“Yeah, my back gets a little sore from long rides sometimes,” I confess. “That thing is a life-saver after a long haul.”
“Good to know,” she says. “I don’t have any clothes or anything with me yet. I’ll need to go back to the rental to get all my things tomorrow. For now, could I borrow a t-shirt and some boxers maybe?”
“Yeah, of course,” I agree. I lead her on a tour of my house, ending up in my bedroom. “There’s a big-ass tub in the bathroom if you want to soak, or you can just hit the shower stall there,” I point out.
“Thanks, Roman. I can figure it out from here.” She gives me one last small smile before she takes the black t-shirt and boxers from my hands and disappears into the bathroom.
I’m devilishly tempted to follow her in there when I hear the water start running in the tub, but I pull myself away and head back into the kitchen. Breakfast for dinner is a quick meal, but it will still take me fifteen minutes to whip up everything.
I’m just setting out two plates on the dining room table when Charlotte emerges from the bathroom, her hair wrapped up in a messy, wet bun on top of her head.
“Don’t say a word,” she warns me as she walks over and stands in front of me, before leaning up to kiss me lightly on the lips.
“I can’t resist,” I tell her as I grab the back of the t-shirt she’s wearing and pull her to me. “You look adorable.” I lean in and kiss her back, more forcefully, until she practically melts against me and our tongues meet as the kiss heats up and the spark between us bursts into another inferno.
“Whew,” Charlotte says as she pulls away from me a few minutes or an hour later. “We’d better sit down and cool off before our food does. No one likes cold eggs,” she adds as she pulls out her chair.
“The blush in your cheeks could reheat them,” I tease her, causing her to become even more flushed than I had previously seen her.
“I get a little red in the cheeks when I’ve been drinking, or…” she trails off as she shovels a bite of food into her mouth.
“Or what?” I demand as I sit down at my own plate.
“Or if I get aroused,” she says primly, before giving me a devilish grin. “I’m starting to worry my cheeks may never cool off around you, Roman.”
“Cheers to that,” I tell her as I raise a glass of orange juice.
We spend the next few minutes eating in comfortable silence, the only sound the scrape of forks on plates. Once she’s done, Charlotte leans back in her chair and watches me.
“What?” I ask curiously, blotting my mouth with a napkin. “Egg on my face?”
“No,” she replies with a smile. “I was just thinking that there’s a lot more to you than I expected.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. You own several rental houses. That’s how you make a living?”
“Well, the Savage Kings own them. I sort of oversee the administration and upkeep on them. The members of the Kings all have ownership in several businesses that we all profit from too.”
“It seems so odd thinking of you all as businessmen. Do all the guys work within them?” Charlotte asks.
“Mostly, yeah,” I confirm. “My boy, Winston, the guy with black hair and a black beard, he’s probably my best friend, but he’s a pain in the ass to deal with. Terrible with people too. He works over at the Harley dealership we own just outside of town as the mechanic on site. He’s damn good at it, and it keeps him away from everyone most of the time. The twins manage the dealership, and they keep him in line most of the time.”
“The twins?” Charlotte repeats with a raised eyebrow. “You’ve got twin sisters managing your dealership? You’ve hidden them from me so far!”
“No, the twins are club members, Cannon and Conrad. You know them. You met them both at the clubhouse – blond-haired with a surfer vibe.”
“Oh my God!” she gushes. “You’re right. They were at the table when you had me in there. I didn’t even register it then; I was so wound up about Tessa. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them together other than that, and I just always thought I was talking to Conrad!”
“You’ll know if you’re talking to Cannon,” I snort. “Those two look alike, but their personalities are night and day. You’ll see once you get to know them better.”
“Who are the other members of the Savage Kings?”
“Well, there’s Verek, who you’ve met, that helps manage the night club. Nolan, Abel, and Marcus are sort of floaters that help where needed. Leo keeps up the clubhouse, tends the bar, keeps us stocked up on beer, booze, and weed. He just sort of fell into that role because he practically lives at the clubhouse, and we just told him to make himself useful.”
“I’ll never remember all of this or their names,” Charlotte laughs when she gets up to take her plate back into the kitchen.
“You’ll have plenty of time to get to know them over the next few weeks, I’m sure,” I say when I follow her even though I’m not thrilled about the idea of her spending any alone time with my brothers.
“I’ll wash these up,” she offers, nodding to the rest of the pans I used to cook our dinner.
“I’ll help. I can dry them off and show you where everything goes, give you the grand tour of the facilities.”
“Thanks,” she says quietly as the water begins to fill the sink. The blush is long gone from her cheeks; and after our conversation, her entire demeanor seems to have shifted.
“Hey, what’s wrong, Charlotte? The eggs were bad, weren’t they? I didn’t check the date on the milk I poured in when I scrambled them, so I hope it wasn’t…”
“No, no,” Charlotte interrupts me with a small smile. “It was delicious, and you’re fine – a great distraction actually. I just had some dark thoughts suddenly intrude. God, I feel like the mistress of dark thoughts sometimes, every time I start to enjoy myself.”
“Tell me about it,” I offer as I lean back and prop myself up by the sink. “Worries get lighter when you have friends to help carry them. Words of wisdom from Mama McNamara, some of the only ones I remember,” I quip.
“I’ve been having a great time with you Roman,” she says as she begins scrubbing at my frying pan. “I just realized I’ve been enjoying myself, a lot, while Tessa is in that cold, sterile rehab facility trying to recover from the worst tortures…” she trails off, at a loss for words.
“Charlotte, no, baby, don’t put that on yourself,” I tell her as I move to stand behind her and wrap my arms around her. “Yes, Tessa is in a bad place right now. I mean mentally, not the actual facility. It seems pretty nice. But, baby, you didn’t do that. You didn’t hurt her, and you being here, helping her through this, means everything to her. Don’t let what happened to her ruin any happiness or joy you can find day to day. Do you know how pissed she would be to hear you talking this way?”
“I know that’s right,” Charlotte snorts, a glimmer of a smile returning to her face. “She would tell me to ‘get right up on that biker, or stripper, or whatever he is and ride him as far away from here as you can’ or something equally vulgar,” she adds lamely as her cheeks flare red once again.