Chapter Eight

R idge met Zack's gaze in the rearview mirror a few hours later. The twinkle in his friend's eyes and the crooked smile on his ruggedly handsome face spelled trouble.

"Don't start," Ridge warned.

"What? I wasn't about to say ‘I told you so.'"

Eddie elbowed Zack. " We , jackass. We told him so."

"You guys are reading way too much into this," Ridge said. "Are we transporting James to Miami in the morning?"

Zack chuckled as he turned into the USMS parking lot. "Smooth, Ridgey."

"We hardly noticed the abrupt change in conversation," Eddie added. "And no, two marshals are in route from Miami as we speak."

"Thank goodness," Zack said. "James started whining and complaining the moment he came to on the gurney in the ambulance and didn't let up until we processed him at lockup. The Miami boys can have him." Zack pulled to a stop beside Ridge's SUV and met his gaze once more. "Do us all a favor and call Kendall."

"Can't you find someone else to harass?" Ridge opened the door and slid out, but Zack called his name before he could close it. He ducked his head back inside the vehicle. "Yeah?"

"Did Kendall really ask James if he was going to Disney World?"

Ridge heaved a sigh. "Yeah. That was just one of his smartass quips. I'm not sure how he's still alive."

"Bet you're glad he is, though," Eddie said, waggling his brows.

"Of course I am. The guy put himself at risk to help us. I wouldn't want any harm to come to him."

"Yeah, that's the reason," Zack said. "And Ridgey…" God, he hated that nickname. "We nag because we care."

Ridge rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Mom." He shut the door on their laughter and hit the fob to unlock his SUV, then stowed his gear and started the engine. They were going to be insufferable after this. He wouldn't even get a break since he was still crashing at Eddie's, except Ridge turned left out of the parking lot instead of going right toward his friend's apartment. He didn't bother trying to convince himself he was seeking the solace of a quiet hotel room.

"I'm just checking to make sure Kendall is okay," he said when he pulled into the club's parking lot a few minutes later.

Nothing more, nothing less.

He'd nearly had himself convinced by the time he reached the club's entrance. The heavy bass thumping through the speakers sounded louder, the crowd around the bar seemed larger, and more dancers were writhing on the floor than before the takedown. The same flight attendant was working the host station when he walked in.

The cute guy's eyes widened when he saw Ridge. "Oh, you're back." He stepped out from behind his post and glided over.

"Hi, Seth," Ridge said, then introduced himself. "I wanted to make sure Kendall is doing okay. Is he still here?" He scanned the club again but didn't see Kendall anywhere.

"Of course our hero is still here," Seth said. "Let me get you seated, and I'll let him know you're back."

"Thanks."

"This way," Seth said, tilting his head toward the dining room.

Ridge followed him to the same table Kendall had led him to earlier.

Seth looked around the club for a second before meeting his gaze. "I'll go find Kendall. Can I place an order for you on the way?"

"Nah," Ridge said. "I'm not staying long."

Seth winked. "That's what they all say."

Ridge chuckled when the flight attendant walked away, then scrubbed his hand over his face. What a fucking night. He wanted to call Seth back and place an order for a strong drink but didn't.

Instead of second-guessing his motives, Ridge passed the time watching people dance, laugh, and celebrate life. There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere, and Ridge knew Kendall was nearby without looking, but he searched the club for him anyway. Their eyes met and held, and a smile slowly stretched across Kendall's handsome face. Ridge returned the gesture and felt the answering joy spread through his chest.

Kendall wound his way over to the table, and Ridge was unable to tear his eyes away for even a second. Kendall's smile turned shy when he reached Ridge's table. Was this the same bold man who'd drunk from his glass and licked the sauce he'd wiped off Ridge's face the first night they'd met? Ridge understood the hesitancy. Something very drastic had shifted between them after the kiss during their second meeting. Before the tour at Tranquil Breezes, he'd been aware of Kendall, but after…it felt more like infatuation. Ridge shoved the annoying thought aside.

