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Tyson winks at me as I stare at them.
“I thought you and Sabrina were a couple,” I say lamely.
He laughs. “We’re together, yes. I’m her Dom. But Ethan is also her boyfriend. His wife is her girlfriend, and I’ve recently been seeing his wife as well, but it’s casual.”
A tangled web of relationships isn’t what I was expecting to hear about. It sounds complicated. “How does that work?”
“Ethical-non-monogamy, polyamory, whatever you want to call it. It works for us. We try to be respectful of each other’s time and schedules and things like that, and we make sure enjoying life is at the center of our motivations.”
“Have you always been that way with each other?”
Tyson lets out a single sharp laugh. “Not by a long shot. Sabrina and I were together and mostly monogamous for several years. We’ve always fooled around with other people, but only at the club. Then she met Ethan. At the time, I wasn’t able to give her the kind of commitment she was looking for. My job is… intense. But we didn’t want to lose each other. It was a rough time for us. As it happens, Ethan has been polyamorous with his wife since before they got married almost ten years ago. He explained it to us in a way that made sense. It’s been working so far.”
“And how did it come to be that you play with her together?”
He leans forward with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Got your eye on more than one man, darlin?”
I twist a curl around my finger and avert my gaze from his. “Something like that. It’s complicated and I’m curious.”
Tyson looks in the direction Ethan carried Sabrina. “She had a fantasy. It sounded like something we could fulfill. The chemistry was there. Now we play together anytime we’re all in the same place. Sometimes that turns into a threesome in the bedroom and other times that turns into one of us taking her off for some alone time. Tonight was their turn. Tomorrow night she’ll be with Violet all night long, and Ethan and I will sit at the bar and drink beer and pretend we like sports or something.”
I laugh at his description of how things will go, and again wonder if Owen and Tobias would ever be down for something like that. Even if I married Tobias and no one learned about Owen’s involvement with us. I can’t picture Owen being OK with being the dirty little secret. Something tells me he wouldn’t like that at all.
It would never work, so I put it out of my mind. Or at least I try to.
“There you are, vixen.” A warm hand settles on my shoulder, and I look up to find Tobias standing next to me.
My heart flutters at the sight of him. He is truly handsome. I never thought I would find another man as attractive as I find Owen.
Before I can speak, he comes around to the front of the sofa and extends his hand. “Tyson. It’s good to see you again.”
“Tobias. Wasn’t sure if you were broadcasting our connection.” Tyson stands and pulls Tobias into a hug instead of shaking his hand. My curiosity is piqued. What connection do Tobias and Tyson have?
Tobias looks down at me and back to Tyson. “It’s fine in front of Bellamy. We are engaged, after all.”
I fight the urge to groan. Not many people here know about my arranged marriage. It’s easier, considering everything they’ve seen me do with Owen. But Tyson doesn’t blink. Just sits back down as Tobias settles next to me.
“I’m the mostly silent owner of a restaurant group. Tyson is my creative partner, and the only one who knows the true identity of the owner.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Tobias Hunt, heir to a criminal empire that deals in guns, money laundering, and illegal gambling across Europe, is in the restaurant business too? And from my knowledge of Tyson Vance, the restaurants would all be high end.
“How did you get into that?”
Tobias shifts uncomfortably, and I sit up straighter, turning sideways to face him. “Tell me.”
“I went to grad school in California where I was a TA to one of the history professors. In my last semester, I got involved with a TA from the culinary school. One contact led to another, and it turned into another reason to avoid going back home.”
“And avoid marrying me?” I question.
He pulls the hair tie out of his ponytail and runs his fingers through the tangles before tying it back again. A nervous habit of his, I think.
“Something like that. I told you earlier why I did what I did.”
It stings more than it should to know that there was a time when he didn’t want to marry me, either. I’ll have to spend some time processing that.
Tyson stands and offers Tobias his hand again. “I’m going to grab a drink. Good to see you. We should talk business while you’re in town.”
Tobias agrees and then we’re alone on the sofa. It’s cozy and intimate. Something I haven’t been with him yet.
