. This time not with tears.

"You always did know all the right things to say to me, Christian." She says as I come toward her.

"I'm so sorry, Charlie," I say softly.

"Okay I take that back," She frowns. "You're sorry? My bastard of a husband is blackmailing you and you're apologizing to me?" She says. "Oh my god... did I actually just say that out loud? Jesus..." She presses her palm to her head and squeezes her eyes shut tight.

"We'll sort it. We'll deal with it."

She opens her eyes to give me a withering stare. "No. It's my mess, Christian. I'll sort it."

"Oh and how exactly do you plan to do that? Go back to him?"

She narrows her eyes. "No. But I do know why he's doing it, and it's about more than my perceived infidelity. Trust me."

"Tell me," I command.

She takes a moment before she answers. "What single thing does the most damage in the world?"

"Money," I answer immediately.

She smiles. "My husband isn't just a paranoid bastard. He's a desperate paranoid bastard."

"I have money, Charlie. A lot of it."

"So despite what you said downstairs, you are willing to be blackmailed?" she glowers.

My jaw clenches of its own accord. "I'll pay him if it means that you're safe and happy." Without question, I would do that. Then I'd destroy him.

"It's not your job to make me safe and happy Christian." Her words strike me somewhere, though I'm not sure where.

"I know that," I say. "But let me help you. Let Gideon and I help you. You're strong, we get it. But this isn't just about you now." My tone is too harsh again and so I soften my expression as she continues to glare at me. "What does he want? Financially. How greedy is he?"

She sighs again and runs her hand through her hair. "My father set up a trust fund for me. He's old money and I'm his only child - it's substantial as you can imagine." She sounds bored, depressed even. "I get $32.8 million when I reach thirty, or in my fifth year of marriage. Whichever came first. Guess he figured guys might only want me for my money - he had to make sure they stuck around for a bit." She smiles sardonically. She nods before I get the chance to ask my next question. "Yes, next year would have been our fifth wedding anniversary."

"So if you divorced after that he gets half your inheritance..."

"Well, he would have had the grounds to push for it at least. Sure my father would have had a few things to say about it though." She rolls her eyes.

"There was no pre-nup?"

She shakes her head. "He had an internet start up. He was successful. He had his own money. There didn't seem to be a need. Plus I hated the idea." She seems to visibly shudder.

I sigh. "So what? He has his own money but wants half yours too?" He was a greedy paranoid bastard.

"His company has been haemorrhaging losses for months, he's been looking for investors but the market is unstable as you know. I know he's had offers but he's too attached to sell it completely. He thinks he's being screwed over. I don't know all the details. He never talks to me about it. But I know he's been stressed."

"Stressed? This is a reaction to a work related stress?" I can't hide the disdain in my scathing tone.

"Partly yes," she says.

I shake my head, irritated. "Why the fuck would you marry a man like this, Charlie? Seriously?" I snap. I'm annoyed at her. She could have done better. She was worth more than this despicable bastard. What like you, Grey? A voice inside my head sneers.

She fixes me with a hard stare. "He wasn't like this when we married Christian. He was thoughtful and tender and loving. But he was intense too you know. And smart. He reminded me a lot of..." She stops speaking abruptly. Whatever words she is about to say dying on her tongue. "Anyway. He changed. I'm not sure when or how or why but he's not the man I married."

"Has he ever laid a hand on you before the other day in his office?" I ask. The blood pounds in my ears again as once more I imagine his hands wrapped around her throat.

She shakes her head. "No. Never. I've never seen him like that before."

"But you loved him?" I ask for no particular reason.

She looks surprised by my question and stares at me a long time before speaking. "Never as much as I wanted to." She doesn't look away from my eyes. It could be my imagination, but it feels like she just prevented more words from tumbling out.

"It doesn't sound like he deserved it."

She takes a deep breath and nods once. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you got tangled up in this mess. Gideon too."

"Well, perhaps Gideon and I missed being tangled up with you." I smile, trying to lighten some of the darkness in the cold space.

I'm glad when she smiles back and before I realise what I'm doing, I'm reaching out to her - whether it's because I need to touch her or because I want to comfort her I don't know.

As I do, her eyes seem to ignite with heat, and for a suspended moment the two of us seem to be hovering dangerously close to something. Something more. Something familiar.

As my hand halts midway, close to her cheek I wonder briefly at what point she stopped being in love with me. How long it took her to forget me. Whether like the bastard Walker I ever deserved her love. All pointless questions.

With some degree of difficulty, I lower my hand and slide it deep into my pocket. "We'll fix this. I promise you that." I tell her. She sighs, probably annoyed at my promise to help. Probably feeling weak because of it.

