Chapter Ten

Savannah called me when she returned. She was at the university in the middle of catching up, she said. “I’m anxious to see you.”

“How was your meeting with Guillaume?” I asked. I was more curious about this than anything else.

“Humm,” I heard her quiet reply, a lot behind that reply that she’d never tell me. I didn’t like conversations like this one over the phone. But I was too curious to wait until I could look her in the eye and have a better understanding of what was happening inside her brain. “He’s always so with me, Michael. This time was a little strange.”

“Strange in what way?” I asked.

“Meeting him in castles in Spain. I suppose it was the unusual surroundings.”

“So did it inspire you?”

“Absolutely.”

“You have some time free today?” I asked.

“Not much. I have lunch with Mack.”

“Sex with Mack or lunch?” I asked.

“Please, don’t be jealous. I have no intention of screwing that man again. It’s bad for my soul, and I know that. I don’t need to hear lectures from you or Guillaume. Mack needs a full report on Spanish castles, and then I have three student conferences. They’re lining up like sheep since I got back. I didn’t realize that my classes would fall apart with me gone.”

“So when would it be convenient?” I asked, not disguising my annoyance.

“I don’t know,” she said. I heard her shuffling papers in the background. Thinking she was distracted, I thought it best not to let the conversation peter out without making some commitment between us. “When’s your lunch with Mack over?”

“He’s meeting me at noon in my office with some take out,” she said.

“And your first conference?”

“Two.”

“That’s a long lunch.”

“It won’t be all lunch,” she reminded me. I was still thinking sex, she was still thinking castles in Spain.

“You’ll have time for me at one fifteen,” I finally said.

“No, I won’t,” she shot back

Hearing her raise her voice, I had gotten her attention.

“I will see you then, one way or another, maybe I’ll just be bringing you flowers.”

“That would be sweet, Michael, but wouldn’t it be better to wait, a late dinner?” she said softening slightly.

“We’ll do that too,” I said.

I knew she’d relent in the face of my insistence. I wasn’t about to let her get away with putting me off. I’d been put off for two weeks, two miserable weeks wondering what sex crimes she committed with the infamous Guillaume, and if she’d return with any love left to share with me.

I arrived at her office earlier than one fifteen. I didn’t think breaking in on her conversation with Mack Brundage would be all that much a problem. Besides, my instincts told me that the professor was as concerned with getting into Savannah’s underwear as he was debriefing her on her trip. Take-out for lunch in her office. This was typical for their relationship.

With flowers in hand, I knocked on the door to let her know I was there, though I didn’t wait for her response to walk inside. Turning the knob I cracked the door to see her department head leaning over Savannah, nuzzling her neck. His hands were down her suit jacket, one on each breast. He barely pulled them away seeing me.

“Humph, you didn’t lock the door,” I said, acting unfazed.

“Michael?” she looked up as though I was the last person on earth she expected to see.

“I guess I’m a little early,” I said, perusing the situation. Inspecting her office more closely I saw no remnants of lunch. “Gee, I thought there’d at least be a few crumbs I could munch on.” I watched as Mack stood up and moved away from her. I refused to leave embarrassed because I’d intruded on their intimate moment. “I guess you have lovers standing in line waiting for your return?” I’d turned directly to her. “You said something about them lining up like sheep?” I fearlessly pressed on.

“Michael,” she said with an exasperated drone.

“I should think you’d watch yourself more closely,” I continued on, “seeings as I’ve already punished you once for falling off the wagon of this addiction.” I looked directly into Mack’s puzzled face.

“Who is this guy?” the professor asked.

“Mack, I’m sorry, you’re going to have to leave,” Savannah said. She’d risen from her desk in an effort to encourage her boss out the door. When he was on the other side, and the door was locked, I tossed the wilting flowers on her desk indicating my annoyance.

“So how far was it going to go?” I wondered aloud.

“It wasn’t going anywhere,” she replied.

“No? I’ve seen better efforts to fend off unwanted advances than that. You don’t suppose you were just horny and needed a sexual fix?”

“Michael, you’re being obsessive and paranoid,” she exclaimed.

“Am I?” I queried. Face to face with Savannah in heels we were nearly the same height, though I could still claim a slight advantage and used that to looked down sternly at her as if I were reprimanding a teenage girl. She looked that innocent. A good act; she was tough as nails underneath the veneer. “Wouldn’t you have had another office quickie with him? You would, wouldn’t you?”

She didn’t answer.

“You’d probably enjoy the naughtiness of it, come crying to me admitting to me your dreadful misbehavior. That’s if you didn’t decide to confess to Guillaume first, so he could send one of his curt missals, letting me know I should punish you.”

“I’ve never seen you like this,” Savannah said, her mouth dropping open in awe.

I was having a terrific time watching her squirm as she heard the truth so bluntly stated. “Is it a problem for you?”

