“So, now that we’re done eating,” Nas says, sipping his wine. “I think I want to reverse roles for a minute.”

“Reverse roles?” I reply with raised brows. “Yes, I’d love to be a successful author fresh off a fantastic book signing near my hometown, and you can spend your day going over old photos with your ex-boyfriend tomorrow at the Dover News Journal. Count me in.”

“You have to work with your ex?”

“Not only that, but he’s practically my boss tomorrow, because the photos I took are for his column. So, he’ll be over my shoulder and in my ear all damn day. Feel free to call and embarrass him if you want.”

Nas smiles, glancing down at the table before meeting my gaze again. “That’s shitty. Why’d you guys break up? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

I let out a sigh as I feel the buzz growing stronger in my head, reaching the point where everything feels perfectly airy and my inhibitions begin to lower more and more with the passing minutes. I feel like smiling for no reason and like I’ve been given a dose of truth serum.

“You’re not gonna believe me,” I tell Nas, sipping my wine again because the memory of the night Vance dumped me is annoying as hell.

“Well, this is where we’re gonna reverse roles,” Nas says. “I want you to be brutally honest and tell me exactly what’s on your mind, the same way you asked me to. Let’s just keep it real with each other for the rest of the night. No lying allowed. If you think it, speak it. Deal?”

“Look, I have a genuine buzz coming to life, so I just want to warn you that you’re playing with fire, Nas.”

“Sometimes the fire is worth the burn. I can handle it.”

I pause a moment, soaking in the seductive look on Nas’s face as he stares at me with those dark brown eyes that cage me in. How much can I say? I can't tell him that there's a darkness in me that wants to be controlled and sexually tormented. I can't show him all of it, but maybe I can show him some.

“Okay. Deal,” I say, before a deep breath. “My ex-boyfriend, Vance, dumped me the morning after we’d had sex, because during the sex, I’d asked him to slap and choke me. I’m slightly embarrassed to say the rest of it, but since we’re practicing open communication, I’ll admit it really only happened because I had just finished reading a few chapters from The Patient, and was feeling motivated to try new things. Vance wasn’t happy about that, so he dumped me in the living room of my own apartment.”

Nas smiles. “He got mad at you for being open and honest with him?”