Charlie follows close beside me, as we make our way back through to the lounge where Gideon is on a call on his cellphone. He finishes and stares up at us both, his mouth tilted in curiosity. He stands, and crosses the room to Charlie, taking hold of both her hands. I watch transfixed as he stares deep into her eyes. His stance, towering over her smaller form as he looks at her brings back a lot of memories.

"I'll kill him for hurting you. You know that right?"

She smiles up at him. "Noble Gideon, but you in an orange prison jumpsuit would most likely sell for more than you naked on that tape."

"I couldn't care less either way. Plus I think they might be blue now, and you know blue brings out my eyes." He smirks. A second later his expression is serious again. "You should have told us straight away. What exactly is he trying to achieve here? Does he know who's he's fucking with?"

Charlie looks at me.

"I'll fill you in, Gideon," I turn to Charlie. "Where are you staying right now?"

"I'm in a hotel in The East Village." She says.

"You'll stay at my hotel," Gideon says and goes to take his cell out of his pocket again.

"Why? I like The Bowery. I'm fine there. Plus they do the best olives I've ever tasted outside of Valencia." She smiles.

"Because I want to know you're safe and I can have my people look out for you there. And we ship olives in from Andalusia twice a week."

She rolls her eyes. "Gideon, I've been staying there alone the last five days and I've managed to survive. Matt isn't even in the city at the moment anyway. He's flying back from Japan as we speak." She looks at her silver watch. "He's not home until tomorrow morning."

"We just want to know you're safe," I cut in.

"I appreciate the concern but I'm fine. Plus I'm sure staying at Gideon's hotel won't do much to convince him that we aren't having an affair." She says.

"I don't give a fuck what he thinks," Gideon growls. 'Maybe I should move you into my apartment and piss him off further.'

Charlie shakes her head on a soft laugh.  "So now what? What should I do?" She turns to me.

"I want you to arrange to meet with him," I say. Charlie's eyes flash with surprise, and Gideon's head whips around to face me too. "Here. Tomorrow evening."

"Are you fucking insane?" Gideon glares at me.

"I know what I'm doing," I state. "I'll be with you. Bring your divorce papers with you. This thing will be rectified tomorrow, one way or another, I promise you."

Charlie stares at me hard before finally nodding her head. "Okay. I'll arrange it."

"Try not to worry," I say softly.

"Okay." She says again.

She holds my eyes a long moment before moving toward where she left her coat and purse. She slips on her shoes before walking back towards us. "I have to go, I'm meeting my father for dinner - he's only in town for the night - I'll call you later after I've spoken with Matt," She says to me. "I'm so sorry for this mess. I should have destroyed that tape years ago." She shakes her head again.

"No, you should have sent us both a copy years ago," Gideon smiles.

Charlie smiles back - it's a youthful, carefree smile like it used to be. My chest tightens a little and I feel a weird sensation in my stomach, as though it's filled with nesting birds.

I watch as she leans up on her tiptoe and kisses Gideon lightly on the cheek. I'm momentarily frightened that she's going to do the same to me and that I won't be able to control myself, or deal with it like a normal person and so I move away from her towards the door to show her out. She comes toward me and stops in the doorway to look up at me. Before she gets the chance to say or do anything I lean forward, and still gripping the door with both hands I press my lips gently against her cheek, just on the outskirts of her mouth.

The scent of her skin is the same. Floral and sweet, and somehow like nostalgia - if that had a smell. The smooth warm surface of her face makes my mouth water with a desperate need to taste her. So I still wanted her - at least that much was clear now. Pity I still didn't know what it meant. Did I want her as my submissive? Charlie was no submissive. Maybe in bed she could be willing but she'd never be the kind of submissive I needed. And even if she was, after what she'd been through with her bastard of a husband... No Grey. Just no.

"Thank you." She whispers as I pull back from her. I grip the door harder, almost painfully so, to stop from touching her. I want to touch her.

I nod. "Call me later with a time for tomorrow."

"I will." She nods stepping out of the suite.

I watch her walk gracefully down the hall towards the elevator and when she reaches it she turns back to look at me. The look she gives me makes me grip the door even harder, to a point where I'm certain I hear the wood creak. We stare at each other for a few moments before she turns her head. When I close the door and turn to face Gideon, I find him with his hands in his pockets regarding me curiously.

"I'd forgotten what being the third wheel felt like," he says.

"What are you talking about?" I frown.

He laughs. "Cut the crap. The two of you have been eye fucking each other since you walked in the door."

"Nonsense. You heard what she said," I walk across the room. "It was all a long time ago. None of it matters anymore."

"Yeah, that's definitely what she said. Doesn't change the fact that you both clearly still want to fuck each other's brains out though."

"Her getting involved with me isn't likely to help matters, Gideon."

"Her getting involved with someone who'll treat her right would help her, Christian." He says.

I sit down on the sofa and run my hand across my face and through my hair.

"You don't know what you're talking about." I close my eyes.

