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“May I walk you back?” Daniel offered his elbow.
Autumn slipped her fingers around his forearm. “Why, thank you. Very kind.”
They started walking, with enough space between them that her shoulder only occasionally brushed his arm, but she could just about feel the warmth of his body along her side.
There was a unique delight in meeting a new BDSM partner. About making small talk with someone who would soon put their hands on her naked body. Pleasure her, hurt her, in all the right ways.
It was a bit like picking up a guy in a bar for a one-night stand. Looking around in the dim light and seeing someone. Going to talk to them, starting with inane conversation, all the while knowing where it was going.
But at Las Palmas, meeting someone new was actually less dangerous than picking someone up at a bar. There was less chance of being murdered, since all members were thoroughly vetted. And, most importantly for her, the kink element was guaranteed.
“Bat shit,” Daniel said, surprising her.
“Huh?”
“You called the game ‘bat shit’. I like it. Not a phrase I hear often.”
Autumn stopped walking, pulling her hand free of his arm. Daniel turned to her, brows raised.
“Are you one of those stuffy, high-protocol, formal tops?”
The hint of a smile touched his mouth and the smile line on the left side of his mouth appeared. “And if I am?”
Her stomach tightened with anxiety, but she didn’t let any of it show. “Then we’re going to have a rough time.”
“Because you dislike high-protocol?”
“And I curse like a sailor. Pleasure, pain… Both best expressed with cursing.”
Daniel’s smile grew. “I’m not stuffy, or formal.”
“Really, cufflinks, you’re not formal?”
He raised his arm, twisting it to look at the silver cufflink which was just peeking out from the bottom of his jacket sleeve.
He frowned. “Oh dear, these are my gardening cufflinks. How embarrassing. Please ignore these and pretend I’m wearing the solid gold and diamond ones.”
Autumn let out a peal of laughter so loud that she startled even herself. She slapped a hand over her mouth to dampen the sound as Daniel dropped the faux-chagrin and smiled at her.
When she’d calmed herself, Autumn dropped her hand. “Okay, fair enough. I shouldn’t judge a book by its very nice cover—”
“Thank you.” He bowed with a little flourish.
“—and I’m sorry in advance for my language.”
Daniel smiled at her, and started to offer his arm, then stopped, and instead removed his suit jacket. She was about to make a joke about getting naked, but he stepped close, draping his coat over her shoulders. It was warm from his body heat and smelled good. Male and expensive. The faintest trace of cologne.
Her sassy comment died on her tongue. She gently gripped the edges of the coat, pulling it a little tighter against her skin. He was standing close enough that she had to tip her head back just a little to look up at him. “Thank you.”
Gray. His eyes were the gray of smoke and coastal fog.
“You’re welcome.” He’d lowered his voice in apparent deference to their proximity, and it added an intimacy that made her very, very aware of exactly how little she was wearing.
It was thrilling and terrifying to look up into this man’s eyes and know that though they were strangers, they were about to share something very physical.
She wanted to kiss him.
That thought had her mentally, if not physically, backpedaling. Autumn slapped on a saucy grin. “Well, partner, what’s our letter?”
