Page 34 of Savage

“How are you this morning?” he asked, not moving. He didn’t want to let her go before he had to. He liked the feeling of her there in his arms.

“Good. I slept so hard.” She stared moving and he loosened his hold to let her shift and stretch. Once she was done, and lay beside him, looking up at him, Savage found himself unable to look away.

Her hair was a mess and stood in all directions but somehow it, along with the slightly puffy look to her face and the lines on her cheek where it had rested on his arm, made him want to do things to her that her stomach probably wasn’t up to this morning.

“Good. I’m glad.” He wouldn’t mention her dreaming if she didn’t. She might not even remember it. He hoped for that. He hated the thought that she had nightmares and that memories of them haunted her. But what was worse was that maybe her memories of what had happened to her causing the nightmares. Neither thought left him in a charitable mood. But he didn’t want her to see that, so he pushed his thoughts aside and focused on the woman in his arms.

“What’s the plan for today?” she asked, seemingly at ease to be lying against him.

He hoped so. He liked having her there, and even after such a short amount of time, he knew he’d miss her when she wasn’t there. Not that he thought she was leaving but even after going back to Tucson, if she moved in with him and things continued the way they seemed to be going. And he hoped they would, then there would still be the occasion when he needed to be away for a night, or even several on club business. They all had club business that had to be dealt with, even the president.

Hell, that’s why they were here. Tuck had needed to spend a year up here and while it hadn’t been club business to start with it had soon become it when he’d brought some of the brothers up, then recruited more and started the new chapter.

The weight of Donna’s head on his chest reminded him she’d asked him something. That’s when he remembered he had to get up and get moving. He was quickly running out of time if he wanted to get something to eat before the brothers took their ride out on to the ranch. They were going to discuss operations and possibilities.

Not of the ranch, but club enterprises.

“There’s the usual morning thing that I’m not going to name. Then the brothers are taking a ride out on the ranch to take a look around and have a little brother bonding time. We should be back about midday.” He deliberately didn’t name the meals, or mention food because he was afraid her stomach would rebel, and she’d go running again. “I’m not sure if there’s anything formal planned for the afternoon. Is there something you want to do?” He hadn’t heard back from Kinard about horseback riding yet and didn’t want to offer her a ride if it wouldn’t be safe.

She watched him for a moment then replied, “No, not that I can think of. How soon do you need to leave for this brothers thing?”

He checked his watch. “In about five minutes if I don’t want to be late.” He looked down at her and debated how much trouble he’d be in if he didn’t show up and stayed with Donna instead.

No.

Better not to do that. because he knew his brothers and Sadist, Mac or even Lurch would come drag his ass out, not caring that he might be buck ass naked or that Donna might not be ready to be seen either.

He let his head fall back for just a moment. “I’ve got to get up and get moving because if I’m late, they’ll come looking for me and that won’t be pleasant for you or me.” He lifted his head, gave her one long, slow kiss that took ten times longer than it should have. Once he was able to break away, he forced himself up and out of the bag.

Donna sat up and reached for her bag as if she was going to get up because he was.

“You stay here. Go back to sleep, sleep as late as you want. There’s no reason you have to get up just because I am.”

“You sure? You really don’t mind?” She watched him. A crease formed between her brows as she frowned at him, uncertain. It took everything he had to turn back to his bag and finish pulling out his things. If he touched her, even to kiss away the crease, he’d end up late and then he’d have to beat someone’s ass for upsetting Donna. Not a good way to spend the trip.

“Not at all. In fact, most of the women will probably be staying in bed. There’s no reason they need to get up with us.” He tugged his shirt over his head before standing and stepping into his jeans. That done, he put his socks on, then gave her a quick hard kiss on the mouth before going to the tent door while she slid back down and settled into the warm bedding. “Sleep. Relax. You have your phone?” He waited until she’d assured him that she did by patting the pocket on her backpack where she kept it while they slept. “Call if you need me. Or I’ll find you when we get back. Okay?”

It took her a moment to realize he was waiting for an answer.

“Oh, yeah. Okay.”

Now that he had her reply, he opened the tent door and stepped into his boots on his way out.

“Have a good day!” she called as he rezipped the door, her voice sounding like she’d already started drifting back to sleep.

As Savage walked away, headed for food and coffee, hopefully at least two cups before they had to head out across the ranch, he couldn’t help the grin he wore. Especially as he’d remembered the night before and how amazing Donna had felt in his arms.

“Damn,” Sackett’s voice pulled him from his thoughts as he stepped up to the large commercial size coffee pot and helped himself to a cup.

“What?” Savage asked with a frown.

“You made it on time. The closer we got to go time and you weren’t here, I thought you weren’t going to make it in time. I was kind of looking forward to Sadist dragging your naked ass out of your tent. I figured you were so lost in that little piece of ass you picked up in Casper we’d get to have a bit of a show this morning.”

Savage set his cup on the board that made the makeshift counter and turned to face the man he’d called his brother for the last year or more. He advanced on the man, closing the distance between them, speaking through a clenched jaw and only vaguely aware that his right hand was balling into a fist and out again as if preparing to make an impact.

“If I ever hear you or anyone else refer to Donna as a piece of ass again, you’re going to have a hard time saying anything else for a long, long time. And that won’t be the least of your problems because you’ll be eating your meals with a straw for a while because I’ll break your jaw.”

“Whoa, whoa.” Sackett held both hands up in front of himself, as if showing someone he was unarmed. Savage knew that was shit, none of them were unarmed, but that wasn’t the point now. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

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