Chapter 5 #2
With a curt nod, Sarah stepped out, smoothing the fabric of her linen blazer before adjusting the strap of her bag over her shoulder.
There was no doubt in her mind. Nell was testing her.
Seeing if she’d accept the choices laid out before her.
And that was what unsettled Sarah the most. She had never been the kind of woman who let others set the parameters. But maybe that was why she was still thinking about it. Because Nell wasn’t like anyone she had ever met before. She was like her.
As Sarah walked through the terminal, her mind shifted briefly away from Nell, away from DC, back to something else.
To Beth. To the woman who had shaped her, broken her, undone her, and completed her. To the woman who still, despite everything, owned more of Sarah’s heart than she had a right to.
For nine years, Sarah had tried to move on. She had slept with other women when the need had overcome her, had gone through the motions of casual entanglements. But at the end of the day, at the end of every long night, it had always been Beth she craved.
But standing there, with her boarding pass in hand, her flight back home waiting for her, Sarah had a thought that settled like a stone in her chest.
Maybe Nell was exactly what she needed.
An outlet.
A distraction.
A challenge.
Someone who demanded nothing more than what Sarah was willing to give.
Her phone buzzed in her hand. A single text.
Nell 10:05 AM
Safe travels, Sarah. —N
Sarah read and reread the simple text, letting the words linger for a moment, before she typed out a reply.
Sarah 10:07 AM
I haven’t decided yet.
Nell 10:07 AM
You will. —N
Sarah turned toward her gate, the boarding pass firm in her grip, the hum of the airport swelling around her.
She didn’t know what she had expected when she’d stepped onto that jet yesterday. Now she just needed to decide if she was all in or not.
The week passed in a blur of meetings, calls, and emails, and by the time Thursday evening rolled around, Sarah was exhausted.
She stood on her deck overlooking the water, surrounded by a backdrop of evergreens and mountains.
The Seattle skyline was a distant twinkle across the water in the dark of night.
The warm summer breeze swirled long strands of her hair as she breathed in deeply, methodically laying out Nell’s proposition before her bit by bit to dissect.
She was due to give Nell an answer the next day, but something had been nagging at her all week. An answer to a question Sarah needed to know before she either accepted or rejected the offer.
One hand rested on her hip, and the other gripped her phone as she pressed it to her ear, listening to the steady ringing on the other end. It felt as though her heart beat harder with each unanswered trill.
She wasn’t sure why she was calling when a text would have sufficed. No, that wasn’t true. She knew exactly why she was making the call.
She wanted to hear Nell’s voice. The way she turned even the simplest words into velvet.
Sarah wasn’t the kind of person who sat around waiting for clarity to present itself. If there were questions, she sought answers. If there were boundaries, she wanted to know exactly where they were.
And if there were stakes, she needed to know exactly what she was playing for.
I’m following the rules. Nell said to use my voice.
I’m perfectly within my rights to ask more questions, she rationalized.
But her thoughts were cut off abruptly as the ringing stopped and there was a pause long enough to make her wonder if the call had gone through. Then that velvet tone filled her ear.
“Sarah.”
Not a greeting. Just a simple acknowledgment.
Sarah exhaled through her nose, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “This arrangement you proposed. It’s very . . . controlled.”
There was a quiet hum on the other end, and Sarah felt her stomach clench at the sound.
“You sound surprised.”
Sarah’s grip tightened around her phone, her gaze shifting back toward the darkened skyline. “I’m not.” She stopped pacing and pressed a hand against the cool deck railing. “I just want to know where the boundaries are.”
Nell met her with silence—something Sarah was quickly discovering was Nell’s favorite tool for negotiation—but it wouldn’t work. Not today. Sarah would simply wait her out. She needed answers.
“You mean, you want to know what control I expect to have?”
The way Nell said it—precise, particular—sent something hot curling low in Sarah’s stomach.
“Yes,” Sarah admitted, as she dropped the edge in her voice.
“I’m happy to clarify. My expectations are as follows.
If you agree to what I’m proposing, you will be available when I need you,” she said, her voice smooth, unhurried, each word falling into its exact place.
“I won’t waste your time, but I will expect priority.
You will accompany me to select events, and when you do, you will dress accordingly.
You will meet the people I want you to meet, and you will leave an impression that benefits both of us. ”
Sarah swallowed, the weight of each statement settling over her.
“In return,” Nell continued, “I will open doors for you, facilitate introductions, arrange opportunities, influence, and more. Beyond that . . .”
Sarah could hear it in her voice now—the slight shift in timbre, the quiet kind of certainty that came from knowing exactly how much power she held in this moment.
“When I say so, you belong to me.”
A shaky breath left Sarah’s lips, and for a moment, she stood there, letting those words settle into her skin. Feeling the sharp, visceral reaction to them. I belong to her. She repeated the words in her head as she considered, because what did that mean?
“In what sense?” she asked, her voice quieter now.
