Nicholas actually looked surprised. “Done. Make a list of what you do not like and what you would like to eat. It does have to be good food, not snack food.”
“Agreed,” Allie said quickly. “If I gain five more pounds I get the seven hours! Oh, and Pizza should not be considered snack food.”
“Agreed,” Nicholas said. “You will continue to eat, exercise, and rest every day. If you exceed your hours on the computer, or neglect your other health priorities there will be repercussions. Agree?”
“What kind of repercussions?” Allie demanded suspiciously.
Nicholas gave her a sidelong look. “The kind, that lands on your pretty, little bottom.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“I will not stop being who I am,” Nicholas said sternly. “If you come under my protection, my love and guidance, you have to accept that love sometimes needs a firm hand to correct or discipline. Agree or not?”
“Can’t we agree that I’m a grown woman and grown women shouldn’t be spanked?” Allie demanded.
“No,” Nicholas countered.
“That’s not negotiating,” Allie hissed angrily.
Nicholas turned her around to face him. “Yes, it is. Because if you were listening instead of being stubborn you would have noticed a word has been added and that word is ‘love.’ When I spank you it because I care about you, and I love you. That makes the difference. If you do not put your well-being in jeopardy there will be no spankings.”
Allie looked at him in surprise. “You think you’re in love me?”
Nicholas shook his head. “No, not think, I know I love you. I have known that since the moment I laid eyes on you. Still, we have a lot of things to resolve to make this relationship work. The biggest two issues being your submission to my control and changing your workaholic bad habits. Now, do you agree?”
Allie looked confused. “Hold on, I got sidetracked. What were we… oh yeah? All right, I agree. I don’t like it and I’m agreeing under protest, but I agree. I’m can’t promise that I won’t lam you in the head with a lamp for being a macho Neanderthal either!”
Nicholas gave his head a slight shake. “I’m not sure that’s in the spirit of agreement, but since I am considerably bigger than you, I’ll take it.
“That time limit thing does count when they come,” Allie exclaimed. “I’ve already said I don’t know if I can control that, so I don’t know if a four-hour or seven-hour limit is possible. It probably isn’t. I can’t make a guarantee, because I don’t know.”
“We will work on that together,” Nicholas promised. “You will never be alone when they come again. Never! Even if you can’t learn to control them, I can control you and keep you from hurting yourself. Understood?”
Allie nodded her head although she didn’t like the idea that he wanted to control her.
“What else? Aw, yes,” Nicholas said. “I will miss dressing you in terms of purchasing your clothing, but I maintain the right to continue buying you lingerie and pretty things that I think will look good on you. I enjoy doing that and it gives me pleasure. Also, I get some input on what you purchase to wear. I maintain at this point in time, that I have better taste in clothing than you do, and I will not have you dressing as a hoyden.”
Allie’s head snapped up. “I will not be given orders. I am an adult. I do not like being told what to do, being told what you will allow or not allow. You’re not my parent. It makes me angry.”
Nicholas looked a bit angry himself at the denial of his authority, but he simply nodded.
Allie returned the nod, having made her point and went back to the negotiations. “I understand that you don’t like me dressing like a boy. It’s probably a habit I should have taken more effort to correct myself, but it’s so much easier. I’ve never cared about what I was wearing and I don’t particularly like shopping for clothing. I will need some jeans, sweats, and sneakers for hiking and messing around.”
Nicholas smiled and kissed her. “I agree, with one exception. I get to dress or undress you whenever I want during our private moments provided that you are agreeable in those moments.”
Allie smiled. “I agree. I think we have negotiated a deal.”
Nicholas kissed her. “I believe we have.” He mentally noted nowhere in the negotiations had Alexandria once mentioned leaving the island or him.
Chapter 7
Nicholas Dyonysus opened his office door and with surprise, hugged his best friend. “Macland, you have finally decided to come home. How long was it this time, six weeks?”
