The Agreement (Unrestrained 1)

I glanced at him. He was gorgeous. Dr. Gorgeous-but-Dangerous leaned against the bar facing the room, one arm outstretched as if he owned the place, a martini in his hand. Dressed in a very expensive suit, his tie loosened, his top button undone, he looked like an executive out for a drink during happy hour. Next to him, a man leaned forward against the bar, his back to us. He moved in close, speaking to Dr. Delish as if whatever he said was confidential.

Dr. Delish surveyed the bar crowd, nodding at what his drinking partner said.

"He's a doctor. How could he be dangerous?"

"I don't mean dangerous in the slit your throat in your sleep way, silly." Dawn rolled her eyes. "You read too many crime novels. I mean dangerous in the steal your heart and never give it back variety."

"Oh," I said, somewhat disappointed. "That's too bad. You know me. I love a good thriller."

"You are confirmed nuts. Didn’t flyboy convince you to lay off the bad boys?"

I thought he had. Kurt was a former Marine pilot who my father dubbed 'flyboy'. He only made me want a bad boy even more. Despite his desire for kink – or maybe because of it – he was exciting. Looking back on our disastrous relationship, I realized he actually made me feel something for a change – the first time I felt anything after my trip to Africa. Until Kurt, I'd been numb.

"I'm so over Kurt."

"You cried like a baby when you two broke up."

"Really over him," I said, as much to myself as to Dawn. "No more bad boys for me." Of course, I was so full of it, considering that I just got off the phone a few hours earlier with "Mistress Lara" – a Domme in Manhattan's BDSM community – about my upcoming meeting with a real Dominant. I told myself it was no big deal – just research for an investigative article I was thinking of writing for a journalism class but I couldn't lie to myself. I was so damn curious. I couldn't tell Dawn anything about it and it was killing me. Unlike me, she hated 'those books' and thought they were practically the product of the Devil's spawn. I knew she'd only freak and try to stop me from going through with the interview so I neglected to tell her on purpose.

That was another mistake.

I should have confessed everything so Dawn could keep me on the straight and narrow. She would have talked me out of doing the interview. Instead, I swallowed my urge to tell her and kept my mouth

shut.

"I'll believe you're over him when you hook up with someone new. It's been almost a year, Kate, since Greg. You're allowed to date again. Give up Big and find someone real."

Greg was Dawn's antidote to Kurt. Mr. Master of Fine Arts in English Lit, Greg couldn't say fuck even when he was doing it. He was nice, but I had to make all the moves, and that made me so… insecure.

Big, as we called it, was the gag gift we all got at a friend's bachelorette party a year earlier. A dildo ten inches long and six inches in girth, Big was a monster. All of us joked about Big as if he were our collective boyfriend.

How's Big doing? Got any action from Big lately? Want to come out for a drink or are you busy with Big tonight?

"He is handsome, though," I said of Dr. Delish, trying to change the subject.

"You told me to warn you off the next time you even thought about someone who wouldn't be good for you. So here's me, warning you off. Stick with Big. That man is trouble. Just look at him." She leaned over to me. "He's examining the women in the bar as if we're all his to take and he's just deciding which one he wants. I think he's found his next target, by the way he's staring so intently at her."

I watched him from over the top of my glass as I took a sip. He surveyed the bar crowd as if judging, but his eyes continually returned to someone he watched very closely. I craned my neck to see which woman he'd chosen.

The television – a weather report on the Nor'easter brewing off in the Atlantic.

"He's watching the weather channel, you nut."

Dawn glanced back to the television in the corner.

"Oh," she said, only somewhat chastised. "Well, he looks dangerous."

"For all we know, he might be the sweetest man." I examined Mr. Not-So-Dangerous-After-All. Suddenly, he wasn't quite as titillating as he had been only moments before when I thought he was really looking for his next victim. "I'd still go out with him," I said.

"You and practically every woman who lays eyes on him. Just think of the power. He has to be a dick because of it."

"That's prejudiced," I said, frowning.

"But probably true. Take my word for it."

I put down my drink and picked up my bag, needing to visit the restroom. "I'll be right back. Gotta hit the head, as my father calls it."

Dawn nodded and turned her focus back to her own drink.