By My Side by Michele Zurlo Page A

breathing told her he had fallen back asleep. She smiled in the dark, pleased that she was able to be here like this for him. Her mind wandered as she wondered what it would be like to be here with him like this every night.
     
    She thought back over the past year, remembering that he’d never had a woman spend the night. Surely it meant something that she was here in his bed. The way he’d looked at her and the way he’d touched her all hinted at strong feelings. Perhaps Oasis would deliver more than she’d asked for. Maybe they could deliver what she really wanted from Sean.
     
    * * * *
     
    When she woke again, the darkness of the room didn’t hide the stillness that marked waking up alone. She groped for the bedside light and hoped she didn’t knock anything over with the lines of the restraints leading to the headboard. If this were her room, she wouldn’t bother with light. She knew the topography well enough to stumble around in the dark.
     
    A notebook lay open on the table under the lamp. She rubbed the bleariness from her eyes and read his note.
     
    Release yourself from the cuffs. I left a robe on the divan for you. Go about your morning as you usually do. I’ll drop by your office after my run.
     
    The idea of a typical morning left her a little deflated, especially after the events of the past twenty-four hours. She returned to her suite, showered, and dressed. He hadn’t left instructions about what she should wear, but she didn’t really expect that. Sean let her manage his life; he had never once tried to manage hers.
     
    She chose pale pink dress pants and a white, low-cut blouse with a pink flower-print design on the lower half. He seemed to prefer her in delicate, overtly feminine outfits. The white pumps she usually wore with it remained in her shoe rack. She went downstairs for breakfast, her feet bare.
     
    He wasn’t there.
     
    She checked e-mail while she munched on a bagel and sipped her coffee. If things kept up the pattern of a typical morning, he would breeze into her office in about an hour with his hair still wet from his shower.
     
    After she confirmed everything for the next day, she checked her phone for the string of “to-do” texts Sean always sent during his run. For a physical exercise he did to clear his head, he sure thought up a lot of things that needed to be done during that time. Today was no exception.
     
    Call and see if my dry cleaning is ready. Set up meeting with Fuller for next Monday re: investors. Cancel the benefit. Refund donations.
     
    Marcella struggled to breathe. She felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach or knocked her off a really high wall, and she’d landed flat on her back.
     
    She blinked back useless tears and reminded herself how she had failed the night before. Of course he couldn’t use her for the benefit. While maybe she was the right kind of submissive for him, she still wasn’t right for the kind of show the audience would demand.
     
    Swallowing her pride, she opened the file with his lists of contacts. Fuller picked up on the third ring.
     
    “Please tell me Sean didn’t do anything stupid.”
     
    Marcella didn’t have it in her to laugh at his greeting. “He wants me to cancel the benefit.”
     
    Fuller’s deep chuckle came through. “Looks like your plan worked.”
     
    She gasped. Not much in her plan had come out as she’d intended. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
     
    “Come now. You wouldn’t go through all the hassle of using Oasis just to play for a day or two.” He didn’t sound angry or upset about the benefit, and she knew he understood full well what this meant to Sean.
     
    “I never planned for him to cancel the benefit.” And she wouldn’t cancel it. She would call Gretchen and make amends. The show had to go on.
     
    “He’s a possessive bastard, and you mean too much to him. He did not enjoy having me there last night. No way he’s going to let a hundred people