Page 22 of Sheltered

She was still thinking about yesterday.

I didn’t blame her, because I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it, either. Not the way she openly displayed her excitement about the ziplining while we were doing it, or the way she flirted with me as the day progressed. Of course, as much as those thoughts popped into my head, there was one other moment from yesterday that had taken up permanent residence in my thoughts—Harlow agreeing to run through the parking lot in the rain to get to my truck only to stop me from opening her door for her, because she wanted me to kiss her in the rain.

Just recalling it now, I had to reach down and adjust myself. I didn’t understand how it was possible that this woman had lived such a quiet life before now, but I knew I liked it. I liked knowing I was the one who was going to be able to give her all the experiences she hadn’t ever had, because it seemed in doing that, I was going to get a few new ones of my own.

“You need to recover from your last day off?” I asked, wondering what she would say.

“Oh, Blaze, you have no idea. It was the most spectacular day. Everything about it was absolutely perfect. The only problem is that I’ve spent every minute since then feeling terrified,” she revealed.

My body tensed. I hadn’t believed there was a single reason for her to feel afraid of anything. She certainly hadn’t indicated she was upset yesterday.

Was I so caught up in how good I felt about her that I failed to do what would be considered the basics in my line of work and not noticed how she was feeling?

No.

No, that wasn’t possible.

Harlow had a great time. She loved it. There wasn’t a chance I could have made up her reaction to what we had yesterday, especially not what happened in the rain.

“Terrified? What are you afraid of?”

There was a long pause, which only served to make me grow even more concerned. “I’m afraid that I got all the good stuff in one shot,” she eventually shared. “I’m worried that it can’t possibly always be as magical as it was yesterday, and I’ll constantly feel let down. Or, maybe, you’ll feel let down. It won’t really always be that great, will it?”

Now that I knew what was bothering her, I felt my body relax. “I’d love to make you promises, but I’m not a fortune teller. I can’t predict the future, Harlow. But I will tell you this. I love what we had yesterday just as much as you did, and I’d love nothing more than for it to always be that way. I think it can be like that more often than not. These things take work.”

Harlow didn’t respond.

The silence stretched for so long, I thought I might have said something to make her even more upset.

“Harlow?” I called.

“Yeah?”

“Is everything okay?”

“What did you mean when you said these things take work? What things?”

Suddenly, the silence I’d been met with before made sense. Though we’d had what we did yesterday and had kissed one another, there hadn’t been any discussion about where things stood between us. Now that I’d just said what I did, it indicated to her my belief that something was happening between us.

It was best to be honest with her. “I like spending time with you, Harlow. Yesterday was just as special to me as it seems to have been to you. I’d like to continue spending time with you, so we can have more moments like that. I think there can be something even better between us than what we had yesterday, and I’d like to explore it if it’s something you’re interested in as well.”

Her voice was so soft and sweet when she replied, “I’m interested in exploring.”

Nothing could have made me happier than to hear that response. And because I wanted her to know how serious I was about her, I said, “If that’s the case, I think we need to plan our next adventure.”

“Well, I loved what you planned yesterday, so I think I should leave this up to you. What do you think we should do?”

Just like that.

Harlow was content to put her trust in me. She was willing to let me take the lead and was happy to go along with whatever I decided. Trust was important, and it felt good to know she’d gotten there with me already.

I took a moment to consider what might be the best option for another day of fun together. Whatever we did, I knew I was hoping there’d be a lot more kissing involved. And that’s when it came to me.

“I’ve got an idea,” I told her.

“What is it?”

“I’m thinking we should go to the drive-in theater to watch a movie.”