Chapter 29

I wakeup on top of Savage. It’s toasty warm underneath the blanket, and I’m resting on his chest, my hair plastered against my cheek, and my legs curled up on either side of his body. He’s not inside me any more, but I’m considering remedying that.

It happened. It actually happened.

Savage and I finally happened in a way that we both wanted.

But I can’t help thinking about yesterday afternoon. The things he told me. The way he broke apart.

His ex. The baby he lost.

My heart breaks for him. I can’t imagine how difficult that had to have been, or how much he must hurt just thinking about it. He clearly blames himself.

I have an overwhelming urge to wrap my arms around him and squeeze. To protect him from his own feelings, but I can’t do that. Savage and I aren’t together. And I can’t fix him. He has to put in the work to get through the trauma.

If I was staying, I would be there with him through it, but I’m not.

And I have to remember that.

The alternative is letting myself feel things for a man who is clearly not ready for love. Sex or not, nothing has changed. Savage still wants to live out here on his ranch. He still wants to be alone. I’m not naive enough to think that incredible sex will change that.

Even if he hasn’t been with a woman in sixteen years.

I peer down at his chest, the tattoos that arc down his neck, over one pec. He has a flaming skull tattoo along his ribs, and I press my hand to it.

Savage shifts underneath me, and his hands move up my naked thighs to my bare ass. He strokes his fingers down and between them, gently. He pauses before touching me.

“Princess,” he murmurs, his voice rumbling and warm.

“Carter.”

“Hmm.” It’s low and warm, the noise he makes as he sweeps his fingers over my pussy.

I suck in a breath and hold it.

“You’re wet.” He inserts one finger inside me, and I tense against him.

He’s exquisite. The way he moves and touches me, the way he wants to give me pleasure.

Savage’s dick presses against me, and he removes his fingers and sweeps the tip of his cock against my pussy. “Fuck, Princess, you are so ready for me. You’re swollen.”

“Yes,” I murmur. “I want it.”

He grabs both of my ass cheeks and lifts me. Savage slides me onto his dick, and we’re already panting for each other, me moaning his name, him grinding his teeth.

“Fuck, I want to live like this,” he says.

“Like what?” I ask.

“Inside you.” And then he pounds into me again.

The sex is hot and fast, and he’s focused on making sure I come, even as he moves my body how he wants it. It just so happens to be how I want it too. I’m screaming his name and cross-eyed from pleasure when he pulses inside me again.

Afterward, Savage slips out of me and presses a kiss to my temple.

“Fuck,” he says, “you are just too good to leave alone.”

I gnaw on my bottom lip. “Am I?”

“Yes.” He kisses my forehead.

And then the light on the bedside table clicks on.

“The power,” I say, grinning at him, and I sit up in bed, holding the comforter to my chest. He pulls it down and sucks one of my nipples into his mouth. “Oh my God, okay. Screw the power.”

“Once we’re done, we can take a shower.”

“Once we’re done?”

“Yes.” He growls it against my skin. “Once I’m done with you, Princess.”

My eyes roll back in my head as he circles my nipple with his tongue and slips his hand between my legs.

It’stwo hours later when Savage carries me out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. He stands me up, then turns on the shower and makes sure the water is the perfect temperature before he guides me into it.

“Oh my God, that feels good,” I say, as the water washes over my skin.

“How good?” Savage asks, his dark brows tipping downward.

“You’re kidding, right? You’re jealous of the water?”

“I’m jealous of anything that gets to touch you naked.”

I stick out my tongue at him, and he takes the soap and lathers it over my skin. He’s gentle with me. He washes my hair and my body, worshiping every inch of me, even kneeling at my feet and lifting them one by one.

“You really don’t have to do this.”

“I do,” he says. “If I’m going to come on your face and disrespect you in the bedroom, I’ve got to show you how much I care in other ways.”

“I— You know what, I don’t have a problem with that,” I say. “Come on my face anytime you want.”

He finishes washing me, then starts lathering up himself. I run my hands over his broad, muscular back, then press my fingers into the muscle along his spine. He groans and places both hands on the white tiles of the shower wall.

“Holy crap, you’re tense,” I say, kneading him.

He turns and takes my hands. “I’m good,” he says. “Thank you, Princess. But I don’t want you to exert yourself.”

“Why? Because I’ll break into pieces?” I roll my eyes.

“No,” he says, grasping my throat. “Because I’m going to fuck you until you have nothing left later.”

“Oh,” I squeak.

He gives me a devilish smile, and my stomach flips. He has a beautiful smile. It’s genuine and warm, and full of his personality. When he smiles at me like that, I feel like I’m going to lose my mind or part of my heart to him.

