Savanah answered Kyle, “He’s the best, the greatest, no not the greatest…”
“I get the point. You’re smitten.”
“Good morning, Savage. Mister?” Ethan cocked his head sideways; a grimaced look disfigured his handsome appeal.
Savanah smirked. “Your color’s draining onto the floor.” Jealous!
“I am not.”
“Liar.”
“Stop! Just please tell me this isn’t Radcliff.”
Laughter filled the kitchen. “You must be the new kid on the block.” Kyle stretched his hand to Ethan’s. “Call me Radcliff ever again, and I’ll introduce you to Sweet Pea.”
Ethan’s blank stare was filled with dark thoughts. His hand stayed in his pocket.
“Sweetpea, my love, is Kyle’s alligator.” Savanah released Kyle, jumped off the counter, strut her long legs to Ethan, and kissed his lips softly. “Eth, meet Kyle, Duncan’s son, my cousin.” Ethan’s lips trembled beneath hers. Cupping his face between her hands she kissed him again, with a little more umph behind it. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just seeing you in someone else’s arms, well, it did nothing for me.” He shook his head and flexed his arms.
“Eth, he’s family. He is really. He’s my third cousin.”
“Yeah, but isn’t royalty known for trysts with those closest? And did you know it’s legal to marry your third cousin?”
“Ewh, Ethan.” Savanah swatted him. “Incest? I think you’ve read one too many books or seen too much telly.” One more kiss had Ethan kissing her back with vigor.
“Hey, brat, forget you’ve company?”
Savanah ducked her head to Ethan’s shoulder, her cheeks a new shade of red. “I’m sorry.”
“No you’re not. Ethan, nice to meet the man who finally swept this one off her big feet.” Kyle pat his shoulder. “I’m going to the stables. Da doesn’t know I’m home. I woke Mum up a while ago. Pregnant again? We’re a prolific bunch if nothing else!”
“How long you home?”
“Just long enough to get under everyone’s skin and then get out. Get a few bucks in me pocket for spendin’ and then I’m back to Europe. You, Missy, are not the only one with a buddin’ love life.” With the wink of his brown eye and a quick kiss on Savanah’s cheek, Kyle left.
“Does he really have a ’gator?”
“Yes. Sydney gave Sweet Pea to him about six years ago. She’d found the little thing all wound up in a wire mesh, left to die. The poor thing crawled out from the canals in Florida and the local residents took a baseball bat and tire iron to her. Knocked all her teeth out, broke her jaw and amputated one of her hind legs in the process.”
“I’m not the Crocodile Hunter, but I wouldn’t want it hurt.”
“Fear, Eth. People are scared of them so they tried to kill her. Sadly, it’s the same mentality as shifters and vamps. If people would just take the time to educate themselves about whatever it is that scares them, there would be a lot less prejudice. Ignorance has to be erased from this earth or there won’t be one.” Savanah leaned around Ethan to the plate with the sirloin and inhaled. “Sorry for the rant. I’ve gotta eat. After this morning I’m famished.”
“Sit. I’ll fix you a plate.”
“I lo…”
Kissing her faster than a lightning bolt could strike, Ethan stopped her in her tracks. “Do me a favor?”
“You look way too serious. Name it.”
“Don’t tell me what you just tried to until the day we’re married.”
“Why?” Savanah’s eyes grew wide.
“Because everyone who has ever said that to me has left me. My mother, my father, my sisters, all the freakin’ people who are supposed to love you unconditionally. It’s a load of crap, Savanah and I can’t take you telling me it and then leaving me.”
“Ethan?” Tears welled behind her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. If I can’t say it, I’ll just have to find ways to show you.”
“You were off to a great start this morning.” He gave her a playful wink.
“No, we were off to one, and we still have the rest of the day to ourselves.”
“Want to go speck a few places out for our wedding?” Ethan set a plate full of eggs and steak in front of her. “Bon appetite, my sweet one.”
