Page 102 of Savage

Lachlan smirked, seeing right through me, as I figured he would. Hooking his fingers in the loop of my jeans, he jerked me forward, bringing my body against his muscled frame. Warm breath teased my lips open, but I only felt the graze of his mouth as he said, “You look good here.”

“Oh yeah?”

He nodded, grabbing hold of my ass, holding me right where he wanted me before stealing a kiss.“Come on.” He slapped my ass, and I yelped in surprise. “I’m making dinner.”

I followed him into a kitchen made for a Michelin-starred chef. “Wait,you’remaking dinner? You don’t cook.”

Lachlan grabbed a pan from one of the lower cabinets and set it on the stove. “I don’t?”

He had to be faking me out.

“No, you prefer eating out and room service. I bet you don’t even know how to boil water.”

“Ha.” He grabbed a large knife from a block, flipped it in his hand, caught it by the handle, and shook his head as he muttered, “Don’t know how to boil water…”

The knife thing was impressive, but I wasn’t in the mood to eat burned meat. “Can I help?”

Lachlan pointed with the knife to the edge of the long island. “Sit and prepare to eat your words.”

It wasn’t a chair he was pointing at, so I hopped up onto the marble countertop and watched as he moved about the kitchen grabbing what he needed. That included a couple of defrostedWagyu steaks from the fridge. Then he called out, “Think quick,” and tossed a bell pepper my way.

Onion and cilantro followed, and then he grabbed a wooden chopping board and slapped the two strips out to season. Salt was first, then the pepper, before he set it aside, washed his hands, and grabbed a second board.He gestured for the bell pepper.

“You’re really going to cook?”

“I really am.”

Wow.The man was just full of surprises tonight.I handed over the vegetable and watched as he washed and expertly cut it, slicing it vertically and then peeling it open to remove the seeds in one go. He moved onto the onion next and had it peeled and cut in minutes, the knife moving so fast it was practically a blur. He really must know what he was doing, because if I had tried that I’d be missing a finger or two.

“So where’d you learn to cook?”

He reached for an oil dispenser and poured a liberal amount in the pan. “Self-taught. I like to eat, so I figured I better learn to cook.”

“But you have a world-class restaurant at your disposal,” I pointed out. “You could go there every night if you wanted to.”

“I could.” He turned a burner on and set the pan on it to heat. “But then I’d have to people and, well, I do better on my own.”

“But I’m here.”

He walked over to me and moved between my legs, kissing me on the lips. “Tonight, I’m making an exception.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I like that. Being your exception.”

“You need to let me go, or the oil will burn.”

“Can’t have that.”

“Nope. I have something to prove now.” He winked and moved out of my arms, then picked up the board with the steaks and moved to the stove.

God, there was something so innately sexy about watching him cook, and to know he was doing it to feed me made my stomach flip.

Smart, gorgeous, protective,anda cook?Someone pinch me. I had to be dreaming.

The sizzle of the steaks hitting the hot pan sounded, bringing me back to reality, and when I glanced over to where Lachlan was leaning back against the counter, he was absently tossing and catching the cutting knife he’d used on the vegetables.

Up… Down… Up… Down…

He’d toss it up, and as it flipped through the air he’d never once take his eyes off the expensive strips of steak as it came back down and landed in his palm. It was as if the knife were an extension of his arm.

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