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She’d just sat on the stool behind the counter when her phone buzzed with a message. She grabbed it thinking it was Laura. It wasn’t.
It was a message from Dan saying that he’d be passing through Whisper Lake later that day and wanted to meet her at Lanterns for dinner. Kennedy bit the inside of her mouth, not sure what to do.
Laura wasn’t feeling well, but she had Knox. There wasn’t much Kennedy could do for her after she closed up the shop in an hour.
She liked Dan, but the only person she really wanted to go to dinner with was Seb. But he had avoided her all week and made it clear that he wasn’t interested in anything other than recovery to Amelia.
Plus, she had just had a blowout. It would be a shame for a good blowout to go to waste.
11
The setting suncast an orange hue across the surface of the lake, the crowning jewel of the small town. Seb was truly in awe of the beauty surrounding him as he drove to meet his cousin at Lanterns for a drink. Maybe he had Mother Nature to thank for the breakthrough in his creative block.
This past week, he’d painted every day, all day. He’d managed to finish three pieces and had just started another when Keaton called to see if he wanted to grab a beer.
After he’d taken Laura home and Knox arrived, he’d gone back to the apartment hoping that Kennedy was still at the shop. Unfortunately, the place was closed up. He figured that was his karma for avoiding her all week. He’d seen her a handful of times around town, but the second he spotted her he’d gone the other direction. His attempts at distancing himself had worked until she’d shown up at his door and fallen into his arms, literally.
When he’d caught her after she’d lost her balance, he’d been seconds away from kissing her. The only thing that had stopped him was that he felt his towel slipping. Once he secured that, the moment had passed. She explained why she was there, and he’d known his only priority was getting Laura home so she could rest.
He had hoped to catch one more glimpse of her before going up to his apartment. Since she wasn’t there, he’d gone back upstairs and started painting again. He was so lost in the zone that he hadn’t even realized two hours had passed when his phone rang and he saw it was his cousin.
As he pulled into the parking lot of the bar and grill, he wondered if Kennedy might be inside. There weren’t a lot of places to hang out on a Saturday night. He glanced around the parking lot seeing if he spotted her white SUV. He didn’t.
No matter how much he tried, he couldn’t go five minutes without thinking about her. His thoughts of her were intrusive and constant. The only peace he’d had was when he sat in front of a canvas enraptured by his work. Other than that, she occupied a constant place in his mind. Sometimes in the forefront, sometimes in the background, but she was always there.
He was drawn to her in an inexplicable way. The only other thing he’d ever thought about,obsessedover as much as her was tattooing. He wondered if maybe the feelings he had for her weren’t real, they were just transference. From what he knew, typically the phenomenon happens with people, they transfer the feeling they have for one person onto someone else. But in his case, he wondered if he’d transferred the feelings he had for tattooing onto Kennedy. That was truly the only thing he could think of that made any sense. It would explain why he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Why he felt so connected to her when in reality he barely knew her. Why he was so drawn to her.
Tonight, he was determined to put Kennedy, the accident, and tattooing out of his mind and just have fun and hang out with his cousin. They were the only single Savage men left. He walked into Lanterns and saw Keaton was already at the bar.
“Hi.” The hostess smiled widely. “Table for one or are you meeting someone?”
Seb might be a head case lately, but he didn’t miss the twinkle in the redhead’s eye as she asked if he was meeting someone. He’d never been oblivious to the female attention he received. He hadn’t reveled in it like Knox had done before meeting Laura. Seb was a lot more discerning than his brother and he didn’t ever want to lead anyone on. But if he met someone he was attracted to, who was attracted to him and was okay with a casual relationship then more often than not he’d act on it. At least that was the case before the accident. Since then, he hadn’t acted on anything with anyone.
At this point, he wasn’t even sure if everything worked anymore or if the nerve damage had affected the limb between his legs, too. He’d jerked off a few times, but his sex drive had definitely taken a hit. He hadn’t been remotely tempted to hook up with anyone. Well, at least he hadn’t been until Kennedy. She was a walking, breathing temptation.
Seb made sure his smile was friendly, not flirty, before motioning to the bar. “Actually, they’re already here.”
The redhead nodded as she smiled widely. “Okay, let me know if you need anything.”
“Thanks.” As Seb made his way to the bar, he couldn’t help but notice there were quite a few attractive women there, including the hostess. But he had zero interest in any of them. And despite determining that he wouldn’t think about her, he found himself, once again, looking for a certain light-eyed bombshell that kept falling into his arms.
A cursory scan told him that she wasn’t there. That should make him happy because if she was, it would be a serious distraction. Not that her absence would matter. Chances were even though she wasn’t there, he was going to have the same problem.
“Hey,” Keaton greeted him with a nod as he approached. “Heard any updates about how Laura’s doing?”
Word had spread through the family that he’d had to take Laura home from work after his niece Ivy stopped by the Snack Shack and Kennedy told her what had happened. There’d been a group text chain where his mom had grilled him about what her symptoms were and even insisted on him FaceTiming her so that she could see Laura’s color for herself.
“When I left her, she was sleeping and Knox was watching her like a hawk,” Seb relayed as he sat down beside Keaton and lifted his hand motioning toward Liam, the bartender he’d met at Ford’s wedding. Liam was a fan of Tattoo Master, the show that Seb had been a judge on for four seasons. They’d talked about the contestants, and how Liam was working on his MBA with an ambition to start his own restaurant.
“You’re painting again?” Keaton asked, his attention focused on Seb’s hands which had dried paint on them.
Seb nodded.
“That’s great, man.”
He could see the relief in his cousin’s face. He knew that Keaton, and everyone, had been concerned for him. As much as he wanted to assure them that they had nothing to worry about, he wasn’t in the habit of lying so he typically just remained quiet.
“And how is… everything else?” his cousin asked before lifting the bottle of Corona to his mouth and tipping it back.
