* * *
Savage sighed, framed Seychelle’s face with both hands and brought his mouth very gently down on hers. His lips just rubbed softly over hers, like the lightest of caresses. He ran his tongue along the seam of her lips gently. Coaxing. She made the softest of sounds, but it got him in the gut. Maybe higher. Maybe in his chest.
He took his time—patience was everything, and he was rewarded when her lips parted, and he sank his tongue deep. He swept into her mouth, her taste nearly overwhelming him, so that a dark lust was desperately spinning out of control. Her mouth was hot and wild, her tongue tangling with his, sliding tentatively at first and then surer, dueling until he could barely breathe for the two of them.
He needed to see those sexy, sweet tears and the beautiful patterns that made his world right again. Just the thought turned him inside out. Hot flames poured through him, swirling like a storm through his veins to settle deep in his cock. She was turning him inside out.
When he lifted his head, she was clinging to him, chasing after his mouth shamelessly. He stroked caresses over her hair and down her back. “It isn’t going to be so bad belonging to me, Seychelle. I’ll be careful with you. After all this time thinking you didn’t exist, I’m not about to drive you away. I’ll introduce you to my world carefully. Once you know me, know the rules, you aren’t going to have trouble.”
Seychelle buried her fists in the front of his shirt, shaking her head, more panicked than ever, because she’d just proven to herself she couldn’t resist him. She’d never resist that mouth. The way he kissed. The fire or his taste. It was probably already too late. She had to do something to distract herself, something terrible if she was going to save herself.
“You’ll hurt me, Savage. In the end, you’ll hurt me.” She looked up at him, needing to see his eyes. “Won’t you?”
“Probably.”
He continued to stroke those caresses through her hair that made her weak with need for him. She knew he’d be honest, but she didn’t want that answer. She wanted hope.
“I don’t know the first thing about relationships, baby. That’s going to set us both up for mistakes, but we’ll work through it. You’ll learn. I’ll learn. That’s what couples do.”
“I thought we were going to be friends.” She was feeling desperate to get away from him. Friendship would never work. She was too attracted to him. She needed to give him everything he wanted or needed, just as she’d done all her life with her parents. She gave and gave until there was nothing left of her, and they died anyway.
“We’re going to be friends, honey. We already are. You know more about me than anyone but my brothers in Torpedo Ink. I know you’re scared, but you have to trust me to take care of you.”
She was scared. Not only of him, but of her own hidden desires. He brought things out in her that she was terrified to explore. She forced a nod, pressing her fingers to her lips to make certain she didn’t try to kiss him again. She didn’t seem to have any control at all around him.
Savage sighed again and stepped aside, letting her slip inside her car. The moment she was seated and she took the keys, he stepped back and closed her door.
She wanted to cry as she looked at him through the window while she started her car. It was the last time she was ever going to see him. He was a beautiful, gorgeous man, but far too broken for her to fix. She couldn’t save him any more than she could have saved her parents or herself. She’d done everything for them, even taken on their illness, and in the end, she’d lost everything, just as she would lose Savage. The difference was, with Savage, she would lose her heart. Her soul. Everything she was.
TEN
Seychelle drove straight to the bar. She could walk to a motel from there. Motels were in abundance. Tourists came often for whale watching and film festivals and everything else Sea Haven and Fort Bragg had to offer. Then there was Alena’s restaurant, Crow 287, fast becoming a huge draw for Caspar. There was everything there, but she was leaving.
She put her head down on the steering wheel and allowed herself to cry. She had come here hoping for a new start. She wanted to be independent and happy, but she wasn’t either of those things. She was strong and disciplined in most areas of her life, but the fact that she couldn’t stop herself from trying to heal other people’s illnesses was slowly killing her. She was just worn out. There was no way to stop herself. She’d tried, but she just couldn’t find any control. That meant living a very solitary existence. She didn’t even know what she was doing, as evidenced by coming here to this bar. It made no sense and yet here she was.