“You’re unbelievably overbearing.”

“That’s what you want. Why else would you have a Guillaume in your life if you didn’t want to relinquish at least half of yourself to a man?”

She couldn’t answer that question. Not a word left her lips. I loved upbraiding her and the way that made her inner fire crazed with heat. I knew she wanted to attack me physically and fuck hard. I could see her lips, the delicious way they parted, moistened as if she were preparing to take an erection in her mouth. I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to string her along as I played the ‘wronged’ boyfriend.

“How can you conclude all this from one tiny little incident?” she finally said trying to defend her way out of the conversation. “Mack was coming on to me the way he always does, I would have pushed him off.”

“Would you?” I doubted her again. “I really don’t think things like that happen unless you’re giving the right signals.”

“Oh, that’s a chauvinist thing to say!” she retorted angrily.

“Have you ever thought of mentioning sexual harassment to the man?” I wondered aloud.

“That’s not going to work, not after the relationship we’ve had. And you, Michael Renz, need to be a little more understanding.”

“I understand it all, Savannah. Everything you want. Good thing I brought the baton,” I said. The thin cane had been hooked by the handle to the inside pocket of my jacket, quite conveniently there as though it was just the place to carry it.

“You what!” she looked at the cane terrified as I pulled it from my jacket.

“Might as well get it over with,” I suggested.

“You’re not going to punish me here!” she exclaimed.

“Oh, but I am,” I assured her.

“No, Michael, never! You can’t! Not here!” She shook her head at me angrily.

“You have a problem mixing business and pleasure?”

She was livid, eyes flashing sharply, while I remained perfectly calm. I’ve never had a problem battling a woman. But I’d never had one quite like this and I was truly enjoying the returns. She was going to lose and we both knew that. “This is where I work,” she said, glaring at me.

“And this is where you get punished,” I informed her calmly.

“But people might hear?” she cried disbelieving.

“The cane hardly makes much noise, Savannah. If you don’t make any, then there won’t be anything to worry about.” I moved to the CD player in the corner and fished through a stack to find some music worthy enough to use as a background for a caning. One with operatic arias seemed perfect. Good drama didn’t come any better than this. “Bare your ass,” I ordered.

“You’re really going through with this?” she asked, her eyes mesmerized by every movement I made. As the strains of some soprano lifted into the air, and then some guttural baritone shook the ethers with his hearty fire, the feel of the music swam through me. Though Savannah trembled with fear, I knew she’d obey me. It took some minutes of an eye-to-eye stare down, before she moved to her desk. Once she’d hiked her skirt and bent over, I knew that I’d gone beyond even Guillaume’s ability to control her. This was immediate, intimate and very real, when I sometimes had the feeling that Guillaume was just some figment of her imagination.

“Twelve,” I announced.

She shuddered, but said nothing.

Rearing back with the baton, the thin reed whistled through the air and struck her behind in the center, leaving a thin red welt rising to the surface in just seconds. I peeled off a good half dozen more before I paused again. Each cut was greeted with her anguished gasp, but I could tell that she was holding back. The walls in the old building were far too thin for her to make a scene. After the seventh cut, she slumped a bit, and I allowed her to regain her poise.

“Please, Michael, can’t you stop now?” she pleaded with me.

“No,” I answered simply. “Get back in position.” She craved the ruthlessness. And ruthlessness was what she’d have. The last five cuts I laid with equal intensity against her stripped behind, the effect to crisscross the red lines, leaving an interesting pattern of woe on her poor ass. Though I knew she was in agony, gritting her teeth against the building pain, I sensed that there was still the bizarre sexual sensations racing through her, that heat she loved so well. The twelfth cut delivered, Savannah instantly stood up and lowered her skirt. She came up from the desk still spitting mad, hardly holding back the tears, though there was a knock on her door, just as she stood to face me.

“Who is it?”

“John Kaiser, my conference, ma’am?”

“Just a moment, I’m finishing up,” she called to the student. She turned back to me. “I never want to see you again, Michael,” she said, her steely words intended to cut like a knife.

I could see what effort it took to pull herself from the moment of painful pleasure, but she’d managed quite well. “Really?” Though I doubted her sincerity, I didn’t dispute her complaint.

“You heard me. The game’s over,” she said.

“Oh, it’s only been a game?” I observed, eyeing her carefully for all the things she didn’t say. “Well, at least now I know. But for the life of me, I can’t understand why you just put yourself through the torture, if you really didn’t want exactly what you got.” Savannah didn’t reply, and I really didn’t give her time to. Swiftly returning the cane inside my coat, I left the office. I was afraid I’d called her bluff and lost. She was so quixotic that I couldn’t be certain if I’d just executed our relationship and buried it for good. But I had to believe that, in time, she would be back for me.