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That breathtakingly beautiful man wants to go away with me. ME. Hope bloomed in my chest as I thought about what that might mean, and I smiled as I reached for my drink. Tor. Me. New York. There were so many butterflies in my stomach that I thought they might carry me away, and as I brought the glass to my lips, I caught eyes with the blond woman that had been looking at me during my excited outburst. The shock on her face was gone, but it had been replaced with something altogether different. Something unsettling. With her menu now propped up on the table in front of her, she peered at me with a mixture of curiosity and…was that…alarm?
I looked away from her and took a sip of my drink, and then dug back into my salad, but still, I could feel her eyes on me. What, was she thinking I was too young for Tor? That I was nowhere near on his level? It wouldn’t be the first time, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last. Or maybe she was jealous he was with another man instead of occupying the empty seat in front of her…
I chuckled to myself as I took another bite. Yeah, that had to be it. Poor woman. If she only knew what she was missing out—
“Excuse me?”
The soft voice intruded on my thoughts as I was mid-chew, and I lowered my fork and raised my eyes to meet those of the blond. What the— “Yes? Can I help you?”
She moved beside the table to look down at me, and the way she situated herself with her back to the windows blocked my line of sight to Tor. It irritated me that she was interrupting my lunch.
Please don’t let her be one of those homophobic bigots. They were few and far between up here in Westport, but it wasn’t unheard of. Then it occurred to me that, shit, maybe she was a past plaything of Tor’s. They didn’t all have to be male, right? He didn’t always have sex with them, just inflicted pain? Maybe she knew him from the den…
“I couldn’t help but notice who you came into the café with, your date,” she said in a hushed voice I had to strain to hear, and then she glanced over her shoulder toward the front door before turning her attention back to me, her eyes slightly manic. “Tom Covington.”
Tom Covington? Ohh, okay, this was starting to make sense now. It was obvious the woman had mistaken Tor for someone else. This Tom Covington—whoever he was. “I’m sorry, but you have the wrong person. His name is Salvatore. Not Tom.”
A deep frown formed between her eyebrows as she looked over at Tor again. I, too, craned my head around her to see that he still stood out on the sidewalk, his broad back to us, his hand shoved in his pocket, as he talked on the phone.
“Salvatore?” she repeated, and turned back to me. “That’s what he goes by now?”
Starting to feel annoyed, I narrowed my eyes and nodded. “Yes. Salvatore Wolfe.” Surely she must’ve heard of him if she was from around here. Each and every time Tor and I had gone anywhere in public, most people knew who he was by name. If not by his face.
The woman shook her head. “That’s not his name.”
Okay… She needed to run along now. She was obviously batshit, and I was starting to get worried about what would happen when Tor came back inside. What if she wanted to hurt him? What if she had some delusional idea she was supposed to be with the handsome man standing outside with no idea what was going on here?
“Look, I’m not trying to be rude, but you need to—”
“His name is Tom Covington. Not Salvatore.”
Yep, it’s official. This lady has clearly lost her marbles.
She took another quick look at him as I tried to make sense of what she was saying, but it was all too bizarre for me to even comprehend. I raised a hand to run it through my hair, and as I did, she turned around in time to catch the sleeve of my shirt slip up my arm. Her eyes landed on the red rope burns around my wrists from where Tor had tied me to his bed last night.
“Did he do that?” she asked, pointing to my arm, and I lowered it immediately, tugging at the cuff. Who the hell did this woman think she was? I was done with this conversation.
“That’s none of your—”
“Listen to me,” she said, her eyes full of panic as she crouched by my seat, making me rear back. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with. The man you’re dating is not who you think he is. He used to date my brother, Lee.”
