“Horrifying is the last thing Søren is. Dangerous, yes. I’ll give you that. But S&M’s only dangerous if you play with someone you don’t trust or if you forget your safe word.” She stopped, looked up at the ceiling and smiled. He could see something like a memory flash across her eyes. “Trust me, whatever you do, Zach, don’t forget your safe word.”

“What’s a safe word?”

“A safe word’s your last out. That’s the dark secret of S&M—the submissives actually have the final say. And your safe word can be anything—popcorn, barn owl—whatever as long as it’s not a word you’d use in a scene. If you need to tell the person topping you that you have to stop completely, you end it by using that word.”

“You can’t just say ‘stop’?”

“A lot of submissives enjoy feeling overpowered and truly dominated. God knows I did. ‘Stop’ doesn’t mean ‘stop’ in S&M. It’s just part of the scene. You should have a safe word down here. Everyone does. Except Søren, of course.”

“Why is he exempt?”

Nora smirked and rolled her eyes.

“Because Søren doesn’t get topped. Go ahead. You can pick anything—the street you grew up on, your favorite food, the middle name of the long-lost love of your life. Got one?”

“Sure, fine,” Zach said, picking the first word that came to mind. “Calais.”

“The city in France?”

“Oui.”

“Bien. I’ll remember it. If I start to push you hard enough you need to really get out, just say that and everything will stop. Saying ‘no, Nora, I don’t think that’s such a grand idea’ doesn’t always work on me.”

“I’ve noticed.” Zach took a sip of his drink. “So my writer is the most famous Domme in New York.”

Nora grinned. “Zach, I’m the most famous Domme—” she began and then closed her mouth. Her ears seemed to perk up. She tilted her head sideways.

“Do you hear that?” she asked.

Zach listened.

“I don’t hear anything.”

Nora inhaled and exhaled slowly.

“Fuck.”

Nora jumped to her feet and raced to the balcony area of the bar. Zach ran to join her.

“What is it?” Zach asked.

Griffin came to stand behind them. Zach heard him chuckling.

“Stop me if you’ve heard this one—a priest, a rabbi and a griffin walk into an S&M club…”

“This is why I gag you during sex, Griffin,” Nora nearly growled.

“You brought a date to the Circle,” Griffin chided. “What did you expect him to do?”

“I expected King to keep his mouth shut.”

“You know King answers to a higher power.”

“Nora,” Zach said with exasperation, “please tell me what’s going on.”

Nora turned to face him. He saw real fear in her eyes.

“Søren.”