I look down at my feet.

Savage brushes his hands over my breasts and between my legs. “I can’t keep my hands off you,” he says. “But we’d better get something to eat.”

I nod.

We dry off and dress, and Savage leaves me to check my phone while he goes to the kitchen.

The first thing I want to do is send a text to the group chat and tell them what happened, but I don’t. That would ruin the moment, and for now, this feels like it’s just us. Also, I don’t want to go bragging to them when I have no idea what Savage wants. Carter. God.

And then there’s the fact that we slept through the afternoon, and it’s just past midnight.

The smells of cooking are too good to resist, so I join him in the kitchen.

A single pink rose sits in a vase on the kitchen counter, and I lean in and sniff it, smiling. “Thanks for cooking,” I say. “I would love to help.”

“Next time, you can,” he says. “I wanted you to relax while you are here. Feel cared for.”

“Oh, trust me,” I say, “I feel cared for. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this taken care of in my life.”

“Good.” The word comes out rough, but his gaze is soft as he flips a pancake on the stove. “You know what? If you want to help, there’s some cream in the fridge. You can whip it for the pancakes.”

“It’s a good thing that the power came on,” I say. “I guess that means things are going to clear up soon.”

He nods, but there’s tension in his shoulders.

Savage’s kitchen is neat, and I squeeze past him where he stands in front of the gas burners, spooning pancake mix onto his skillet. I grab the whipped cream out of the silver slab that is his fridge and he directs me to the bowls in the dark wood cupboards.

I whip up the cream, standing next to him at the counter. The corners of his lips are tilted upward, and he occasionally strokes his beard and gives me a sideways glance. Savage slides his arm around my waist and pulls me to his side, and I let out a squeak.

“Hungry?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I reply. “I’m starving.”

Savage dishes up the pancakes onto plates while I get out the butter and syrup. He places the whipped cream on the table, and it’s giving me all kinds of ideas.

He pours us two glasses of water and we start eating.

“You’re not going to check your phone?” I ask.

“Later,” he says.

My heart thumps in my chest. I have to get this situation under control, because I’m already so into him, I can barely think straight. “So,” I say, with a grin. “We should talk.”

He arches an eyebrow. “What about, Princess?”

My skin prickles at the nickname. “About that,” I say. “You calling me that. The insanely good sex we’ve been having. The fact that I can get out full sentences in front of you for once.”

He chuckles, and I’m stunned. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Savage laugh. Not properly. It’s an uninhibited sound, and an easy smile slips onto my face.

Trouble. You are in trouble.

“You don’t want a relationship,” I say. “You said you don’t have a heart to give, and I understand that you’ve got a lot of stuff going on.”

He doesn’t answer, but that smile has faded, and his hand goes to the pocket of his sweats. “I’m not worth your time emotionally, Hannah. I come with too much baggage.”

“And I appreciate that and your honesty,” I say. “But I don’t want to stop… this.” I point at him with my fork and then back at me. “Not until I leave town.”

“You’re still leaving,” he says.

“Yes. Of course.”

A frown wrinkles his brow. “All right. I— Fine.”

“Is there a problem with that?”

The wrinkles deepen. “No. You’re your own woman and person. You should do what makes you happy. Just, uh, I want you to be safe.”

“Well, while I’m here, you can continue being my bodyguard,” I say.

He grunts but doesn’t answer.

“You don’t have to tell Cash about us.” I lift my chin. “In fact, I’d prefer it if you didn’t. Because we’re not serious, right? So, we’ll fool around, have some fun, and once I’m gone, you can pretend it never happened.”

His chair scrapes back and he circles the counter toward me. Savage catches my wrist, removes the fork from my hand and sets it aside. He lifts me out of my seat and into his arms. “I will never pretend this didn’t happen.”

“Carter,” I say.

“I will never forget it happened, Princess,” he says. “You will be with me for the rest of my fucking life thanks to last night. Thanks to now.”

“Yeah, but you made a promise to Cash, and you wouldn’t want to break it. I just want to give you an easy out. And honestly, I don’t want Cash getting weird about this. I want it to be something special. Between us.”

“My promise is not your problem,” he says.

“O-Okay, but you’re happy to keep doing this, even after I leave your ranch?”

Savage’s gaze darkens. He releases me then sweeps his arm across the table, clearing it of dishes, sending them smashing to the ground. He lifts me onto the table and rips down my yoga pants, then brings me to the edge of the counter and sucks my clit into his mouth.

I cry out, shocked, aroused, everything in between.

“You’re mine until you leave this town,” he says, around a mouthful of me.

I forget my fears as he presses me back onto the counter.