“You’re so needy.” But her hand dropped to the top of his skull and she began a slow, gentle massage.
“Were you going to audition with the band Thursday night?”
Her stomach knotted. This could be trouble. “No.”
“Because you wanted to avoid me?” He turned his head again to look up at her.
She couldn’t look away. “Yes.”
“Because you’re attracted to me.”
“That’s one of many reasons to avoid you, yes.”
He gave her a slow grin, and this time, it lit his eyes. The smile didn’t last long, but she’d seen it and she was happy she’d answered honestly.
“You do realize how bizarre this game is, don’t you, Savage?”
“Yes. Are you going to go on Thursday night now that we’ve gotten to know one another better?”
“It’s my turn to ask a question.” She glared at him indignantly.
“You asked me if I knew how bizarre this game was and I answered you. You have to answer my question. Pay attention, babe.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“You know if you don’t come, I’m going to be here every single night until you do.”
Her fingers stopped. “That’s blackmail.”
“And you know I’ll do it.”
He sounded all too happy to annoy her.
She took a deep breath. He wanted honesty. “Savage, you know it isn’t a good idea that we spend a lot of time together. We aren’t . . .” She didn’t know what to say. “Compatible, for lack of a better word.”
“Baby, don’t fight the inevitable. I learned a long time ago not to do that. When you can’t change things, you go with the flow. We’re better friends than most people are. We might come from different worlds, but it doesn’t matter.”
“You aren’t going to get hurt. I will.”
There was a part of her that wanted him to deny that, but he didn’t. He fell silent for a long time, so long she thought about abandoning her bed and leaving him to it. She could sit in a chair for the rest of the night.
Savage suddenly turned over onto his belly, his arm sliding around her hips, pulling her down so he could rest his head on her stomach, as if seeking comfort. She couldn’t help but massage his neck. His arm was slung around her and he actually held her tight.
“Would that be worth it? You ran in front of a fucking truck to save my life. Are you saying you won’t take the chance of being my friend because somewhere down the line you might get hurt?”
“I would get hurt,” she corrected. He didn’t go without women, and it would hurt every single time she saw him with another woman, just to use her sexually.
“Our friendship wouldn’t be worth it to you?” he persisted.
There was an ache in his voice that tore at her heart, but she couldn’t just respond without really thinking it over. Would it? Savage didn’t have friends outside of Torpedo Ink. She instinctively knew that. She hadn’t called the cops the way she should have when he crept through her window, which was creepy any way you looked at it, yet she didn’t think of him as a creepy stalker.
Maybe the accident had tied them together in some way. But she knew it was far more than that. It was her personality, the way she was so drawn to him. She managed to give him whatever it was he needed. She drained off the rage and the need for violence swirling in him. More, she saw the good in him when not even he did. This wasn’t about her personally; this was about what her presence did for him. It was also what he gave her. She needed to be needed. She was desperate to give herself to someone who really needed her. That was so ingrained in her, she didn’t know how to live on a daily basis without some direction.
“You’re thinking too much,” he said, and turned his head to kiss her bare belly.
His lips just whispered over her, but it was a brand. A hot brand. She froze. “Savage. You can’t do that. I mean it. If we’re friends, you have to behave.”
“I don’t even know what that fuckin’ word means.” He turned his head, rubbing his face against that little strip of skin showing between her tank and her shorts, as if nuzzling her stomach.
She could feel the scrape of the shadow along his jaw. “Go to sleep. I mean it. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“Two things and then I promise I’ll be quiet.”
She sighed and closed her eyes, her palm cupping the back of his head as he lay on her. “Just tell me. You’re not going to shut up until you get your way.”
“First, you’re coming on Thursday to audition with the band. I don’t want you to let them down on my account. Second, they’ll offer you the gig, because you sing like a fuckin’ angel. No one in their right mind would let you go. The money will be right and it’s close to home. If you want to earn more, they’ll offer you a bartending job.”