I signed my name with a flourish, capping my fountain pen and turning to shake the hands of my new Taiwanese business partners. It had taken days of back and forth, but finally, the deal was done and to my satisfaction. As etiquette demanded, I chatted for a few minutes, politely excusing myself from a banquet dinner to celebrate the new enterprise, explaining I had a pressing commitment in Seattle.

Miss Steele. Ana. It was 4:00 pm Friday here in Taipei, which would make it about midnight in Seattle. I was going to be wrecked, but if we flew out this afternoon, I'd be able to make it back to Seattle in time for our dinner date. Initially, I'd thought I'd take Ana out, or ask Gail to cook for us at Escala, but Ana had suggested a meal at her place, and the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.

I enjoyed Ana's cooking. She'd cooked for me that first morning at Escala. Closing my eyes for a moment as our driver transported Taylor and I back to the hotel, I called to mind the memory of Ana in pigtails in my kitchen, cooking while she'd danced around adorably the morning after I'd made her mine. My dick twitched at the thought of it – the dancing and the claiming.

Taylor and I were standing in the elevator, on our way to pack and check out. I pulled out my phone, surprised to see a message from Ana from two hours before. I must have missed it in the final minutes of our negotiations.

Christian – an opportunity has come up for me to attend the New York Book Fair this weekend with my editor Jack. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and will be back late on Sunday. I'm sorry I won't be able to see you this weekend. Maybe Monday night? Still missing you, Ana.

"What the fuck!" I shouted, probably taking years from Taylor's life as the man snapped to attention assessing the lift car for any possible threat.

"It's Ana," I quickly explained, shoving my phone into Taylor's hand so he could read her message. "I'm going to call her right now and forbid it! I don't want her going anywhere with Jack Hyde. Besides – we have a date!"

Taylor stayed silent as I ranted, however, he didn't relinquish my phone.

"Sir? Is that a good idea? I doubt Miss Steele will welcome your interference. It could make things difficult for her at work, and it will give the impression you don't trust her."

"It's Hyde I don't trust," I growled. "All of his assistants leave within months and all for 'personal reasons.' I don't want Ana going anywhere with him. I'm going to call Roach and get him to block the trip. I might not own SIP, yet, but Roach won't want a business trip for an assistant to get in the way of our negotiations."

"It's midnight in Seattle," Taylor pointed out dryly.

"I don't give a fuck what time it is," I bellowed, as we walked down the corridor to my suite, not understanding why Taylor didn't see the importance of this, "I don't want Ana going!"

Ushering me into my suite, Taylor turned to me.

"If you go in all heavy-handed you're going to scare her or piss her off. If you're so worried, why not join Miss Steele in New York? She can't be working all weekend," he pointed out reasonably.

I stopped short. Taylor had a point. I knew part of the reason I was angry was that I needed to see Ana. Two weeks of what-ifs and wondering had exhausted me. I needed my girl.

"Book flights to New York ASAP. I want security on Ana from the moment she lands. Send Sawyer and Prescott, too. Get them to tail Ana to the airport and let us know which flight she's on. They can catch the following flight. I'd like some of our regular security on hand, just in case."

Taylor nodded, going to his room to pack and make the necessary arrangements. I had my bag packed in moments and poured myself a glass of Armagnac while I waited. Sure enough, Taylor was back within twenty minutes.

"I've booked the last two seats on a direct flight this afternoon," he announced. "There was nothing left in business, so I'm afraid we're both in first class."

"That's fine," I said, making a mental note to change the company policy about commercial flights. Ideally, Taylor should travel close by, so in future, he'd be in first class with me. Less than two hours later, Taylor and I were in our seats, and the plane was leveling out.

"We'll be getting in around 8:00 pm New York time," Taylor told me. "Sawyer and Prescott have been briefed. Barney is going to investigate the SIP server to get Miss Steele's flight details so I can have security waiting for her at arrivals. It's about 2:00 am Seattle time. Not much can be done now. Why don't you try and rest, sir? I'll wake you when I have any further information."

I nodded, reclining my seat into the full layback position and lifting the privacy panel. Not that I thought I'd have much chance of sleeping, but I could lie there and think about Ana. In our last phone session, Flynn had asked me to consider why my need for control was so exaggerated with Ana. I'd always had rules for my subs – as a Dom that was my job; to provide them the guidance they needed. But with Ana it was different. Everything with Ana was different, and I'd said as much to Flynn.

He'd suggested that since how I felt about Ana was different, and the nature of the relationship I wanted with her was also new for me, I should consider a different set of parameters than those I'd had with my subs.

"Don't think of them as rules," he'd counseled. "Think of them as terms of reference for your relationship. And this is not something you can stipulate or impose, Christian. This has to be something you and Ana negotiate together."

So I lay back with my eyes closed, trying to get to the bottom of what I wanted from the beautiful Miss Steele. What were my hard limits and what did I want and need?

Taylor's gentle shaking woke me a few hours later. The look on his face had me instantly awake and alert.

"Sir, we have a couple of situations."

