Eden Ravard was a favorite, and one neither of them minded visiting. She loved to play cards and was always upbeat, even when her entire kitchen flooded and Savage waded through two inches of water to shut down the main, pump out the water and then fix the pipe. That had been a total disaster, and two of his brothers from Torpedo Ink had come to help.
“You’re taking too long to answer me, baby.” Savage looked at her over his shoulder. “Are you getting sick of having me around?”
“Of course not. I like having you here with me. You’re so good to all my friends.”
He waved her toward the kitchen table. She had already set out two dinner plates. He pushed eggs and potatoes onto her plate and then his. The bacon and cheese were already scrambled into his eggs. Now that the aroma of actual food wafted throughout her house, she found she was really hungry.
“I like how you call them all your friends. You haven’t even been in Sea Haven that long and you already know all the elderly people who need extra assistance. I went back to the club and told Czar we should have been on that. He was already happy with us helping Doris with her porch. Give us a better rep.”
“That’s not why you helped them.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Others don’t know, Savage,” she said. “I do.” She forked the eggs into her mouth and savored the flavor. The man could cook. Really. Anything. “You didn’t think twice about helping them, and it wasn’t because you were looking for goodwill in return.”
“You have to stop thinking I’m a good man. I’m not.”
“You have to stop thinking you’re all bad. You’re not,” she countered.
“Damn it, Seychelle, has it occurred to you that maybe I’m trying to save your ass?”
Her eyebrow shot up. “Just how are you doing that? By coming here all the time and crawling into my bed? By showing me how sweet you are? How are you saving me? You’re seducing me, Savage, little by little. You know you are, so just own it.”
She ate the eggs because they were protein and they tasted so good she couldn’t help herself. She debated about the potatoes. Carbs. Calories. She had hips. A butt. Breasts. She wasn’t buying into his compliments. He might like her figure now, but a few more pounds and he’d be looking elsewhere. Who was she kidding? He might come to her every other night and crawl into her bed, but he wasn’t interested in having sex with her. What did that tell a woman?
He wasn’t attracted. He might have a permanent erection, because she could see it, but it wasn’t for her. It wasn’t about her. She hadn’t put it there in spite of the fact that she thought she had at first. He came to her because she did what no other woman could do—she took away the rage in him. She soothed him enough that he could sleep when nothing else could get him there. This was about something other than physical attraction, and she knew if she fell for this man, he would need someone else besides her—other women. There would always be other women.
“I know,” he said. “I’m always at war with myself. You’re so damn honest, Seychelle, and you don’t pull your punches. You tell the truth, and you make me face up to mine as well. That truth being, if I wasn’t trying to save you, I’d just move in.”
She laughed. “The house isn’t big enough, and I swear, Savage, I’d gain so much weight I’d have to take up running, and I’m just too lazy for that.”
“We’re not talking about your weight again. Eat the potatoes and we’ll go for a walk. You don’t eat enough to keep a bird alive and you walk all over town.”
That was true. She liked walking, and Sea Haven wasn’t that big, although it was sloped, so she always felt like she was walking uphill when she was visiting her ladies.
“When are you going to come to a Thursday-night jam with the brothers?”
He hadn’t asked her in a while. She sighed. “I don’t know. I’m thinking about it. I thought they might have found another singer by now.”
“They have their hearts set on you. You sing like a fuckin’ angel.”
“I don’t think you can say angel and fuck in the same sentence without some kind of repercussions, Savage.”
“Babe. Really? I’m going to hell, if that’s what you’re implying, so I can say or do any damn thing I want here on earth.”
“You could try not to go to hell,” she suggested, and took a cautious bite of the potatoes. It was a major mistake. She knew it would be. They tasted so good. Perfect. Of course they were perfect. He was leading her down a path she knew better than to take, and he was even getting her to eat food she knew better than to eat. If she wasn’t careful, she’d be going straight to hell with him.