Page 19 of Absolution

“To our reunion,” Ella corrected as she clinked her glass to Susie’s before taking a sip.

“That’s a nice vintage.” Susie nodded as she tried her champagne. “I haven’t eaten here before, but so far, I approve.”

“I’m glad.” Ella eyed the honeyed bubbles as she placed down her glass.

“This was his idea, I assume?” Disapproval reverberated in Susie’s tone. “This Tucker’s?”

“He booked it, yes.” Trepidation twisted in Ella’s stomach as she wrestled with Susie’s censure. She understood her mother’s concerns but really wanted to convey how Tucker had made her feel in the last few days. She needed her mum to know that the ogre she’d met in the forest had shown a softer and more loving side.

“Tell me what he did to you.”

Susie’s sudden, direct approach shocked her. Ella knew her mother could be a hard-nosed bitch where business was concerned, but she rarely applied the same attitude to her daughter.

“It was hard at first.” Ella gripped the stem of the champagne flute as she recollected those initial hours in the woods.

“That’s not answering the question, Ella.” Susie’s hand withdrew from hers. “Please, sweetie. You don’t need to protect me. Whatever happened, you can be honest.”

“He never hurt me.” She met Susie’s wide gaze, finding it simpler to admit what hadn’t happened rather than to divulge what had.

The definition of what might have constituted ‘hurt’ in the first twenty-four hours was another conversation, of course, but Susie didn’t need to know the details. The fact that Tucker had strung her up in his barn, stripped her, and thrown cold water over her didn’t explicitly imply harm, but Ella couldn’t say they were the finest hours of her life. On the whole, though, she felt no qualms as she insisted on Tucker’s innocence.

“And he never forced himself on me, either.” Lifting the glass, Ella took a long swig of the simmering drink as she remembered some of the enormous liberties he’d taken, but none of those acts disproved her statement.

Even when he’d bound her and demanded she suck his dick, she’d never complained about the act itself. In fact, she’d have happily carried it out for him once he’d cleaned himself up. Every sexual adventure they’d engaged in had taken place with her assent, even if, at times, it had only been the eager agreement of her body.

“Okay.” Susie’s body sagged as though the tension she’d been holding on to had just eased from the cells of her body. “I’m relieved to hear that.”

“It wasn’t always chocolates and roses,” Ella went on. “But it wasn’t awful, Mum. I could have gone through much worse.”

“What happened out there in the woods?” Susie’s gaze never left hers as their appetizers appeared from the kitchen.

“He has a cabin out there.” Ella swallowed at the torrid memories. It had only been a matter of days since they’d fled from the cabin, yet it seemed more like years. “I tried to escape, and he brought me back, but after that, we started to get along a little better.” She was seriously smoothing over the details as their appetizers arrived, but was communicating enough that her mother might get the idea.

“How much better?” Susie’s shrewd tone told Ella her mum understood almost entirely.

“A lotbetter.” Ella glanced down at the Italian platter the server had delivered, waiting until the young woman departed. “And then Alexander got in touch to say he was bringing armed men to get me back, and we had to run.”

“Run?” Susie frowned. “Why run? You could have stuck around and let your useless father actually get you out.”

“I didn’t like the idea of sticking around to face the bandits he dragged through the woods, Mum.” She picked up a fancy breadstick and nibbled at one end as the melodic jazz music playing from the overhead speakers floated past her ears. “I don’t trust Alexander.”

“That much I understand.” Susie snorted. “But you’re saying you do trust Tucker?”

“Increasingly.” She chewed on the breadstick thoughtfully. “He’s been great to me since we arrived in the city.”

“But he still won’t let you come home?” Susie’s expression was pained.

“He’d rather I didn’t,” Ella replied diplomatically. “Honestly, I’ve wanted to stay with him, Mum. I’ve grown to really like him, and I want to know where our relationship can go.”

“Relationship?” Susie practically spat out her shrimp. “What relationship, Ella? He’s the man who held you hostage, not some sort of romantic hero.”

“Actually, Mum, I think he could be both.” Though not quite the type of romance her mother might be thinking about.

“Are you saying you’re falling in love with him?” Susie held her breath as though the question was painful, and Ella supposed she could understand why.

She wasn’t blind. Ella recognized how unorthodox she and Tucker were. He was more than twenty years her senior and had a murky past, but that didn’t stop their chemistry from feeling right. She longed for Susie to give Tucker a chance.

“Perhaps.” She was surprised at how much conviction her voice held as she lifted her flute for another sip. “All I know is that I want to see how it goes.”

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