Page 11 of Coming Home

David smiled. Elijah made it sound so simple. And maybe it was. Solitaire was supposed to be his home. His friend was right, it was time to take his Emily back there and reconnect with her on every level. Memories of her kneeling to receive his collar flooded him and he lifted a hand to his throat. That was mere days before they moved to Houston to start his cancer treatment.

He cleared his throat and changed the subject before he got too emotional with Elijah on the phone. “What do you know about a man named Martin Terry?”

Elijah was quiet for a minute as he thought about it. “Name sounds familiar, but I can’t place it. Why?”

David sighed. “He’s just harassing a friend and I want to figure out what I can to make him go away.”

“I just looked him up. He was recently named Chancellor of Berkley after the previous one resigned.”

David hadn’t realized the previous Chancellor resigned. “That’s interesting information. Thank you.”

“Let me know if I can help. And seriously, think about coming to Solitaire for the Christmas party. We miss you two.”

David promised he would think about it. After he ended the call with Elijah, he leaned over his desk and pressed the intercom button. “Lydia, look up the number for Anthony Granger, please. Get him on the phone if you can and patch him through, otherwise send the number to my phone.”

It was time to take control of his relationship and put them back on the right path. Emily might not appreciate it at first, but she would come around.

His phone rang a minute later after Lydia announced that Mr. Granger was on the line.

“Mr. Granger, thank you for taking my call. I wanted to talk to you about your holiday party. I understand you’ve asked my wife to speak.”

The man cleared his throat. “Yes, Mr. Eastman. We really appreciate the donations you’ve made in her brother’s name. It seemed fitting to ask her to say a few words. I hope that wasn’t a problem.”

David laughed. “Not a problem at all. I’m hoping you can help me make the evening more special for my wife, but I have a conflicting event so I might need a little flexibility on your part.”

“I’m all ears Mr. Eastman. We’ll be as accommodating as possible.”

David had a feeling the man would say that.

He laid out his plan and fifteen minutes later, he was transferring the man back to Lydia to finalize the details.

Now he just had to deal with the fact that his darling wife thought it was OK to avoid him when they clearly had important things to talk about.

A slow grin spread across his face as he thought up several ways to remind her of his dominance when they were both together later that night.

Before he returned to his regular work for the day, he spent a few minutes researching Martin Terry and the resignation of the previous Berkley chancellor. His research prompted him to call a friend at the university to do some digging for him. He had a hunch about how to help Tamara, but she would need to get out of the way.

That gave him an idea.

He stepped into Lydia’s office and perched on the corner of her desk. “I need you to clear my schedule next weekend.”

Lydia nodded and pulled up his calendar. “Let’s see what you’ve got. Wait. Are you sure? You were supposed to have Ms. Rodriguez back. I’m under the impression that was a pretty non-negotiable meeting.”

David sighed. “I know. But this is important. Family comes first.”

Lydia nodded. “Fair enough. Maybe if you take a vacation, I can get caught up on all your paperwork for once.”

When he was sure his schedule was clear, he called Tamara.

“I need you to not ask questions and plan to be on the plane with me and Emily to Colorado next weekend. We’ll likely leave Thursday night or early Friday morning.”

“You do not need a third wheel on your vacation, David.”

“You won’t be a third wheel. Just pretend you’re as submissive and do as I tell you.”

“Hah! You’re fucking hilarious, David. What’s going on?”

He sighed dramatically. “I told you not to ask questions. Do you want your little problem to go away or not?”

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