Page 10 of A Man After Midnight

“Then you must be perverted,” he said with a chuckle. He picked up her hand, twining their fingers together, and brought her hand to his mouth to kiss the back of her fingers. “You never answered my question.”

It took her a moment to think back and remember the original question he asked. “What plans do I have? I have a whole map of places I’d like to visit, but I’m thinking I’ll probably only target a few.”

“Manhattan is pretty big,” he said.

“It’s pretty exhausting,” she corrected. “Mentally and physically.”

He smiled and cocked his head to one side. “Do you trust me, Caroline?”

She tugged her hand, trying to free it, but he refused to let it go. “I don’t know,” she answered. “I just met you.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “Let me ask you this instead: do you trust me enough to try an experiment?”

She hesitated. “What exactly do you mean?”

“I’m suggesting a safe word, to be used at any time you feel too uncomfortable,” he replied. He kissed her hand again, this time swiping his tongue over the knuckle of a finger.

Caroline shivered. The little lick reminded her of what he’d licked the night before. “Ah, what, um…” She cleared her throat. “What safe word?”

“Something innocuous, like banana.”

“I like bananas,” she said. “What if you ruin them for me?”

He grinned. “I don’t think you’ll have to use the word, but it’s good to have it out there. Any time you feel overwhelmed with how things are progressing, then say banana.” He used one of her fingers to tap her nose. “But I mean only use it if you are truly frightened. Otherwise, don’t end the experiment.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You still haven’t said what the experiment is.”

“That will be tonight.” He let go of her hand and rose from the bed. “But for now, let’s go sightseeing in the Big Apple.”

Caroline sighed and wrinkled her nose as she caught sight of her abandoned black dress. “Time for the walk of shame,” she said.

“Hey, no shame involved,” he admonished. “Banana.”

“You know what you can do with your banana? You can go stick it up your––”

“Uh-uh!” he said, laughing as he held up his hands and backed out the door. He closed the door, cutting off a pillow as it flew toward his head.

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