Dana had to look on the internet for the exact meaning of “safeword”, and when she learnt it, it kind of scared her. Was Rick going to try those… those practices, on her? She’d never been interested in anything but normal sex. She’d always thought BDSM was a wicked way to live your own sexuality.

Problem was that, if Rick was into it, it meant he was probably right: it meant he knew way more than her and could vary his encounters more than she’d expected.

The safeword, moreover, was a nice joke. If she wanted him to stop, she’d had to tell him “I love you”, three words she had rarely used in her entire life. Of course they would have had no meaning but still… she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of telling them to Rick, and she was sure he’d read at least that much into her already. Why those words otherwise?

She had liked his approach, though. He’d asked her for an answer, make her nervous for a day and then didn’t mention it, waited to be alone with her in the coffee room, made her trembling with anticipation and nervousness. Dana knew him well, he would have had no problem telling her in person, so if he had done it that way it meant he wanted it, simply.

She looked at the piece of paper again and this time she noticed there was a telephone number at the bottom. She added it to her contacts list, opened her messenger and wrote:

But she knew that writing to that number would have triggered the beginning of their game.

Rick’s answer was direct and dry.

There was no other indication. Nothing about any dress code, anything to prepare nothing at all. She resisted the urge to write him back and left her apartment. In the office, she tried everything to avoid any contact with him. She was feeling embarrassed now, but also in some way more secure: if that handsome man wanted to have sex with her, it meant she was still a nice woman. In some way, so, she was really looking forward to seeing the effect she would have had on him.

Friday arrived soon, and so the fated evening.

It was winter and the temperature was low, so the options to dress well and sexy were not much. In the end, she decided to wear thigh jeans, boots, and a thin sexy blouse that, playing with transparencies, revealed some of her shapes. She didn’t’ wear a lot of makeup: just simple colours and pink lipstick.

She wanted to be pretty, but not slutty. She wasn’t that kind of woman and even if she had accepted to pay that game, she still didn’t know if in the end, she’d be able to do it. Maybe both of them were going to burst into a laugh and, their sexy evening would have ended like that.

Dana didn’t know what to wish for.

Rembrandt Street was in an area of the city she had never seen before. Residentials, modern buildings were alternated with old, historic ones, and some flashy shop. His apartment was in one of the old buildings, and so she was surprised when, once inside, everything looked new and modern.

She took the elevator and reached the fifteenth floor. A door was already open.