"You're in denial. Just like back then." He sits down across from me again, in Charlie's chair. "Or was it me who was in denial back then."

I stare at him. "Gideon this is your ex-girlfriend. I'm not entirely sure why you're encouraging this given I'm the reason you two broke up in the first place."

"Now that was a long time ago. I'm over it, trust me," He says. "We were never right for each other anyway. I see that now."

"Yes well, I'm not right for her either, trust me." I say quietly.

"I don't know..." he says quietly, meeting my eye.

"No, you don't know. You don't know anything about me. You think she needs someone to treat her right?" I almost laugh. "Well, that's not me."

He says nothing. Just studies me intently. The weight of his stare makes me feel exposed and uncomfortable and I've been exposed in front of Gideon before. Eight years ago. I didn't particularly enjoy his eyes dissecting me from the inside out. Not for the first time, I wonder how he'd feel about me doing to Charlie what I've done to fifteen other women. How would his protective streak fare then?

"So, what are we gonna do about Walker?" he says breaking the silence. I'm grateful for the change in subject. "What do you have to fill me in on?"

I relate to him what Charlie told me about the conditions of her father's trust fund, to which he gives a raised eyebrow and a disgusted snort. I tell him I'm going to dig up every thing I can about Walker's company - which he informs me is in fact called UPic - before having my lawyer find out how much it would cost to save and how far it is away from collapse. All the details I'll need for the next part of the plan.

"Why the fuck would she marry this bastard?" He mutters angrily under his breath. The same question I'd asked her.

"What? Because her taste in men was always of an acutely high standard wasn't it?" I say raising an eyebrow.

"Speak for yourself, Grey."

I roll my eyes and pull out my blackberry to send an email to Philip asking him to call when he's somewhere private as I need an amended non-disclosure agreement prepared. I also tap out one to Welch asking him to gather everything he can on Matthew Walker and Upic global. When I finish and place my phone on the table, Gideon is staring at me with a strange look on his face.

"I should have told you," He says quietly. "When you called me from Seattle saying you weren't coming back - I should have told you about Charlie. About how she felt about you." He looks down guiltily.

"How would that conversation have gone exactly? My girlfriend is in love with you. You should give her a call sometime maybe," I frown. "Don't be ridiculous, Gideon."

"I was cruel that day. When she told me. Things I said. Things I regret now. I hated you both. As fucking paranoid as Walker probably," His voice is heavy and low and it makes me turn my head. "but maybe if I hadn't been such a selfish bastard she'd have ended up with you and not him."

"I'd been fucking a friend of my mothers for years at that point." I'm not entirely sure why I just said the words. To help him with his guilt? To help with my own feeling of loss?

His eyes widen with surprise. "What? Seriously?"

I nod.

"Wow. That explains a lot." He rubs his hand over his mouth.

"Yes. So I wouldn't have known what to do with a girl like Charlie." I say. It feels true. It still does.

We are both silent for a long time. I think about that night. I think about what I'd have done if she had revealed her feelings before I'd gone back to Seattle. Or even after. Could she have replaced Elena in my life? Would I have been the man I am today if not for Elena? The kind of man I was? Who had really forged me into the man I was today? The crack whore? My parents? Elena? Or had I gotten here by myself?

So many questions that I really wasn't able to answer under the influence of scotch and the lingering scent of nostalgia. I'd probably never be able to answer them. It didn't matter I suppose. There was no changing who you were. People never truly changed.

"So..." Gideon starts turning to me. "Is it just me who really wants to see that fucking tape?" His eyes are light and mischievous and I can't help but smile.

I run my hand over my mouth. "I'm definitely a little curious," I say with a slight nod.

***

Later after Gideon leaves, I take another shower and somehow resist the urge to masturbate whilst thinking of the scent of Charlie's skin and how it felt against my lips. Instead, I think about all the possible outcomes I could serve to her husband. I want to destroy him, and I want it to hurt. He thought losing out on half of his wife's inheritance was painful, then let him choke on what the takeover and eventual dissolution of his beloved company would do to him.

I'd googled him after Gideon had left and realized I recognised him from a piece I'd read in 'Tech World' a few months back. It was an article on what they'd called the "young start-up pack'. I'd judged him to be a good-looking Zuckerberg - except without the apparent infallibility. Walker's company was failing. Others were now branching out into the instaphoto sharing platform. It wasn't unique anymore - he should have sold it long before now. He'd been offered numerous takeover/mergers by several larger social media giants in the last two years but had refused them all. No doubt holding out for a better deal. An egomaniac clearly.

An angled face, light brown hair and deep-set navy blue eyes. Charlie was a goddess next to him and how the hell he'd managed to get her to marry him, I'd no idea. Though I'd also watched an interview with him, and found him smart, credible and articulate with a dry wit. That must have been what she saw. It worried me that if I had met him under other circumstances I might even have liked him - without knowing what a despicable bastard he was.