"Hi," he said.

Kendall tilted his head. "Hi back."

"How are you?" they both asked at once, then shared a laugh.

Kendall gestured to the empty chair across from Ridge. "May I sit?"

Ridge thought it was extremely odd Kendall's reluctance and vulnerability bothered him more than his boldness had. Both extremes were bothersome but for entirely different reasons. One fueled fantasies, and the other invoked a possessive streak that shocked him. All over a man he'd kissed once. Somehow that single kiss had felt more intimate than the sex he'd experienced with others.

"Please," Ridge said.

Kendall lowered himself into the seat and interlocked his hands on top of the table. The small space separating them felt like a wide gulf. Ridge's fingers itched to touch Kendall, so he tucked them under the table. Kendall's posture was relaxed, but his knuckles were white from the tight grip he had on himself. Was he fighting the urge to reach for Ridge too?

Fuck it .

Ridge reached across the table and gently skimmed a finger over the bandage on Kendall's slender neck. Kendall's mouth parted as a shiver rolled through him. Had he gasped? Ridge resented the hell out of the thumping music and was about to suggest they go someplace quieter to talk.

"It's nothing more than a tiny scratch," Kendall told him. "I'm okay."

Before Ridge could comment further, a waiter stopped by their table. He set a plate of wings in front of Ridge and a grilled cheese sandwich and fries in front of Kendall.

"I didn't order anything," Ridge said.

The waiter looked momentarily confused until Kendall spoke up. "I did. Thank you, Terry."

The guy nodded and left them alone again.

The scent coming from the wings was enough to temporarily hijack Ridge's thoughts and make him drool. Kendall must have mistaken his silence as rejection.

"Did I misread your reaction to the wings earlier?" he asked. "I can order you something else." He slid his plate toward Ridge. "Or I can share my sandwich."

Ridge cleared his throat. "No, this is perfect. My brain just short-circuited for a second."

Kendall picked up a triangle of bread and cheese and nibbled one corner. "Dig in."

Ridge picked up a wing and sank his teeth into it. Pure perfection—crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. The sauce was a perfect harmony of heat and sweet but without the pungency of too much vinegar as was the case with many restaurants. "So good. The chef really knows his stuff."

Kendall smiled. "Sure does." He took another small bite of his sandwich before swirling a fry in ranch. Most people would pop the entire crinkly fry into their mouths, but Kendall only bit off a small chunk. Was he always such a fastidious eater or was it something else? He paid closer attention and saw Kendall seemed to swallow with great difficulty.

"You're not okay," Ridge said, tossing his napkin on top of the table. "I want to take you to the hospital."

Kendall dropped the fry and grabbed Ridge's wrist before he could rise. "You're right. I'm not okay, but I will be." He took a shaky breath. "I have, um…This is embarrassing."

Ridge smiled to reassure him. "More embarrassing than the time I came in and told a complete stranger about finding my boyfriend in bed with his boss?"

Kendall cocked his head to the side. "I thought you said he was your fiancé?"

"He was, but I kept forgetting, which is why Eddie and Zack…Never mind." Yeah, he wasn't going there. "We're talking about you now."

Kendall leaned forward and propped his elbows on the table. "Oh, I'd much rather hear the rest of that sentence. Eddie and Zack, what?"

Ridge shook his head. "Nope. Tell me what's wrong, or I'll toss you over my shoulder and cart you off to the hospital."

Kendall flopped back against his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. The little pout on his pretty mouth made Ridge want to kiss him. "Your story took a lame turn. I was all for you tossing me over your shoulder and carrying me away. But the hospital? You couldn't think of a better ending?"

As far as distraction techniques went, Kendall's was a damn good one. Ridge's brain had no problem conceiving an alternate ending to the plot. He reined himself in. "You look like you're having difficulty swallowing those tiny bites. Maybe we should—"

Kendall's pout gave way to the most seductive grin Ridge had ever seen. "Now we're talking."

