“24 days to go,” she said, glancing up as Max approached our table.
“Max, this is Elena. Elena, this is Maximilian Gates, the directorial genius who's taking the helm ofCrown of Swords.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Elena.”
She pulled away from me to shake his hand and nodded with a neutral smile.
“Looking forward to working with you again,” I said to him genuinely. He could be demanding, but he brought out the best in his actors.
“And you’re adominatrix, Elena? How fascinating!” He was speaking to her like she was a child and it was weird.
“Thanks,” Elena said without engaging further. It could have been paranoia, but something about their interaction felt off.
I said, “I was actually going to mention that to you, Max. Would you be open to her sitting in on our table read later in the week? She and I were running lines and she had some concerns about the script from a BDSM standpoint. Elena is willing to help, but I wanted to check with you before running it by the producers.”
Max said, “Of course. Input from someone so…experienced would be great.”
“Perfect, thanks.” Elena smiled politely. She'd seemed far more excited about the idea when we’d talked about it when we were working through the script at the Chateau Marmont.
Max gave us a huge smile and said, “I’m going to grab a quick drink then sneak out of here. I’ll see you both soon. Elena, it was apleasureto meet you!”
As soon as he was out of earshot, I quietly asked, “Do you two know each other?”
“No.”
“Is he your client or something?”
I didn’t know why I was pushing, but if there was history between them, I wanted to know about it.
“No. I just told you we don’t know each other.”
“I wonder why he sounded weird then.”
“Maybe he’s being weird because I’m a sex worker. It happens a lot. Does it matter?”
Somehow it did. If she didn’t trust me, then I couldn’t trust her.
“No.” I shook my head, letting it go.
Asha caught my eye and looked significantly between Elena and me. We were sitting apart stiffly again.
Elena noticed. “Better mark your territory, Mr. Chase.” The husky warmth had returned to her voice.
I pulled her closer, leaning in to whisper against her ear, “I assumed this is what you meant by that, but then I remembered how wholesome I am compared to you. Did you literally want me to pee on you?”
She laughed, and it was the first time I’d heard laughter from her that sounded genuine. And damn, did it feel good to make her laugh.
She whispered, “I don’t think you’re as wholesome as you lead everyone to believe.”
“Maybe you’re just a bad influence on me.” I pretended to sound grumpy about it.
“Well, bad influence or not, it would be plain bad manners to suggest water sports in the middle of a restaurant. Golden Showers should always be conducted outside or in the bathroom.”
I nuzzled her playfully with the roughness of my beard and she leaned closer, like she wanted more, letting me take in the subtle sweetness of her scent.
“Most of the restaurant just watched you do that. Can we go back to sitting like normal humans now?” She shifted out from under my arm like she’d been counting down to being able to escape, but she stayed sitting close enough to be brushing against me.
“I can’t begin to figure you out, Elena.”
