Broken Toy [Suncoast Society] (Siren Publishing Sensations) by Tymber Dalton

his mouth curl in a smile, surprising him.
    It felt good to be amused again.
    Felt good to have a little anticipation for something in his personal life for a change.

Chapter Seven
     
    Gabe spent all day Saturday curled up on the couch, in baggy shorts and a T-shirt, TV on, coffeepot working overtime, and crocheting her way through nearly a dozen amigurumis.
    She also spent it forcing herself to keep her focus on her task and not on any other thoughts that struggled to make their way through to the front of her mind.
    Like cracking open her work laptop and…oh, working.
    Slacker.
    She shoved that thought away, which had arrived with way more than a tinge of Maria’s shrill voice, and got up to pour herself another cup of coffee.
    I’m doing what my boss ordered me to do. That’s following orders and being a good employee.
    By Saturday night, she sat back and stared at the lineup of crocheted animals arranged on the coffee table. Four alligators, three dolphins, three rabbits, and a dog.
    That was the most she’d been able to complete in one sitting in…years.
    See? I was productive.
    She wasn’t sure who she meant that comment for, but no internal monologues dared contradict her.
    After popping a microwave dinner in to cook, she glanced at the laptops again. Five minutes later, when the bell dinged that her food was ready, she already had her work laptop booted and running.
    She set it on the coffee table next to the animals and went to fetch her dinner. Hey, I’ll just Google that restaurant so I’ll know where it’s at.
    Yeah, even she didn’t believe that.
    She checked her work e-mail, replied to a couple of messages, skimmed through a few files while eating, and, finally, brought up a browser screen to run a Google search on the restaurant.
    It was fairly close, as a matter of fact. She could drive there in a few minutes. Even better, they listed “casual dining” on their website, meaning she could get away with jeans.
    Perfect.
    It would make Walker happy if she could report she’d actually taken his advice and gone there to eat.
    She clicked on the Events link and scanned their website. Tomorrow night a meeting of something called the Suncoast Society was gathering in their meeting room.
    Crud. Did that mean the restaurant would be busier than usual? Now that she’d decided she did want to go, the thought that maybe she’d have to wait another day pecked at her impatient side.
    She clicked on the group’s link out of curiosity, then froze. The link took her to an event page on a blog for a local group called the Suncoast Society. Skimming through it, it appeared to be a Sarasota-based BDSM group who held a monthly dinner munch that rotated between several restaurants.
    Two mental voices waged silent war within her mind. Stay home, you have groceries. Why waste the money?
    The other voice played sneaky. Maybe this is something you should look into. For work. Walker did recommend you eat there. Maybe he did it on purpose.
    Logic tried to insert itself. There are groups like this in South Florida. They aren’t the kind of people you have to worry about. They don’t involve children or anything heinous like that. It’s just adults doing adult things to each other. There are real criminals out there to spend time trying to catch.
    She also hadn’t treated herself to good prime rib in way too long.
    I could always pretend to be a newbie and sit in on their meeting. I’d likely get faster service as well as satisfy my curiosity that they’re harmless.
    She also knew she’d be lying to herself if she denied any personal interest in the matter. She wasn’t a virgin by any stretch of the imagination. Over the past several years, her solo sessions had veered off into the world of less vanilla fantasies. She’d even started reading a few erotic authors on her Kindle, one of the few indulgences she allowed herself with the rationalization that e-books saved her money and space.
    In South Florida, there