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She had to try something different. Maybe he would want to talk about himself. “So, uh, what brings you here, Dimas? How’d you end up in a spooky place like this?”

“...It doesn’t matter,” said Dimas.

Well, crumb. She should’ve known better. Men hated talking about themselves.

Well.

Most men.

She’d known many exceptions, certainly, but Dimas here didn’t appear to be one of them.

She liked that, though. Damn, did she like that. A boyfriend who wasn’t in love with the sound of his own voice? That was basically her ideal man, after the repeated dumpster fires that were her last few relationships. Peace and quiet without all the loneliness that usually came with it? Where did she have to sign?

And sure, maybe Dimas seemed a little scary, but that was just a preliminary thing. She didn’t know anything about him yet, really. And... if she was being entirely, horrifically honest with herself... she found that scariness kinda hot, too--so help her. She’d never dated anyone who seemed genuinely “mysterious” or “dangerous” before.

Not from the beginning of the relationship, anyway.

Dimas also seemed like a gentleman, though, curiously enough. So she wondered if she could attack him from that angle.

“Well, ah... would it be too much trouble to ask you to show me around?” said Madison.

“...I am not very familiar with Warrenhold, myself.”

A meek woman might’ve gotten discouraged by that response. Not Madison, though. “Perfect!” she said, grabbing Dimas’ arm. “We can explore it together, then. That’s even better, right?”

Dimas just kind of stood there, looking down at her on his arm as if he were assessing a rash and trying to decide if he needed to take medication for it.

At least, that was what it seemed like to Madison. Honestly, she wasn’t accustomed to seeing expressions like that--certainly not from men. She’d seen a lot of other things from them. Eagerness, confidence, anger, even timidity and desperation--but this?

This was pretty new to her.

She was becoming more determined by the second to not let this one get away.

But she couldn’t be too aggressive, either, she knew. A hunk like this probably liked to do most of the work himself. And she still didn’t know much about him, of course. There were still a lot of deal-breaking obstacles that could crop up any moment now.

She decided to release his arm and take a step back toward the empty bar behind her. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just very excitable, sometimes.”

“...It’s fine,” said Dimas, as gorgeous and expressionless as ever.

Madison gathered her courage and went straight for the first big thing that she needed to know. “Yeah, well, I’m sure your wife wouldn’t appreciate some strange woman hanging all over you, right?”

“...I’m not married.”

She resisted the urge to leap into his enormous arms. “Oh,” she said with forced calmness. “Then... does that mean you wouldn’t mind exploring this castle with me?”

“...Sure.”