Etienne (The Shifters of Shotgun Row Book 1)(31)

“All over my back.” Her voice was fading again. It was already working. I loved knowing this part of our new mating—discovering all the things that made her tick.

Her breaths went from deep to deeper until the rises and falls of her back were from a sleeping form. “I already love the fuck out of you, Tansy. Sleep well, darlin’.”





Tansy

Etienne’s kitchen needed help. It was clean and organized, but that was the extent of the blasted thing’s positive traits. What he lacked in cookware, he more than made up for with even less food. I started out wanting to become a gourmet meal for the man who had just proclaimed his love for me not to get me into bed, but because he felt the emotion. I ended up making scrambled eggs with white toast. Not even good eggs, either, because he only had tub butter, and his one spice was salt, and I used the term spice lightly.

He probably thought I was too tired to have heard and remembered his words, but I heard them all. Every last one, and I was going to hold onto them with all I had.

“Smells amazing.” Etienne wandered into the kitchen area, his shirt still blissfully missing.

“I did my best with what you had.” I handed him his plate and felt instantly guilty for insulting his home. “I mean, it is close to grocery day and all. I wanted to make you a fancy brunch.”

“It is perfect.” He scooped up a mouthful and was still chewing when he added, “I went shopping yesterday.”

My jaw dropped. He had to be eating out most meals, or maybe they always ate together like the night before, because there was no way he survived on what I found in his cupboards and fridge.

“If you plan to keep comin’ ’round, you best make me a list because, otherwise, we are gonna have this issue often.” He smiled as he ripped off a piece of toast.

Grabbing my plate, I joined him at the counter, sitting apparently not a thing that was happening this meal.

“You don’t have to change for me.” I wasn’t talking about just the food, either. He was perfect the way he was, all smexy and dangerous, and at the same time the sweetest kindest man I ever met.

“Au contraire.” He put his plate down, catching my eyes before he continued. “I need to do everything I can to be the best mate I can be, and if that means changing my bachelor eating ways and actually buying food that needs cooking and not just opening, that’s the least I can do.”

“I wasn’t talking about the food,” I whispered, far too low to be heard.

“Neither was I.” And at that, he picked up his plate and finished his food in two point five seconds. I guessed he liked it.

“I need to go get changed and then we are gonna see a guy about a car.”

I so did not have money or need of a car.

“I don’t need a car. I only used that one once since I got here.”

“I don’t like havin’ you trapped, and a guy owes me a favor. So I’m gettin’ ready then we are going to your place and you are gettin’ ready and then we are going to see a guy.”

Bossy as heck, and somehow that added to his smexy. I was a goner to be sure. We weren’t done talking about the car, but that didn’t stop him from making his way to the bathroom to take his shower. Within five minutes, we were on the road to my house, and ten minutes after that on the way to the car guy.

And by know a guy, he meant it. We were on the road less than ten minutes when we pulled into a dirt driveway winding down around a small cabin to find a field with ten cars, most of them looking more like junkers than working vehicles.

Etienne was out and around to open my door before I decided if it was even safe enough to get out. If this were a horror movie, the owner of this property was either a serial killer or a cannibal. Probably both.

“Leon,” Etienne bellowed out as he held his hand out for mine. Looked like we were officially public, which, given that he declared his love for me, even if it was when he thought I was sleeping, made sense.

“What you want, gator?”

I snapped my head to see where the voice, the hostile voice at that, was coming from and, to my surprise, the guy was young and belonged in an underwear commercial instead of the crotchety old man I expected.

“You need to watch your tongue. Isn’t that why you are indebted to me in the first place?”

“Don’t tell me she’s not yours.” The venom in his voice would’ve scared me had I not been here with Etienne. With him, I was safe. Of that, I had no doubt. “I can see the fucking bond, so stop the shit. What you want?”

What? See the bond? I’d never been in a place where I wasn’t the freak, even if no one else knew it, and here I was practically normal. No wonder Meemaw called this place home. She blended in.

“You owe me a favor, and she needs a car. Connect the dots, dipshit.”

“You drive a stick?”

“Of course.” Or I had, once, but I could learn again. It had to be like riding a bike, only with stalling, which was why it hadn’t happened twice. But, for some reason, I didn’t want to appear less than to the jerk in front of me.

“Then take your pick.” He pointed to the field. “This makes us square?”

“This makes us square.” Etienne held out his hand, and they shook on it.

What just happened?