After the shower I pour a large glass of Sancerre - mindfully observing that I'd drunk far too much today - fucking New York. I order a room service steak and take a seat at the dining table to review the redrafted NDA from my lawyer and the details I had Welch send me about Walker's company and personal financials.

The knock on the door is quiet and I wouldn't have heard it had I had the TV up any louder. I pad across the room, my stomach growling as I do - the steak here is sublime. Pulling open the door I find that I'm not faced with my dinner. Instead, and far more appealing, is the sight of Charlie, eyes wide sparkling, and gloriously green and her cheeks delightfully flushed. She's changed out of her earlier black dress and is wearing a dark green one that hugs her body and stops just above the bare skin of her knee. She has a red patterned scarf draped artfully around her neck. A scarf I know is not just for fashion.

"Hi." She smiles. "Not interrupting anything am I?" she glances into the suite behind me.

"No." I shake my head. She nods looking relieved and then smiles again.

"Mind if I come in?"

My mind seems to play over lots of scenarios of what might happen if I invite her in. All in fast forward, all involving lots of skin, and hard fast breaths and deep moans, both female and male. As my cock throbs in need, I step back into the room, hoping the loose grey slacks I have on are hiding what's happening between my legs.

"Come in," I say.

She walks past me into the suite and I close the door behind her. When I turn round to face her she's staring at me, lips wet and delicious. I want to kiss her. Hard.

"So I walked around for a bit after dinner, mainly to clear my head. Before I knew it I was here," She shrugs softly. "But I can go if you're busy."

"I already said that you weren't interrupting." I'm just planning how to destroy your husband's company and salvage the pieces for myself - which can wait. "Would you like a drink?"

"I've already drunk way too much today. This week actually. And this month," She smiles and runs her had casually through her hair. "So yes why not. Wine looks good."

I smile and move to pour her a drink. "You spoke to him?"

"What? Oh yes," she nods. "He'll be here tomorrow at 6:30 pm."

"Good," I say.

"What are you going to do Christian?" She asks.

"I'm going to make him pay. For even thinking about trying to destroy me and my friends. But mainly for hurting you." My voice is dark.

She says nothing as I walk toward her and hand her the glass of chilled Sancerre. As she takes a sip I watch her mouth and her throat and her eyes until she swallows and then I do the same. Sipping slowly without looking away from her.

"Why are you here Charlie?" I ask as I swallow.

"I told you. I wanted to walk and suddenly I was here." Her breathing is hitched and the blush has deepened on her cheeks. When she looks down, away from my eyes a familiar surge of power flows through me.

"Now tell me the truth," I command.

She looks back, biting her lip as she holds my eyes. Slowly she takes another sip of her wine. "You're the smartest guy I've ever known Christian. Don't pretend otherwise." She says.

Her compliment warms me. "Say it out loud."

She smiles as she recognises Gideon's words from all those years ago. "I'm here because I want you. Because I want to be fucked by you and held by you. I've wanted it since the moment you turned around in the gallery. No, I've wanted it for eight years."

"Charlie..." I warn. Though my pulse has quickened exponentially and I'm almost completely hard.

"Tell me it's not what you want and I'll go. I'll leave right now. I'm not above humiliation Christian," she says almost painfully.

I put my glass down on the table and walk the two strides to her. I take her face in my hands and kiss her rough and hard. She moans against my mouth and slides her tongue against mine, sucking it deeply. I sense what she's about to do before she does it, and I move my hand down to capture her free one in mine, holding it tight whilst I hold her face with the other. She tastes of heat and sweetness just like I remember, and I take my time with her mouth before I release her. My unwillingness to let go is matched by her own small groan of annoyance as I pull away.

"Well, that was.... humiliating." She says breathing hard.

"Your mouth is magnificent," I whisper as I gaze at it.

"You said that to me before. A long time ago."

"Oh, you remembered that?" I smile.

"I remember everything about that night. Like it was yesterday."

I swallow hard as the depth of feeling and barrage of memories threatens to overwhelm me. She was in love with me.

"It meant a lot to me too," I say quietly, grazing her mouth softly with my thumb.

"Did it?" She asks sounding breathless. Surprised maybe, or aroused. Hopefully both.

"Yes. You have no idea just how much." I fix her with a hard look because I want her to understand.

She smiles then. It's seductive, yet innocent, and her eyes seem to swim with liquid heat. "So tell me. Tell me what it meant to you."

I stare deep into her eyes. Could I? Could she ever truly understand? Certainly, if I was going to give her what she wanted tonight then I had to at least try. I had to try and explain why eight years ago I'd tied her and fucked her before disappearing completely from her life. She had to know who I was now, who she'd helped me become.

I cast my mind back again, welcoming in the memories of the first time I'd kissed her and held her and fucked her. That seemed like a good place to start.