“Seven,” Macland admitted. “We were getting so much good work done, I kept extending, but most of crew had to return to their jobs so it dwindled down to the three of us and when the anesthesiologist had to leave, well, that was it. Regina and I couldn’t do everything by ourselves. Most people don’t have the luxury that we do, of not having to earn a living. I’ll start working on setting up volunteers for the next mission. Are you in for the overrun costs? I went considerably over budget this time by extending our mission time, but if you don’t want to pick up the tab, I’ll kick it in”
Nicholas nodded unconcerned. “Cost is not an issue. It’s covered.
“How is my patient doing? Is she still here?”
“You know how she’s doing right down to the last set of blood tests. Yes, she’s still here.”
“I’d like to meet her this time, and examine her again,” Macland said.
Nicholas looked over at the clock. “Move over to that chair in the corner, and you’ll get a ringside seat. She’ll be in here in about 45 seconds.”
Macland moved to the chair that was partially blocked by a standing screen.
A scream ripped through the space and then a war cry. “Nicholas!” Allie slammed through his office door in high temper. “Nicholas! You can’t keep doing that! I have work to complete!”
Nicholas leaned forward and put his chin on his interlinked fingers. “Did you not get a ten minute warning on your computer screen?”
“Yes!” she screamed. “It’s not enough time!”
“We have an agreement and you keep trying to push past it. Two times already this week, you have gone past the five-hour time limit. One more time and you lose your computer for a whole day.”
“No!”
“Yes. You are also sending your meals back virtually untouched. That is also breaking the agreement. We agreed to a change in food, and my kitchen staff has complied with your requests for American food. You are not eating enough.”
“Lousy, stinking big mouths, why can’t they mind their own business?” Allie snapped.
“Because, I pay my staff very well to spy on you. Alexandria you are on a brink. If you lose another half-pound this week, you will lose time and be back to four hours a day.”
Allie let out a feral growl. “This is so unfair! You keep changing the rules!”
“I am not changing the rules, it is you that keeps pushing past your limits,” Nicholas countered. “You agreed to those terms. I suggest you go back into your suite, order another lunch, something extra, and actually eat it.”
Allie jumped up on the edge of his desk. “Be nice to me, I am a woman on the brink of crashing a lamp over your hard head. Nicholas, you promised to stop being such a hard-ass.”
“You promised to clean up your language among a dozen other promises that you keep trying to break. I’m keeping track of your misdemeanors, and there will be a reckoning.” Nicholas threatened.
Allie ignored his threat. “Well, I’m sure Christina is really pleased with me. I was in the middle of a Skype call with her when the computer shut down.”
“She is your editor, she works for you. You don’t work for her.”
Allie gave him a look of disbelief. “Only in your world, Nicholas, do you get to snap out orders and everyone scurries around doing exactly what you want at your command. Working with an editor is a symbiotic relationship. She generally gets what she wants, I, in turn, have to make her believe
that what I want works better. We’ve been working together for years. This is only the first volley.”
“What did she want?”
“She wants a new Amber MacWilliams book ahead of schedule and she wanted me to rewrite the most crucial section of the last Jake Shane submission. She said it was too technical and wanted me to dumb it down.” Allie squinted.
“What were your responses?
“On the Amber MacWilliams, I told her to take a flying leap that I had another month left on my contract before the next one was due. The truth is I have another one ready, so she’ll win on that one. On the Jake Shane, I told her absolutely not! The audience expects highly technical and would be disappointed if I toned it down. Then the computer shut down so she probably thinks I hung up on her.”
“So the computer shutting off probably worked to your benefit.”
“Maybe,” Allie groused. “Nicholas, I’m in the middle of checking over my next submission, can’t I just have a little more time? Please, I’ll let you read the newest Jake Shane before anyone else gets to see it.”
“No,” Nicholas said grinning. “Besides I have your new password, I can read it anytime I want.”
“How? I changed it!” Allie demanded.