I sat up, returning my seat to the upright position, checking the cabin to make sure we would not be overheard. I also checked my watch. 9:20 am Seattle time.

"Barney went through the SIP server with a fine tooth comb, and there's no record of a ticket being booked for Miss Steele, or any approval for her to go to New York. So on a hunch, he took a look at Hyde's personal accounts, and around twelve hours ago Hyde booked a seat on a 9:00 am flight to New York for Miss Steele. It's the same flight he's catching, and he paid for it on his personal credit card, not the SIP one."

What the fuck? If Hyde was buying Ana's ticket with his own money, it suggested this trip had nothing to do with SIP or Ana's work. For just a moment I wondered whether something was going on between Ana and Jack. Maybe she was going on the trip as his plus one? But as soon as the thought entered my mind, I dismissed it. Ana wasn't the sort to play games, and her messages had suggested she still wanted me. Plus there'd been nothing from her security detail to suggest there'd been anything going on between Jack and Ana.

"There's more," Taylor said with an ominous look. "Barney was able to determine from the SIP server that Jack is booked at the Sheraton Times Square. I rang and spoke to the hotel, and Jack has booked Miss Steele a room for one night only." Taylor didn't have to spell it out. Jack was expecting Ana to stay in his room after that.

"Is it too late to stop her going?"

"I'm afraid so, sir. By the time I got this information, Ana's plane had already boarded."

"Have someone pick her up at the airport," I snapped. "I can't let her walk into an ambush!"

"Well there is some good news," Taylor said stoically. "Barney was able to get a copy of Hyde's itinerary. They will be landing around 6:00 pm local time, and there are drinks for book fair attendees in the hotel's main bar from 7:00."

"Hyde won't want to miss that," I said out loud. SIP was stagnating, and social events like that were great for networking. Hyde would be stupid to pass up the opportunity to meet people from larger, more prestigious publishing houses. If he had plans for Ana, they'd take place later in the evening.

"Exactly. We'll have security at arrivals tailing them to the hotel, but my bet is if Hyde's going to try anything, it will be after drinks tonight."

"How are you going to protect her?" I demanded.

"We'll have three operatives at the bar. They're all New York based, so Miss Steele won't recognize them. As soon as Hyde and Miss Steele are at the bar, Prescott and Sawyer will arrange access to their rooms. Hyde's will be searched, and anything of interest reported. We will arrive an hour or so after Miss Steele, and I thought we could travel straight to the main bar at Sheraton where you could surprise Miss Steele?"

I nodded. "Has the New York apartment been prepared?" I owned an apartment overlooking Central Park blocks from the Sheraton Times Square. It was the obvious place to stay.

"I've spoken with Mrs. Jones. She is going to ring the New York housekeeper with instructions. Everything will be ready."

"I can't assume Ana will want to stay with me in my room. Does the New York housekeeper know to prepare a guest room just in case?"

Taylor gave me a slightly amused look.

"I believe Mrs. Jones will ask her to prepare for every possibility," he drawled.

It sounded all in hand, but I still didn't like it. Hyde's actions suggested he had nefarious intentions. Even though Ana would have security in place to protect her, the fact remained this fucker seemed almost guaranteed to try something on. I don't care how much it cost SIP, I was going to call Roach, and by Monday Jack Hyde would be looking for a new job

"Sir? There's something else."

I fixed Taylor with my eyes.

"Yes?"

"Miss Steele had a visitor at SIP today. We would not have known about it, expect the receptionist had concerns and called security. The woman was gone by the time security arrived, but our team reviewed the security footage from the SIP foyer, and it was Miss Williams. She arrived at 9:05 and asked to see Miss Steele."

I hissed as Taylor passed me his phone. There was a grainy image of Leila. She was almost painfully thin, and her confident, playful stance was demonstrably absent, but there was no mistaking her.

"She asked for Ana? By name?"

"Yes. She was dirty, and according to the receptionist didn't seem to be fully in control of her emotions, hence the call to security. She asked to see Miss Steele. When the receptionist asked the nature of her inquiry, Miss Williams said they had a friend in common. She became disturbed when she was told Miss Steele had not yet arrived at work."

"They were expecting Ana at SIP today?"

"Apparently," Taylor replied, his admission adding further credence to the notion that Ana's New York trip had nothing to do with SIP.

"So where is Leila now?" I barked in frustration.

"I'm afraid she got away from us again," Taylor said in a voice that sounded every bit as frustrated as my own. "With Miss Steele not on premises, there was no one stationed nearby. By the time SIP security logged the event on their system, it was flagged at our end, and the team checked the footage, Miss Williams was long gone."

"So I have a crazy ex we can't locate turning up unexpectedly at Ana's work, and meanwhile a creepy boss is planning to try something on with the woman I love?" I snarled.

Taylor's eyes snapped to me, his eyes widening as he realized the words I'd just said. 'The woman I love.' I'm honestly not sure which of us was more surprised by my admission – he or I.

"That sounds about right," Taylor admitted, leaning back in his seat; no doubt dreading the next eight hours seated beside me.