I hated like hell leaving her at the end of the day, but at least I’d made progress. She was so attuned to me already, to my touch, that when I ran my little experiment on the way out of the restaurant, she’d fallen nicely into my trap. I’d purposely kept my hand away from the small of her back.

I didn’t miss the way she looked for it or the crestfallen look on her face when she noticed I had it stuffed in my pants pocket.

Phase one was well on the way, and when I ...