“Thank you,” she managed to say with a mouth full eggs and a tight-lipped grin. “Join me? Have some fresh pineapple. You need it.” Savanah devilishly shot her eyebrows up.
“What’s the look?”
“You don’t know about pineapples?”
Ethan shook his head no. “I did wonder why your fridge is always stocked with it.”
With a slight giggle, she explained, “It alters the juices flowing from you. Makes everything on you sweeter than you already are. More palatable, if you get my drift? Want some?”
“My semen gets sweet? Hmmm… Guess I won’t die today. Old saying goes, if you learn something new each day you won’t die that day. And if you keep swallowing we won’t get preggers.”
Savanah handed him a slice of the yellow fruit. “Bon appetite back at ya!” Wiping toast crumbs from her lip she asked, “How’d you feel about it? I mean we only just met. Would a baby smother us at this point?”
“Funny you should ask that, Savage. Last week, if anyone other than you told me I was going to be a father, I’d have hopped on my plane and headed for the Outback. If you shoved one of those home pregnancy tests in my face today and it came back with two lines instead of one, I wouldn’t run, but the little things…”
“Babies.”
“Babies,” he said with all his pearly whites showing, “scare the daylights out of me. They’re so little and breakable and what happens when that new baby smell wears off?”
Cracking up, Savanah answered, “You give them a bath.”
“I don’t have the first clue what to do with one.”
“Thank someone Raven really wasn’t pregnant. I can’t imagine you stealing a baby, Eth.”
“Me either. I can’t believe the Maestro hasn’t sent a hit squad after me. Or had me dancing from a distance. It’s got a feel to it, Savage, I can’t place. It’s like I’m waiting for the eye of the storm to pass, and then I’m going to get sucked up and whirled off.”
“All right, lover, this conversation’s going downhill fast. I’m the only one sucking you up. I’m going to brush my teeth and then you and I will go for a ride. We can check out the Hall of Springs, the Casino, and then our rose gardens. I loved your idea actually of the ceremony in the gardens. I’ll be right down.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”
The kitchen was spotless and still no sign of Savanah. Just as Ethan opened the fridge to put the food away the phone jingled. He pulled the antique of a thing off its cradle. The phone had to be over a century old. He placed the black earpiece to his head and talked into the mouthpiece hung on the wall. Suddenly he felt like he’d stepped back in time. “Philly International. Whose up?” He answered.
The voice on the other end of the phone paused.
“Hello?” He sang into the phone.
“This is Sinsations. Is there a Savanah St. James there?”
“Can I help you? She’s busy.” Ethan decided upon discretion. No need telling some unknown his fiancé was in the bathroom leaking body fluids.
“We found a wallet here with her name on it.”
Ethan scratched at the thickened gel in his hair. “Thank you. I’ll be right out to pick it up.”
“Bring her to me.”
“What? Who is this?” The hairs on Ethan’s neck launched from their follicles with more accuracy than missiles taking to the sky.
“Sorry, Sir. We need her. Our policy.”
“We’ll be over.” Ethan hung up the phone in a new pissy mood. And to top it off, he thought he was hearing things. The man’s tone… The man’s words… Bring her to me? “Did he really say that?” He was hearing things.
“Who called, Ethan?” Jovan asked, lean
ing against the doorframe entrance to the kitchen.
“Good morning. The restaurant you went to said they have your daughter’s wallet.”
“That’s funny. Savvy doesn’t carry her wallet anywhere if I’m with her. Never has. Get used to it.”
“How else would they get it?”
Jovan tossed her hands in the air. “I suppose she could have carried it in. Did she call you while we were there? Maybe it fell out of her purse.”
“Nope. No phone calls. Her phone’s in pieces anyway, and I was busy meeting your husband and his clone’s sense of humor.”
Jovan smiled, a big wide grin. Ethan did a second take, when he saw how similar Savanah’s smile and her mother’s were. And that’s where the similarities ended. André’s genes made up ninety-eight percent of Savanah. Jovan’s two percent contributions were her female anatomy and her smile, both of which Ethan could have kissed Jovan for if he thought he’s live to see another day.
