‘Two of those then, please,’ he said, dismissing her with a dazzling smile.
‘How do you know I like minestrone?’ I said, rather winded by his presumption.
‘Everyone likes minestrone,’ he said. ‘And stop looking so affronted. Don’t you like it when I take charge?’
He rolled out the devilish glint, but I felt duty-bound to resist it.
‘In the bedroom,’ I said primly. ‘Which, as you ought to have noticed, this isn’t.’
‘Ah, fair enough,’ he said. ‘I just didn’t want to spend ages faffing over menus when we’ve got serious business to discuss.’ He slipped a tablet out of his backpack and laid it on the table between us. ‘So, have you seen how popular you are in the sadistic community?’
I laughed nervously.
‘Yes. Took a look last night. I had thirty-nine replies.’
He logged on and set his fingertips to work on the screen.
‘More than that now,’ he said. ‘At least fifty, last time I checked.’
‘Most of them were timewasters, though,’ I said, trying not to be mesmerised by his beautiful fingers as they danced and skated. He was wearing a lovely shirt with heavy cuffs and cufflinks. Must have been trying to impress the City Hall bigwigs.
‘You’ve sifted through them? I haven’t had time yet.’
‘Yes, and I’ve made a shortlist.’
He looked up at me, blinking bright-blue light.
‘Bravo,’ he said. ‘Who’s on it?’
‘Two women and four men. And, you know, it occurred to me that Mia might still be on this site, but under a new name. Don’t you think? One of the women could be her.’
‘Could be,’ agreed Tom. ‘Click on them for me, will you?’
The first called herself YourPet27 and had sent a picture of herself on all fours in a latex skirt and boob tube, sticking out her tongue like a panting dog. A leash hung from the collar around her neck, its looped end lying on the floor beside her.
‘Not really Mia’s style,’ I demurred. ‘But you never know. If J wanted her to, she’d probably put up a picture like that.’
‘Right sort of age,’ noted Tom. ‘Cute too.’
‘I’m not about to get involved in any threesomes,’ I said sternly.
‘That wasn’t on the list, was it? Threesomes. I wonder why not.’
‘No threesomes.’ I repeated with emphasis.
Tom patted my hand. ‘We aren’t going to do anything you aren’t comfortable with, Foxy, I promise. But you’re right – it might be worth getting in touch with her.’
‘She says she lives in one of the villages on the river, out past Warville Park. That’s not too far away. And she’s been “on the scene” for five years…so probably not Mia, then, but possibly somebody who’s met her.’
‘Give her a go,’ said Tom. ‘Ask her if she has any kinky local mates.’
‘Will do.’ I hastily closed the tab as the waitress approached with our steaming bowls of soup. Didn’t want her getting an eyeful of YourPet27’s latex-squeezed cleavage. ‘What about the others? Shall I send them a kind of holding message, to keep them interested, while I rule out this one?’
‘Yeah, might as well,’ he said. ‘Don’t send any photos though.’
‘Not even that snap of my suspenders?’ I teased.
He raised his eyebrows, suddenly as grave and stern as a Victorian schoolmaster. It turned me on, or rather, the level of turned-on-ness moved up several notches, as Tom’s mere presence had me in a state of constant low-level excitement.