"—have a professional check it out," Ridge casually continued as if his dick wasn't getting hard beneath the table.

Huffing a deep sigh, Kendall said, "Bummer. My swallowing issues have nothing to do with the squeeze James put on my throat."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I've been battling an eating disorder since I was ten."

A pang of guilt and something even more potent squeezed Ridge's heart as he imagined the boy he used to be. He had so many questions. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried."

"Because you're not sure what to do with the information."

Gorgeous and perceptive. "Yeah," Ridge admitted. Kendall looked so sad he felt obligated to expose an uncomfortable truth about himself. "Not because I think you should be embarrassed or ashamed."

Kendall studied him intently, and Ridge read the unspoken question in his gaze.

"I hate the thought of you hurting. Then or now. I'm a fixer. I make things right."

Kendall's smile was sad but no less brilliant than the seductive one he'd given Ridge earlier. "You're just a big teddy bear. All burly and tough on the outside but squishy and cuddly on the inside."

Ridge snorted. "I don't cuddle."

"So you think." Kendall took another bite of his sandwich, slightly bigger than before. Ridge still gnawed his way through one and a half wings before Kendall finished chewing and swallowing his food. "My body acts up when I encounter extremely stressful situations and throws my ghrelin and leptin hormones into a tailspin."

"Did you say gremlin?"

Kendall chuckled. "Close enough. Ghrelin is the hunger hormone, and leptin is the satiety hormone. When stressed, my ghrelin is nearly suppressed while my leptin goes into overdrive. Because I'm not hungry, I don't want to eat. It becomes physically painful for me to eat, but skipping meals isn't an option. I just have to take tiny bites and work through my problems."

"Can I help alleviate the stress?" Ridge suddenly realized his question sounded like a proposition. "I mean, do you work out? Exercise is my go-to."

Kendall's smile was dirty and delicious. "I love a good cardio session, but I'm going to be fine. Drew is giving me a few days off to decompress."

"Is Drew the club owner?" Ridge asked.

"The owner's nephew. Drew is our general manager and a damn good one."

Ridge consumed another wing before he spoke again. "What are your plans?"

"Hmmm?" Kendall asked, then ate another tiny bite of his grilled cheese.

"For your time off?"

"Oh, um…I'm not sure. I've recently moved into a house and could use the time to decorate the place. Make it feel more like home, you know? Right now, most of my stuff is still in boxes in the garage."

"Ah, so at least one of us is spared from future apartment-hunting nightmares."

Kendall nodded. "I got really lucky. I was telling Drew—"

"Your boss?"

"Yeah, I was telling him about my plight, and he said his boyfriend had an empty rental property. They'd just fixed it up after the last tenants moved out and were debating putting it on the market and washing their hands of it."

"Why didn't they?" Ridge asked.

"The home has been in the family for a few generations. They decided to hang on to it and offered to rent it to me for a fraction of what Tranquil Breezes wanted for that crappy apartment. What about you? Still haven't found a place?"

"No, and I need to get my ass in gear." Ridge dropped a bone onto the plate and picked up another wing. "I need to find a place for Sammy and me."

"Oh," Kendall said, rubbing his hands together. "You're going to nab the cat."

Ridge laughed. "No sketchy vans and face masks necessary."

Kendall took a bite of his french fry and Ridge noticed he seemed to chew and swallow it easier than before. "What do you mean?"

Ridge explained the situation with Sammy and was stunned when Kendall burst into laughter. After a few seconds, he wiped his wet eyes and munched on his sandwich before popping a whole fry into his mouth. Ridge wasn't sure what Kendall thought was so funny, but he was happy to see him eating more. "The guy wants you back really bad," Kendall said.

"What?" Ridge's voice came out a higher octave than he'd intended. "No way."

"Oh, honey," Kendall said, reaching across the table to pat his hand. Ridge didn't care for his patronizing tone one bit. He would've said as much if the cutie hadn't burst into another round of giggles. "You should see your face. You look more like a grizzly than a teddy bear."