“My secret. Now, if you are through with today’s temper tantrum, why don’t you go eat, and rest? I have projects to complete too.”
Allie jumped up. “This was not a temper tantrum, it is a valid complaint. We need to renegotiate!”
“I agree,” Nicholas said grinning. “Let’s reduce your computer time. I’m all for that, maybe you can use some of that time to do what you’re supposed to be doing!”
Allie gave an exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes. “You’re such as pain! If you’re going to be mean to me, I’m leaving. I’ll go call for more food. American macaroni and cheese does not have olives in it. Once again, I will tell them, no olives! In anything! Get on with your wheeling-dealing and go set the world on fire stuff. I’ll see you later.”
“That’s quite a temper she has,” Macland said after the door closed. “She looks a lot better. She’s gained a total of eleven pounds but I’d like to see her gain another five or ten. She was skeletal the last time I saw her. I’d like to get a crack at the newest Jake Shane book, too.”
“Not a chance, my friend. She hates doctors and if you examine her, you’ll be on her hit list permanently. The doctor you sent over pretends he doesn’t speak English and she’s called him every name in the book. She has the swearing skills of a longshoreman. Those vitamin shots must hurt. I had to hold her down for the last two myself and I thought she was going to bite my hand off. She didn’t forgive me for several days.”
“Have there been any more manic attacks?” Macland asked.
Nicholas looked uncomfortable at the words. “Anything I say you from this point is confidential. You can’t repeat it to anyone, and I mean anyone.
Macland looked surprised. “I did take an oath, Nick.”
“This is not patient confidentiality. I’m not worried about the part that is her medical history. This part I am about to tell you, this is private,” Nicholas warned. “Alexandria does not suffer from manic depression. Please do not label it as that. That is unfair to her.
“What she goes through is something she calls the process. All that means is that she becomes totally focused on one thing with the exclusion of all else. She says she has thousands of characters and plots in her head all the time. When everything suddenly comes together in her head, she stops whatever she’s doing and she writes. It’s an amazing thing to witness, a bit scary, but still amazing. In Kapalua, she wrote over two hundred thousand words in fourteen days. It happened here. She completed a one-hundred-seventy thousand word novel in eleven days. From start to finish. She never falters. She doesn’t stop to think anything through, it flows from her from beginning to end.
“The problem is she doesn’t stop to eat, drink, or sleep. And you want to know the most amazing thing about this? She’s been doing this since she was seven years old. When she was eighteen and out on her own, she wrote the stories down and sold them. Books that were written by her from the age of seven through seventeen were later published and sold. I believe she’s a genius at least in this one area. She is amazingly intelligent. Because the outside world doesn’t understand how she thinks, Alexandria has learned to cope by hiding from it. She never had anyone care for her so she has never learned how to care of herself.”
“How are you dealing with her?” Macland asked sagely.
Nicholas leaned back in her chair. “She is such a strange creature. She can be naïve and delightful, and she can be as belligerent as an ill-mannered teenager. She will fight toe-to-toe with me and not give an inch. She’s totally guileless, and innocent, but can write erotic fantasy with believability from Internet research. She is Alexandria, and she is who she is.”
“And you’re still holding her here?”
“For five weeks I kept her under lock and key. She hated it, but finally accepted that I would not release her until she was healthy. She still is not 100% healthy, but for the last several weeks, she has been free to come and go as she pleases. She’s been dealing with her editors and publisher online and has made no move to leave. Nor has she tried to have me arrested for kidnapping. She has not asked to leave. I am not keeping her here now.”
“Are you sleeping with her?” Macland asked.
“As in sleep, yes. As in sex, no. I have her trust and she has agreed that I have control over certain aspects of her life at this time, mostly dealing with her health and well-being. We negotiate, and renegotiate all the time. It’s a work in process, or a moving target, depending on how you view it,” Nicholas chuckled.
“You’re in love with her,” Macland said.
“Absolutely,” Nicholas admitted.
