Severed Ties: A Dark Stalker Romance (Tainted Love Book 1)
Severed Ties: Chapter 51

Work flies. Like, one second, it’s eight in the morning, and Storm and Snow are telling me I’m going to have a real stake in the company, and the next, it’s five, and Tommy is lurking in my doorway with a disapproving look on his face.

“Did you stop for lunch?” he asks, not bothering to ask how my day was.

I open my mouth to respond but close it and shake my head. I could lie to him, but I get the sense he can see right through any mistruth I tell him, and I’m too exhausted to deal with whatever punishment he might concoct for lying to him.

He lets out an irritated growl and moves to the coat rack where I hung my coat and handbag this morning. He gathers both items and then crosses to the desk.

“Time to go home.”

I glance back at the screen, sighing at the three emails I’ve started writing in the last hour but kept getting sidetracked, the spreadsheet I’ve been reviewing since eleven this morning, and the to-do list that never got touched. How the hell does Wynter do this all day, every day?

“I have a lot I need to do,” I argue weakly.

I don’t want to stay late tonight. Exhaustion is threatening at the edge of my vision, and if I keep working, I’m at risk of making mistakes I can’t afford to make on my first day.

“Too bad.” Tommy shrugs, his foot tapping impatiently as he waits for me to pack up for the day.

I huff out a sigh and lock my computer, leaving everything I started today open to remind me to finish it in the morning. There’s no point arguing with him, not when he’s standing on the other side of the desk looking at me like he wants to eat me alive.

“Good girl.”

The praise shoots straight to my core, and by the smug smile dancing on his lips, he knows it. But there’s something different about him today, something darker, and I can’t quite place it.

“I’m taking you out for dinner,” he tells me. “Call it our first date.”

My mouth drops open in surprise. Date? The thought of a date had never occurred to me, given Tommy is so much…more than any man I’ve been with before. I just assumed he’d decided we were together and the necessity for things like dates went out the window.

The surprise must be evident on my face because it only makes his smirk grow larger. “Just because I’m a serial killer doesn’t mean I don’t know proper etiquette.”

He winks, and I swear my entire body flames to life. Did someone turn the heat on? He prowls around the edge of the desk, not hesitating to cross the threshold into my space. His hand lifts, fisting into the back of my hair and tugging my head back with a bite of pain.

“I should fuck you right here,” he murmurs, his lips so close I can almost taste them. “I’ve been craving you all day, little fawn. Thinking about your sweet pussy wrapped around me, about your pretty lips cleaning me up after you come all over my cock.”

A small moan drops from my lips without permission, and suddenly I remember the camera in the corner. We can’t do this here. We can’t do any of this here.

He must sense my concern because his eyes drift to the corner in question and he lets out a rough chuckle. “I disabled them before I came in. I’d never risk anyone seeing what belongs to me. Not even on a camera.”

“You have access to the cameras?” I whisper, not trusting my voice not to crack under the heat of his stare.

He chuckles. “Of course I do.”

I shake my head, a huff of laughter clawing up my throat. I shouldn’t be surprised. He broke into my apartment so many times. He had a key made and cameras installed. This seems like just a drop in the ocean compared to that. “You’re insane.”

He nods his agreement. “When it comes to you, absolutely.”

I gather my phone and laptop from the desk and slip them into the bag Tommy has resting on the desk, but when I reach for it, he quickly whips it over his own shoulder and holds my coat out for me to slip into.

“I can take my bag,” I say quietly, threading my arms into the coat and wrapping it around myself tightly as if it would do anything to protect me from this man.

“I’m aware.” He holds out his hand, and I take it without hesitation. As strange as it might sound, I’m slipping into this new life like neither of my old ones ever existed.

Tommy leads me into a quiet Italian restaurant not far from the office, not bothering to wait for someone to take us to our table before he leads me through the back into a small private room.

Every table we pass is full of people laughing, their smiles causing my own to widen. Is this what I’ve been missing? By hiding away, hoping no one would put the pieces together about my old life, I’ve missed out on dinner with friends and laughing so hard my belly aches. And how did it take my stalker coming out of the woodwork for me to realize it?

The decor is aged and authentic, pictures line the walls that must date back at least forty years, and the warmth that surrounds me as I step through the door into the private room makes me feel at home. How did I not know this place even existed?

Tommy pulls my chair out for me and helps me remove the black coat from my shoulders, but before I can take a seat, he moves it to the side next to the other chair.

“The table is already set,” I say quietly, my eyes flickering over the lit candles and single red rose in a small vase in the center.

“I don’t care.” He shrugs. “I want you next to me.”

I open my mouth to argue but snap it shut. It’s pointless fighting Tommy, and the longer I spend with him, the more I realize that. I need to keep my fight for the times that matter, and in the grand scheme of things, it’s certainly no hardship sitting beside him.

I move to take my seat, but he catches my arm before I can, his eyes dark with lust. I have a feeling he’s going to eat me alive when we get home, and given the way my pussy pulses at the thought, I think I’m going to love every second.

“Panties off.” The words come out on a low growl, and I have to process them several times before I can actually get their meaning.

“Tommy…”

“Do as you’re told, little fawn.”

My eyes flick to the closed door and then to each corner of the room, looking for cameras. I know he said he’d never let anyone see me, but what if he doesn’t realize there are people watching?

“There are no cameras in here, Clara. This room is used a lot for business meetings prying eyes can’t be a part of and dinners that men in high-up places don’t want their wives to know about.”

Doubt crashes down on me. Is that why he brought me here? Because it’s anonymous and no one will ever know? He doesn’t want the world to know he’s with me. Am I his dirty little secret?

Before I can spiral any further, Tommy captures my chin between his fingers, bringing his eyes level with mine. The intensity of his dark gaze never ceases to make my breath stutter in my lungs, and I’m barely able to drag in a breath through the connection he holds over me.

“I brought you here so I can touch you in any way I want and not have anyone see, not because I want to hide my relationship with you.” His thumb brushes over my bottom lip, tugging it from between my teeth where the battered flesh was captured without me realizing it. “You should know by now that I want the whole fucking world to know you belong to me. Why would I hide you away?”

I let out a breath, allowing the relief to wash over me even though it’s an emotion I really shouldn’t be feeling. Am I fucked up for wanting Tommy the way I do? For wanting him to openly tell the world I’m his. And when did I make peace with the fact that that’s what I am?

His.