As I walked away, I made a point of swaying my hips. I felt the bartender’s eyes glued to my ass the whole time. I have to say, it felt nice to be ogled, even by a sleazy barkeep. I settled into the booth with a good view of the full room. The only light was a tea light in a small frosted vase on the tabletop. If I leaned back, my face was hidden in shadow. Perfect.

A few minutes later Grant entered, his dark brown hair neatly combed but curling at the ends. He wore a nice jacket over a collared polo, and it looked good. He always looked good, even if I didn’t tell him often enough. He didn’t fit in here either. He walked up to the bar and spoke to the bartender. Grant seemed confused by the man’s big grin then walked toward me.

“Anastasia?” he asked as he neared my dark corner.

“Good evening, Grant.” I spoke in the husky voice I’d been practicing and fancied I sounded something like Demi Moore.

“Dark in here,” he said as he reached to shake my hand.

“I like the dark,” I said, rising from my seat. “Fun things happen in the dark.”

That was the moment he saw my face. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. “Like what you see, you cheating bastard?”

“Holy crap! Robin! Honey, I can expl—”

“Save it, Grant. You know, you really shouldn’t use your real name on dating sites. It makes it too easy to find you.”

The bartender came over with the drinks Grant must have ordered, a White Russian—my favorite—for me, a pint of Guinness for him.

“You two gettin’ acquainted? Good. Now, don’t be doin’ any kinky bondage crap.” Chuckling, he headed back to the bar.

Grant slapped his forehead with his palm. “Anastasia Steele! Now I get it. No wonder the bartender looked at me so weird when I asked if you’d come in yet. God, I’m such an idiot!”

“No argument there.”

It was hilarious that he hadn’t recognized the name of the main character from Fifty Shades of Grey that I’d adopted for my alias. We had watched the movie together, and made fun of it, a couple months ago. I didn’t admit it then, but I was jealous that we could barely get a passionate kiss in, while Anastasia and Christian were at it like rabbits.