"Good. I don't cuddle."

Kendall snorted. "We'll see about that." Would we? "How frequently does dear Todd update you about the cat while you're hunting for a new place to live?"

Ridge narrowed his eyes at Kendall's cocky grin. "Frequently. And smug doesn't look good on you."

"Oh, it does in the right light. You'll see." Would he? "Anyway," Kendall continued, "how frequently? Let me guess. The texts started out every few days but are now arriving daily?"

Ridge thought of the ignored text on his phone from earlier in the evening. "Maybe."

Kendall's lips quivered before he schooled his expression. "So Todd is definitely reaching out once a day. Texts, phone calls, or both?"

"Texts."

"I see," Kendall said in a studious voice. "And how many of these texts contain pictures of the cat?"

Ridge huffed out a breath of frustration. Todd was fucking playing him like a violin, and he'd been too dumb to see it. "All of them."

"And how many include—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ridge said, cutting him off. "Todd includes himself in many of the photos. And before you ask, sometimes he's partially dressed and lying in bed."

"And the boss?" Kendall asked.

Ridge shrugged. "Beats me. I delete any picture that includes Todd and only save the ones of the cat."

"You've got it bad, my friend." Kendall considered him closely. "We are friends, aren't we?"

"Sure feels like it."

"And friends help each other out and give advice and shit, right?" Kendall asked. Unsure where his new friend was going, Ridge simply nodded. "Todd's tiny little…ego can't handle your lack of interest in him, so he's coming up with every excuse in the book to hold on to you. You don't own joint property, I assume." Ridge shook his head. "And you don't have children." Ridge shook his head harder. "Easy before you wrench something." Ridge forced himself to relax. "Todd's only line to you is through that cat."

Ridge scrubbed his face with his clean hand. "Son of a bitch."

"He is," Kendall agreed. "You gotta call his bluff, friend."

"How do you suppose I do that?"

"Find a place to live that allows cats," Kendall said. "Then you pick Sammy up, block Todd's number, and live happily ever after."

Ridge chuckled. "You make it sound so easy. You saw the shitty apartments available in the area. Tranquil Breezes was the best place I looked at unless I wanted to be locked into a long-term lease."

"Commitment issues?" Kendall asked.

Ridge glared at him. "I don't plan on making Savannah my permanent home. I hadn't planned to stay longer than a few years, but there's this case I can't let go."

"And you plan to leave once it's solved?"

"Yes," Ridge said, though the answer didn't roll off his tongue as easily as he'd have liked.

"I think that's admirable," Kendall said. "But you still need a place to live with Sammy until the big arrest occurs."

"I do."

"I think I have a solution to both our problems."

Ridge tilted his head. "What's your problem?"

Kendall pushed back from his chair and stood up. "Follow me."

Ridge polished off the last wing, wiped his hands, and hurried to catch up with Kendall. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"I'm not exactly the kind of guy who goes into a situation blind."

Kendall stopped and faced him. "Do you trust me?" Ridge didn't even know him, but it somehow made sense to nod. He waited while Kendall approached the bar and had a brief conversation with a handsome bartender. The guy kept glancing over at Ridge, making Ridge wonder what they were discussing. He didn't like thinking the stranger knew what Kendall had in store for him when he didn't.

Did it involve a bedpost and Ridge's silk tie? Why had his mind immediately gone there? He wasn't into bondage. Was he? Damn, Ridge's mind was a jumbled mess, and the playful wink the bartender sent him spelled even more chaos. His brain urged him to run, but his heart stuttered at the mere thought of not knowing what Kendall had planned.

Kendall made his way back to Ridge, then quietly led him down a dark corridor to the same exit Kendall had used earlier. "Did you park out front?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I'll drive you to your vehicle, and you can follow me."

Ridge lowered himself into Kendall's small car and adjusted the seat to remove his knees from his chest. "To where?"