“I heard about your nap during the game.”
Her hand covered her mouth, but Ethan heard her giggling regardless. “Yeah, you and all of Saratoga by now.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You look sorry.” Ethan smiled this time at Jovan.
Jovan backed away, annoyance clearer than the nose on his face.
“Did I just do something, Jovan?”
“No, Ethan. It’s me. You and I got off to a very bad start.”
“That was all me.”
“Yes, it was. And from what I’m told it was also that other vamp.”
“Ah yes. The one you don’t want mentioned. Jovan, I swear, I’m going to rid him from our lives.”
“You do that and I’ll walk my daughter down the aisle to you. And quite possibly I’ll even smile.” Jovan glanced back at him as she walked out with a well-maintained poker face. “And don’t look at my ass.”
A grin spread across his lips. Ethan sat there on the stool trying to figure her out. He wasn’t certain if she was trying to be cordial on barest-of-bones of extremes or if she still loathed his very presence. Making him forget all about his soon to be mother-in-law, Savanah walked right up behind him, slid her arms around his neck, covered his eyes and kissed his cheek.
“Hi, you. Miss me?”
“Hi back. Yes. Your mother and I just spent some quality time together.”
“And look at that—there’s no blood anywhere, and you’re still breathing.” Savanah teased.
“Funny. Hey, yesterday, did you take your purse into the restaurant you had lunch at?”
Savanah scrunched her face into a crooked disarray as she thought it over. “Possibly. Why?”
“The place called and said they’ve got your wallet.”
“Well, I guess I took it in, but Eth, ya know what—I have no need for one. I’m broke. But hey, if they’ve got it, let’s go get it back. I’m just going to tell everyone we’ll be gone for the day. Meet you in my car?”
Ethan backed Savanah up against a wall. “Whose car?”
“I believe I said mine. Oh, look at this, I’ve even got the keys!” Savanah did a little victory dance, bumping her hips into his pelvis. She dangled the keys under his nose.
Wearing the grin of a hungry lion, just before he pounces, Ethan shackled her.
“Ethan…I don’t think it’s in your best interest if you—”
“Put you over my knee? Oh it is, Savage. The car’s mine, little nut.” He tangled with her as he sat on a stool and got her across his legs. He slapped her bum once, playing with her.
“Mine, you big oaf. I won it fair and square.” Another pat and she was laughing like there was no tomorrow.
“You and your sentinels swindled me.”
“All right, I give. I’ll let you drive it today. Feel any better?” She peered around him, her face pink her eyes leaking happy tears.
“Oh, thank you. See if I let you in the next ’vet I buy.”
“You will. Because I look extremely hot sitting next to you.”
“Personally, I like you sitting on me.”
“Easily arranged.” Savanah peeled her body from Ethan’s lap and stood up.
“You’re so beautiful.” Ethan cupped his hand to her cheek, his thumb brushed her flushed skin. “Come on. Let’s go find us a place to get married. Lucky for you, I’ve still got money. I guess lunch’s on me.”
“I’ll lick it off you if it is.”
“Music to my ears, sweet cheeks. Let’s ride.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Savanah, really, can we put the top up? It’s gonna downpour, and we’re going to get soaked, not to mention this baby will get wet. Please?”
“Eth, the sun’s shining, its eighty-two degrees and there isn’t a black cloud in this hemisphere. Stop worrying about my car.”
Ethan’s lip twitched. Whether it was to be a smile or a frown remained to be seen. “Can I drive? You said I could.” Ethan put on his best I’m-adorable-you-can’t-resist-me face with clasped hands in front of her.
Tossing him the keys, she hopped over the door and slid into the seat.
Ethan dropped to the ground gasping.
She called back to him, “Come on, drama queen.”
“That’s king to you. Buckle up,” he chirped as he too jumped into the car, slid the key into the ignition, turned it and closed his eyes in rapture as the engine came to life.
Savanah’s jaw dropped. “You just got off, didn’t you?”
