Page 91 of Savage

“Maybe,” Tank says. I bite down hard on my lower lip, because Holy Christ. Why didn’t anyone ever tell me that lingerie shopping was the best form of foreplay?

“Get black, and I’ll consider wearing it.”

“Done,” he says in his low, gravelly tone that makes me want to get naked and go at it in the middle of Karina’s store. It also makes me wish that he’d give in that easy when it came to giving me drugs.

Before long, I’m ushered into a changing room and buried beneath a mountain of thin wisps of expensive fabric and little clasps and straps and bones and lace to try on. I don’t make a decision on anything, Tank makes it for me, and it’s far too much.

“Will that be all, Mr Whitecross?” Karina asks after she rings up the items.

“That’s all we need, darlin’,” he says, and he doesn’t bat an eyelid when she tells him the total. Me, on the other hand? I practically faint. He hands over the money, all cash. Tank never leaves a paper trail. I don’t even think he owns a bank account. He probably just stores all his money in several hollowed out old mattresses stashed somewhere on his property.

Karina passes Tank the bags and thanks him for his business, and then he’s ushering me out the door.

“How do you know her?” I ask Tank as the door closes behind us with the muted jingling of a bell.

He stops and gives me a sly smile. “Why?”

“I’m just curious how a degenerate criminal like yourself is on a first-name basis with a woman who owns a fancy lingerie store?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.” I frown.

“’Cause it sounds to me like you’re jealous, darlin’.”

Scoffing, I give him a look and make a show of rolling my eyes. He’s right. I am jealous. And I don’t like the feeling one bit. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? I’ve known you a lot longer than the rest of my brothers, and I can read you like an open fuckin’ book, baby.”

“Whatever, Mr Whitecross,” I mimic the soft feminine tone that Karina used when I say his name. “It was just a stupid question.”

He chuckles and leads me along the street. “She had some trouble with an ex-husband. Caused a lot of problems for her. I made that problem disappear.”

I stare up at him. “Did you know her? Before that, I mean?”

“Nope,” he says, and when I give him the stink-eye for not elaborating he rolls his eyes and finishes. “I saw her sometimes, around town. She looked at me like I was shit on her shoes. One night I pulled into the street as she was closing up shop. He was bangin’ down her door. I didn’t think nothin’ of it. Not my business. And then I ran into the two of them in the parking lot outside the supermarket. He had her bailed up against the car, and there was some heated discussion going on about their kid. Still, wasn’t my business. Made it my business when he threw her across the lot, though. I stop in from time to time to check on her. Karina’s good people.”

“Is Karina a good lay too?”

Tank chuckles. “The best.”

Jealousy slices through my chest like a blade. I scowl, and I’m just about to call him every name under the sun when he throws his head back and laughs, a full-bellied, deep-throated laugh. I stand there, glaring at him. “You should see your face.”

“Fuck you, arsehole,” I snap.

I attempt to walk past him, but he grabs my arm and tugs me to his side, leaning down to whisper in my ear, “Yeah, I fucked that bitch several times. Made her come hard, fast, and slow. Even made her forget her own name a time or two. But there’s only one woman that can make me do that, and I’m lookin’ right at her.”

Heat licks at my cheeks as I stare up into his eyes. He isn’t teasing. There’s no humour left in his gaze at all. Tank doesn’t say shit he doesn’t mean, and I haven’t a clue how to respond to that.

“Now if you’re done throwing a hissy fit ’cause I fucked some bitch a lifetime ago, can we eat?”

I nod. I don’t have anything to say in my defence, because I am jealous that they slept together, and it doesn’t make any sense. Not after what he just told me.

“One question?”

“What?” he says, impatient now.

“Did she call you Mr Whitecross while you were fucking her?”

---