I fell limp, breathing hard. Jesus Christ. This man was going to ruin me.
Movement came next to us, and I dared to glance up to find a waiter bringing us bread. He placed it on the table between Tam and me.
I couldn’t look either of them in the eye as Tam slid his fingers from my body, and slowly licked them off.
Chapter Nineteen
Tam
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HALLIE HAD PLEASEDme this evening. She’d done everything I’d asked and hadn’t given herself away. We sat and ate our meals and drank more champagne, and even managed to have a normal conversation about how it had been as children growing up in households like ours. I already knew she’d lost her mother, of course, but her memories touched me.
Two men and a woman entered the restaurant. I didn’t know what it was that made me pay extra attention, but perhaps that instinct that had kept me alive all this time flared into action, or perhaps it was the tiny gasp from Hallie as she recognised the new arrivals.
The Gilligans. Or at least, the younger generation. There were two brothers and a sister. The elder of the brothers, Bruno, led the way, while his sister, Ivy, and brother, Aiden, came up behind him.
They shouldn’t even be here, and I didn’t mean the restaurant. If my father had taken control and dished out payback for Harvey’s death when he should have, at least one, or even all of them would be dead already. That they were walking into a restaurant as though they didn’t have a care in the world made me want to shoot the lot of them.
Bruno spoke too loudly, making sure everyone noticed him. “Table for three,” he said, addressing the owner. “Best you have.”
I slowly rose to my feet, and the owner shot me a panicked look.
“We were here first,” I announced.
“I’m sorry, Mr Cornell.” The owner was clearly flustered. “I did not know they’d be coming in here. I can ask them to leave.”
“You’re going to askusto leave,” Bruno said. “How does that work? They’ve finished eating. Surely you should be askingthemto leave.”
The owner put out both hands. “Please, everyone can stay. I just don’t want any fighting.”
Bruno regarded Hallie and me.
“Well, well, look at this. So, the rumours are true. A Cornell and a Wynter all cosied up together.”
I ignored his comment. “What the fuck are you doing here?”