The Patina

After making your preparations. You sent Kavita a belated reply.

"Hey Kavita. Sorry I didn't respond before. Still interested in seeing the museum at night? My friend in security said tonight would be a good night for it."

Her response came a few minutes later:

"Sounds lovely, Dr. Munroe. Going to teach me some more history?"

She seemed to find calling you Dr. Munroe especially amusing the night you met, and preferred it to your first name, always saying it in a way that felt flirtatious, yet mocking.

"Seems unlikely, but I think we'll have fun."

And so here you are, walking with Kavita down the dimly lit hallways of the eastern wing of the museum, headed toward an exhibit on medieval **** devices, twisting in anxiety, trying to hide that anything is unusual, or at least more unusual than two people here alone after dark.

"You seem nervous Dr. Munroe, is your job in danger if we're found out?" Kavita says with a smirk, her emerald eyes sparkling at you mischievously.

"Uh, well, no, probably not. I would probably get reprimanded, but they need me." you say without much confidence.

She looks around with an interested gaze, but never really stops or focuses on anything for long.

"So, where did you go?" she asks without looking at you.

"Huh? What do you mean?" you say, suddenly even more anxious.

"The night we met, you left on a trip. Where did you go?" she explained, only looking at you briefly, clearly aware that she is making you uncomfortable, but not bothered by it.

"Oh. Well I had a business emergency. A piece became available, and they wanted it to go to a public collection, but I had to move quickly before someone else snapped it up." you said, perhaps a little to quickly.

"Ah. What an interesting job." She took a few more steps, then added, "What was the piece?"

"Oh. It was a book." you explain, deciding the best lie is a half truth.

"How fun! I haven't seen a lot of rare books here through, is there a collection elsewhere?"

"We don't have a display up now, but we're always collecting things for future exhibits. Anyways, how did you know I was gone, are you stalking me already?"

"Yup." she said without further explanation.

You both walk in silence for a while, rapidly approaching the **** device exhibit. Kavita takes your hand, which makes you jump just a little. She gives you a quick smile, and then notices the collection of wrought iron up ahead.

"Oh, that looks scary. Planning on punishing me for my crimes?" she said with a suddenly serious face.

You pause for a moment, then realize she's joking, "Well, someone probably should, I understand you hunt down strangers at parties and then follow their every move."

As you both walk into the main room of the exhibit, she turns to you and gives you a sour, yet still playful look, then says, "I came here the next day to find you. You said I could, if you recall. You seemed to think I would be quite impressed. Your coworker, her name was Stacie I think, said you had left at night due to a family emergency, and didn't know when you would be back."

Fuck. You forgot you had asked her to come by. There was so much going on you had forgot to coordinate a story with Stacie too.

"Oh. Right," you say as you both stop in the center of the room, near a large slanted table with manacles draped down it's sides, "well, it was a pretty important find, and my boss wanted me to handle it, since I'm a better negotiator, but books are usually Stacie's department, and we didn't want to make a stink about sending me...so, I told her it was a family thing."

You hope she doesn't actually know too much about Stacie's specialty, which is ancient anthropology. She seems satisfied with the answer though, and you feel some of the tension drain out of you.

"Ever wondered what it's like to be strapped into something like this?" You gesture to the table.

"Don't have to." Kavita said without missing a beat.

"I see. Well, want to play around a little? Not many people get the chance." you move close to her, putting an arm around her waist, trying to be flirtatious and fun, but feeling very fake and painfully obvious.

To your surprise, she smiles and says, "I thought you'd never ask." and with little hesitation, she climbs up on the table, spreads out her limbs out towards the manacles.

"You're quite trusting. You don't know me that well." you say as you tighten the manacles and bind her to the table.