‘I know. It’s crazy. We could so easily have missed each other.’
‘I’d say the same for Jasper and me, but it wouldn’t be true.’
‘No,’ she exclaimed, her eyes wide as she grinned at me. ‘Because he actually sought you out. That’s just … wow.’
I shook my head. ‘I still find it hard to believe. This internationally acclaimed, famous man read my silly article in a silly academic journal and went about casting his net for me.’
‘It’s like a fantasy come true,’ said Rosie. ‘He kidnapped you into his lair.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t go that far. He offered me a job and I accepted.’
‘Yes, but he had designs on you!’
‘He had a vague idea that we might be compatible, Rosie. The rest just sorted itself out.’
Her teeth chattered.
‘Shouldn’t we go inside? I’ll get the kitchen range fired up and we can have a cup of tea.’
‘I’d love to but Dimitri’s going to come and find me in a minute.’
‘Is he?’
‘Yeah. We’re playing a kind of hide-and-seek thing.’
‘Oh, God. Maybe we should keep moving then? Go further into the wood.’
Rosie jumped up, stamped her feet and clapped her gloved hands.
‘Might stop us freezing into statues,’ she said. ‘Let’s jog for a bit.’
We tramped through the trees until we needed to stop for breath. It was daylight now, not that you’d have known it. The iron-coloured clouds lay low, casting a permanent dusk over the estate.
‘It’s funny,’ I said, as we doubled over, panting out great puffs of steam. ‘We’re both this way, and yet neither of us ever mentioned it to each other.’
‘I thought you’d judge me,’ said Rosie. ‘Besides, it was just a fantasy then. I didn’t think it would ever go beyond that.’
‘Well, I did my research into old-school sex toys,’ I said. ‘But I used to make out it was just scholarly interest. I was always worried people would guess it was more.’
‘I didn’t guess,’ said Rosie. ‘I read your article though.’
‘You and Jasper both.’
‘You’re so well suited,’ she said for the second time.
‘Do you think so?’
‘God, yes. The way he looks at you!’
I sighed. ‘I wonder if I’m right for him, though.’
‘Oh, why?’ She sounded almost distraught. ‘Of course you are.’
‘What you did last night, for Dimitri – I could never do that.’
‘Oh, but that’s just the way things happened for us,’ she said. ‘The very first time he spanked me, it was in front of other people. And I’d only known him a day. You a
nd Jasper, on the other hand, are used to your privacy. Except that all went a bit wrong when you got papped at that party. All the same … some of us are more exhibitionist than others. And Dimitri is a lot exhibitionist.’ She laughed.