"The place you'll call home until it's time to move on."

A nagging suspicion began to form, but he forgot all about it when Kendall punched the gas and shot out of the employee parking lot like he was on the last lap of the Daytona 500. He careened around the corner on two wheels and sped through the customer lot.

"Which one is yours?"

Ridge was too shocked to speak, so he pointed to the hulking SUV on the far end of the lot. Kendall waited until he was right on top of the vehicle before applying the brakes and skidding to a halt.

Adrenaline made Ridge's heartbeat spike. "Holy shit," he said between panting breaths.

Kendall laughed like a Disney villain and said, "I'm a little much sometimes."

Ridge pushed open the door and stepped outside. He ducked back down and met Kendall's glittering gaze. "Understatement of the century."

He winked. "But it won't stop you from following me, will it?"

"Only if I can't keep up with you. Take it easy, Mario."

"As in Kart?"

Laughing, Ridge said, "I was thinking Andretti, but Kart works too."

"I'll take it easy on you." The wicked promise in Kendall's eyes said otherwise.

Ridge shook his head, closed the door, and unlocked his vehicle. True to his word, Kendall obeyed all traffic laws and kept all four wheels on the ground, even around corners, during the short drive to a cozy cottage in a quiet neighborhood. Ridge's headlights illuminated a soft yellow home attached to a garage by a breezeway. Security lights tucked inside the flower beds on both sides of the front porch showed off the lush, colorful vegetation. Someone had put a lot of time and effort into the property.

After killing the engine, Ridge stepped out of the car and locked the door behind him. The neighborhood looked safe, but he wouldn't risk his gear getting stolen out of his vehicle. The lights flashed when the locks engaged, and Ridge joined Kendall on the walkway leading to the porch.

"Pretty house," Ridge said.

"But can you see yourself living here?" Kendall asked.

There was no denying the home gave off a warm and friendly vibe. "Who lives here?"

"I do," Kendall said. "Silly me. How can I expect you to answer without seeing the rest of the property?" Kendall pulled a set of keys from his pocket and headed up the front steps. "Come on."

The reality of the situation kept Ridge's feet planted firmly in place. Kendall was asking him to move in with him? What the—

"Hey, big guy," Kendall called out. Ridge snapped his head up and found the enigmatic man standing in the open doorway. The porchlight made his platinum hair look silver and cast shadows over his face. "Don't get the wrong idea, okay? I'm not looking to tie you down or trick you. I just want to help you get Sammy."

Something in Kendall's voice sounded sad and wistful, and it unglued Ridge's feet, enabling him to jog onto the porch. "Back at the club, you said you had a solution for both our problems. How will I help you by moving in here?" Ridge expected the answer to be about cutting his expenses, but Kendall worked his bottom lip between his teeth like the answer was more personal.

Kendall dropped his gaze to the porch. "I'm having a tough time adjusting to living alone, and I don't want to rent my spare bedroom to a stranger."

Ridge tucked his hand under Kendall's chin and tipped his head up so he could stare into Kendall's pretty blue eyes. "I travel a lot and work weird hours. I'm not sure I'm the right solution."

Kendall straightened, and a look of determination washed over his features. Ridge nearly groaned as he wondered how he'd measure up against the smaller man's resolve. He'd seen similar scenes play out between his parents many times over the years, and his tiny mother always came out the victor.

"That's what I need," Kendall said. "Someone to help me transition to living fully on my own. Plus, as a tenant, you come with a wonderful perk."

"Um…"

Kendall heaved a deep sigh and flipped on a light switch inside the house. "Arrogant much? I was talking about Sammy."

Heat suffused Ridge's chest, neck, and face. "My bad."

Kendall chuckled as he backed into the house. "Are you coming?" Ridge smiled, and it was Kendall's turn to blush. "Inside," he added. Ridge chuckled as Kendall stumbled back a few more steps. "To see the spare bedroom!"

"Oh," Ridge said, "in that case, lead the way."