She felt the difference in him when he got close to her. He felt more dangerous. His skin was hotter. His rage closer to the surface. His blue eyes actually had gone from being flat and cold to holding flames that burned with a fire she found she dreaded. That well of rage in him was growing, and it wasn’t good. No matter what she did, she couldn’t stop it. She slowed it down. She soothed him. She sometimes made those flames fall back to smaller embers, but they flared right back up, burning hotter than ever the moment her hands were off him.
Seychelle was just a little nervous around him when before she hadn’t been at all. She felt the house was too small for him and he was a bit like a tiger in a cage, pacing restlessly, and she was his meal. The need for violence rode him hard. She could see it in him. Feel it on him. It was like a vicious animal alive in him, ripping at his insides, shredding his intestines with cruel, spiteful claws, demanding its pound of flesh.
The Whip Master. The Master of Pain. She didn’t dare touch him when he was like this, and yet everything she was demanded that she do so to ease that terrible need for violence. For hurting another human being. He looked at her with his blue eyes as if only she was right for him, and she not only wanted to be that woman for him, she needed to be.
“Honey, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” She held her breath, afraid he would. Afraid he wouldn’t. In spite of his abruptness, he treated her gently as a rule, but she didn’t know how he would be when he was like this, and there was a part of her that was afraid of finding out. She didn’t want to lose him, and yet she knew she didn’t dare grow any closer.
He glanced at her over his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers, and those blue flames leapt and burned, scorching her before he turned back to the eggs.
“Sometimes I can go through some pretty bad patches, baby, nothing I haven’t been through before. Just gets a little rough. That’s why I’m hanging around so much. Does it bother you, having me staying so long?”
He had been—not just nights, he’d been there mornings and even, a few times, into the afternoon. He didn’t talk much, just watched her play the guitar or walked with her on the headlands or into Sea Haven. She spent time visiting several elderly couples and two widows, bringing them groceries, and he went with her on her visits. Again, he didn’t say much, but he carried the groceries in and put them away.
At the home of Rebecca Jetspun, a widow, he’d gotten under the sink and repaired a leak while she’d visited. At the home of one of the couples, Dirk and Harriet Meadows, he did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen until it was sparkling while she sat and visited. Dirk had a hip replacement and was going through his therapy and not the best of company for his wife. Harriet was very glad to see Seychelle. Savage just shook his head when Harriet tried to pay him.
Penelope and Forest Potts needed extensive weeding done in their greenhouse. The couple had gotten sick and hadn’t been able to keep up with their vegetable garden. It was their food source. They canned for the winter. Savage took care of it while Seychelle visited with them and took down what they might need on her next visit.
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.”