“Keep it between us, okay? Sliding the key into the snug slot and giving it a little twist made me think of you this morning when I slid my cock inside you and gave you a little joust side to side and your engine revved up beneath me and left us both out of gas. That’s the hottest feeling, Savage, knowing I can turn you on and have you purring beneath me.” Ethan blew her a kiss before he turned the wheel right and peeled out of the driveway. Destination—Saratoga Lake. “First stop, your wallet, then the state park? Did you tell your parents where we are headed?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Do you think now that I’ve given your Pops my blood a few times, he can read my mind and me him?”
“Try it. Can that other ghoul you’re mixed up with do it?”
“Yeah, he can. So how do I get your Pop?”
“Try saying, ‘Can you hear me now?’”
“Aren’t you funny!”
“Crack myself up, actually. Someone has to!”
“All right, all right. Hey, André you out there?”
Savanah’s smirk traveled the length of her lips and cheeks in a flash.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me,” he scoffed. She turned her head, pretending to look out the window, but Ethan watched her body shake through silent laughter regardless.
****
Sitting at the piano, playing Beethoven to his wife and her belly, Jovan said, “You’re off key. What’s wrong, Bebé?”
“Ethan brain-beeped me. I forgot he’d be able to do that. Is this a good thing or are we never to have a moment’s privacy ever again?”
“André, look at me belly. In a few months you won’t even remember the word privacy let alone your name. Answer him. Could be important.”
Ethan, is everything all right?
“Shit, Savage, it worked. He answered me.”
“Answer him back, Eth. You don’t need to talk aloud to do this.”
“Got it.”
André. Just checking out the wiring. Guess it works. Sorry to bother you.
Just don’t send me any viruses, and we’ll be fine. Did you get to the Hall of Springs yet?
Ethan punched Savanah’s arm. “This is so cool.”
No. We’re just crossing the bridge to retrieve Savanah’s wallet. See you later tonight.
Tell Savanah Lucian informed us that the surgery is set for tomorrow and the children are indeed your ex-boss’s grandchildren.
Wow! You probably shouldn’t have told me that. Ignorance isn’t always bliss, but it could save your life. Let’s hope the nameless
vamp doesn’t ask me about them.
“The twins are Sinclair’s.” Ethan informed Savanah. He waited for some sign from his fiancé that the earth was going to come crashing to an end, or at least his life for bringing all this drama back into their lives.
Savanah said nothing.
“You okay with this?”
“You’ll make it okay.”
Ethan did the only thing he knew how. He hit the CD player’s button and rocked the car with one of his favorite Dave Matthews songs, Crash into me. He reached across the tiny front seat and rested his hand on her thigh and attempted to do the 'let your fingers do the walking move' up her thigh with zero stealth. He grasped the zipper on her jeans, at the same time she latched onto his hand and squeezed. With a subtle shake of her head he found an instant pout.
"The faster you can get me to our destination the faster we can get home and those precision timed moves you were thinking of tuning me up with will have my engine purring better than a pussy. Now, dear fiancé, drive with intent and watch the road instead of me.
"If I get pulled over, it's up to you to change the officer's mind." He winked as the speedometer soared past absurd legal limits.
Savanah tied the scarf tighter around her wild dark curls, adjusted her sunglasses and returned a mischievous grin of her own. “What a sweet ride, Mr. Kitt. I may let you drive more often.”
In Sinsations parking lot, Ethan glanced around. “Looks like a wild place.”
“Wait ’til you see the inside.”
“Hold up.” Ethan pointed to the rear of the lot. “Isn’t the mini coop your aunt’s? Plates read ‘Cooped up.’”
“Hmmm… She came back. Damn.” Savanah waved to the valet as they passed by.
Ethan jammed the keys in his pocket. “Not on your life buddy.”
The valet rolled his eyes.
As they approached the door to the restaurant, it burst open. Ethan looked at Savanah with caution.
“Ah, Miss St. James!” The man greeted her. “We’ve been expecting you. If you’ll join us.”
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