“Is she in love with you?”
“I believe she’s headed that way, if she’s not there already. I’m not sure she knows what love is since she’s never had it. I hope she is, but I’m not pushing her.”
“What happens if she decides to walk away?” Macland demanded.
“Alexandria is an adult. She will eventually make her decision and I will have to live with it.” Nicholas knew even as he said the words that it was a lie.
* * * * *
“Stand still!” Nicholas said somewhat exasperated.
Allie rolled her eyes. “It tickles! It’s also a silly waste of time. I told you order a size 12 slim boys and they will fit.”
“As I told you before, I will not have you running around dressed as a street urchin. Alexandria, you have the least fashion sense of any woman I have ever met. Boy clothing should be on little boys, not a beautiful woman,” Nicholas exclaimed from his position of sitting on the floor with a measuring tape.
He lifted up her skirt to get a measurement on her thigh and blinked. “Where are your panties?”
“I’m not wearing them,” Allie exclaimed. “I told you. I don’t like thongs. I was very clear about that. You bought me thongs. So, I’m going commando.”
“You are not going commando. We have guests coming tonight for dinner,” Nicholas protested.
“I’m not planning on flashing your guests. It’s not like they’ll be able to see under my skirt.”
“Absolutely not! I forbid it!” Nicholas decreed.
Allie rapped him on the head with her knuckles. “Hello? You can’t forbid me to do anything!”
Nicholas raised an eyebrow, his temper simmering. “I do not want you to go commando. Is that better?”
“That was an improvement. If you don’t, then hand over the keys to cabinet where you hid all my underclothes, Jethro, because I’m not wearing a thong,” Allie exclaimed.
“Who is Jethro?” Nicholas demanded with a frown.
“Never mind, it’s an Americanism.” Allie scoffed not about to tell Nicholas the slang mean someone slow or dimwitted.
“You are so stubborn. I like the way a tho
ng looks,” Nicholas exclaimed.
“Then you wear one,” Allie argued.
Nicholas slapped a key in her hand. “You are obstinate!”
“You are a despot!” Allie snapped back grinning. It was so rare to win an argument with Nicholas and she loved scoring a point.
* * * * *
“Welcome,” Nicholas said to Macland and Regina as they entered his home. “Alexandria, I like you to meet my oldest friend, Macland Bassinger, and his friend and associate Regina Saunders. Macland, Regina, Alexandria Mason.
Macland was enchanted by the woman his friend introduced as Alexandria. She corrected him immediately and asked him to call her Allie, adding that Nicholas was the only one who insisted on calling her by her full name.
The dinner conversation went well, as the three friends’ spoke of mutual friends, and family concerns. Allie, a listener by nature was attentive to their words. She learned that Macland and Nicholas had attended the same private school as children. Regina’s family lived on the coast near Valencia. She also noticed something else. Regina and Macland weren’t speaking to each other. Regina spoke to her and Nicholas but she wasn’t adding anything to Macland interchanges. The same was true of Macland. He addressed Nicholas and her, but not Regina. They were playing a very good game of ‘we are together and happy and smiling’ but they weren’t.
As the dinner came to an end, Nicholas asked the two women if they would mind if he and Macland retreated to his office for a few minutes to discuss the next mission finances for a few minutes and they would return to enjoy dessert and a drink.
Both the women agreed, but as soon as left the room Regina helped herself to another glass of wine, drank half of it down, and topped it off again.
“While we’re being excluded from the ‘manly’ meeting would you like to walk around the courtyard?” Allie asked.
“I would,” Regina agreed, bringing her glass with her as they walked quietly together.
“How long have you known Nicholas?” Regina asked finally.
“About two months.”
“Nicholas is a very rich and powerful man,” Regina said taking a long drink of her wine. “I’m not saying that in a nasty way, it’s just… well I’ve had my share of powerful, controlling men today!”
The Awakening of Alexandria Page 7
