Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1)(17)

“This is perfect, Tansy.” He took his first bite, and all my insecurities fled. He loved it. Not even the best actors in this world could show the kind of ecstasy on their face Etienne did with that one bite. “I can’t remember the last time I had a meal this fancy and never one this good.”

“It’s not fancy. Just meat and potatoes.” If Meemaw were here instead of hanging out at the bakery she would be yellin’ right ’bout now. Tellin’ me how if I didn’t show my worth no one was gonna see it.

“With homemade bread and butter?” I nodded, happy he noticed the butter, my favorite of all things to serve because it was a thousand times better than anything you could buy at the store and so easy to whip up. “Fancy,” he concluded.

“Fancy-ish,” I conceded. The dill was extra fancy, but since that wasn’t my decision to add in, ish was accurate.

“Works for me.”

We ate in silence until he got up, filling his plate of his own accord. That had to be a good sign. No one does that unless they both love the food and feel comfortable with the earlier offer. He came back, his plate mounded high. My heart soared. He loved my food, my gift.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Like is an understatement. This is the best food I’ve ever eaten. You need to cook this for me every night.” Every night. He wanted to eat my food every night. Sure, it was a figure of speech, but the thought of it still filled me with the happy.

“It would get boring after a while. Besides, this meal has no bacon. You can’t expect a girl to live like that.” Not that adding bacon to the potatoes wasn’t an easy enough task.

“What is it with you and bacon?” He slathered another roll with the butter. Next time I needed to plan ahead and make some fancy butters. If there was a next time. Which there probably shouldn’t be, seeing he was all us and all and I didn’t want a relationship. Not that I should be depressing myself during one of the most enjoyable dates of my life. Not that it was a date, because it certainly wasn’t, except maybe it was? It was official. The man had me in knots.

“You eat it more than me. You tell me.” His bacony scent had me wanting to lick him all over after I owned his mouth. I blamed all of those thoughts on the bacon. Bacon and its super powers because chemistry and longing had no part to play in my life at the moment, no matter how much the rest of me disagreed with that statement.

“What makes you say that?” He shoved the remaining half of the roll in his mouth, a droplet of butter running down his chin, begging to be caught—with my tongue. Down girl.

“You always smell like the world’s best BLT.” I shrugged.





Etienne

The roast beef lodged in my throat.

Well, fuck me sideways and call me Timmy.

There was something about Tansy she wasn’t telling me. Something secret—something a little more than normal. That was the only way I would smell like something so specific to her.

I had to know.

Maybe my gator was onto something, after all, the clever bastard.

Fuck. Tansy could be my mate. And I meant fuck in the best way possible.

“Strange. I actually don’t eat a lot of bacon. I’m a beef and chicken man.”

She laughed and moved to get her plate, but I was faster. “Let me.” The surprise on her face was adorable and infuriating at the same time. Adorable that she was so surprised by a gesture that, to my kind, was meant to be the highest honor. Infuriating because whoever had been with this woman before, obviously hadn’t treated her like she should’ve been treated. I wasn’t a fool. She wasn’t a teenager. I was more than sure she had been with other males before me.

My gator threw a wave of anger at me. He wanted to make sure I was the last male she was ever with.

“Everything?” I asked her with the spoon hovering over all the food she’d prepared.

“Yes, please.” Her response was tinged with a bit of the bashfulness reddening her already-blushed cheeks.

“I like a woman who can eat.”

A movement of her eyebrows told me she wasn’t quite sure about me yet. “It’s true. Our kind... I mean I eat a lot. It’s nice to have some company.”

“I’ve been told I need to lose weight, but I just don’t care. I’m happy with this body. I’d rather have curves than starve myself.”

I handed her the plate, heaping just like mine was. It felt right to feed this female—to take care of her. My gator was practically smiling in the background of my consciousness.

“Curves are good. Your curves are especially delicious.”

Tansy looked genuinely shocked. I kind of loved to shock her.

“Thank you.” She stuttered over the words before proceeding to eat her fill. Everything she made was heavenly. I had meant what I said. I wish she would feed me every night.

And I would provide the dessert.

“Oh!” she said after emptying her plate. “I forgot there is banana pudding. I hope you like it.”

The woman was practically carving a road directly into my heart.

“It’s my favorite, actually. It’s hard to find good banana pudding these days. Is it Marie’s recipe?”

“Well”—she got up to get an enormous glass dish from the refrigerator—“I love my Meemaw’s banana pudding, but I made some improvements.” Out of nowhere, she turned her head abruptly to the left. “I mean subtle changes, not improvements.”