Another charged, heavy pause.
Nell’s voice dipped even lower, to an even richer register. “In every sense that matters.”
Sarah closed her eyes. Heat licked up her spine at the way Nell had said it like a simple, undeniable fact.
She pulled in a slow breath, steadying herself, before asking, “And what happens if I say no?”
Silence. Then Nell exhaled, like she’d been expecting the question.
“Then nothing,” she said simply. “You'll go back to your world, and I'll go back to mine. But there will be no second offers.”
She knew Nell couldn’t see her through the phone, but that didn’t stop Sarah from nodding absently, her mind already moving ahead, already considering everything.
“And if I say yes?”
Nell’s answer came without hesitation. “Then you’ll join me in New York next week for a dinner party with a small, select group of guests. My only request is that you do exactly as I ask of you.”
Sarah’s lips parted slightly, her fingers tightening around the deck railing.
“And outside of events?” she pressed.
Another beat of silence, then Nell’s voice rang out, low and more sure than it had been moments ago.
“If you say yes, Sarah . . . I’m sure you can use your imagination to figure out what I have planned for you.”
Sarah’s breath caught. Her thighs clenched involuntarily as a rush of images of all the things she imagined Nell to have in store for her flooded her mind. But she pushed that thought into the ever-growing box in her mind labeled Nell Stanhope.
“Thank you for the clarification.” Sarah chewed on her bottom lip as the words of the question she wanted the answer to most arranged themselves. “I have one last question.” She paused, giving Nell time to object. “Why this? Why me?”
“Technically, that was two questions, but you’ve caught me in a giving mood.
You want to know why? Because this arrangement works for me.
I get everything I need out of this, and I’ll give you more than you could imagine as long as you play by my rules.
” Nell’s voice broke its usual command, shifting to a softer tone.
“But please, Sarah, do not mistake this for romance, not in the traditional sense. I’m not interested in that.
What I am interested in is some fun to have for as long as it benefits both of us. ”
Sarah sucked in her breath as she waited for Nell to answer her other question. Why had Nell chosen her?
“And why you? Because you’re like me. You’re full of fire, and you know how to keep up with me. You’re a self-made woman, and if I’m being candid, it doesn’t hurt that you’re gorgeous.”
Sarah’s cheeks burned at the compliment. From anyone else, it would have landed wrong, but the delivery was so Nell.
“I . . . uh . . .” Her voice shook uncharacteristically as heat raced through her.
Nell laughed into the phone. “Glad to see I can still leave a girl speechless.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Sarah shot back, even though she most definitely had been.
“Do you have any other questions?” Nell asked, and Sarah could feel the genuineness in her response. She could sense the care Nell was taking to ensure she was comfortable with this. To have everything she needed to fully consent and choose to join her in whatever games Nell liked to play.
“No. You’ve answered them all. Now I need to think. I’ll have my answer for you tomorrow.”
“I know you will,” Nell said, with that same knowing tone, before the line disconnected.
Sarah placed her phone down and leaned against the railing, her head in her hands as she ran through every word of their conversation.
Each time their conversation looped through her mind, she drew closer to giving Nell an answer.
Though, if she were honest, Sarah could hardly believe what she was about to do.
The following day, Sarah sat at her desk, her fingers poised above her keyboard, but the words on the screen blurred in and out of focus.
It wasn’t often that something pulled her attention away from work.
Still, she had spent the entire morning distracted, her mind circling Nell, the offer, and the unmistakable pulse of intrigue and desire that had settled beneath her skin.
She had spent her life making careful, calculated decisions. She had always had a plan to follow. First, get into law school. Then get married and start a family. Once she had that, she began working toward becoming the youngest partner at her firm.
She weighed risks, mitigated threats, and ensured she was always in control, because that was how life made sense to her. She had always played by the rules, and she had always been good at that role.
But life had other plans. She and Beth had broken up.
Their family, although still the three of them, had changed drastically from the way she had envisioned it when she was younger.
On the surface, she tried to make it look easy as she navigated twists and turns she hadn’t foreseen, but internally, she hated it, because it wasn’t what she had dreamed for herself.
So, yeah, Nell’s offer, while definitely out there, was also intriguing as hell. There was something about Nell that made her wonder what it would be like to try on a different role for a while.
And maybe—maybe that was exactly why she was going to say yes.
She reached for her phone, her fingers steady as she typed out a single phrase.
Sarah 3:45 PM
I’m all in.
Holy shit. She was actually doing this. A moment of panic washed over her as the realization of the move she had made settled in.
Seconds later, the read receipt appeared, and then—
Nell 3:45 PM
Good. —N
No elaboration. No fanfare. Just a single word, laced with certainty and finality.
Sarah let out a sigh and raked her fingers through her hair as she something shifted inside her.
This was it.
She had made her choice, and now, she was about to find out exactly what it meant to belong to Nell Stanhope.