Page 36 of Sheltered

Truly, I did.

For as long as I could remember, the only thing I ever wanted to do was go to cosmetology school, so I could become a licensed hair stylist and eventually open my own salon one day.

But in all the years since I’d started pursuing my chosen career path, I wasn’t quite sure I’d ever experienced a day like today.

Never, not once, had I ever found myself eager for my last client’s appointment to be over. Obviously, I offered the same level of service today that I always did—I’d never risk my reputation like that. But there was no question I wanted the time to pass quickly.

Because it was happening today.

Not only was I going to be able to see Blaze for the second day in a row in the middle of the week, but he was also going to be coming to my place.

We were having a night in.

I was so lucky. As soon as he learned there was something bothering me, he’d stepped right up to fix it. He gave me what I wanted without batting an eyelash, and it felt good to know he cared enough to make me happy.

Because I was happy.

God, I was the happiest I could ever remember feeling in my whole life.

And it seemed impossible for that to be the truth when tomorrow would mark an official three weeks since Blaze and I met when he rescued me from that disastrous date.

It might have only been three weeks, but it felt like three months. The time I felt like I’d known him wasn’t necessarily about me believing I knew everything there was to know about him. I recognized that wasn’t the case. It was about the way he made me feel, and how comfortable I was around him so quickly.

The last three weeks had been the best of my life.

The way Blaze made me feel was like nothing I could describe. Even as I left work today, drove home, and hopped in the shower, I tried to come up with the words that would explain how much he meant to me, and it felt impossible.

There was so much I’d experienced on an emotional level since I met him that I’d never felt before, and because he was consistent, it was almost as though I never had the opportunity to really allow it all to sink in.

Yesterday was probably the most unexpected of all. It wasn’t that he’d called up and asked to come in to get his hair cut. It was everything he’d said while he was there.

Baby, I can’t get enough of you.

Those words he’d said to me played in my mind for what felt like the millionth time since I’d first heard them yesterday.

He couldn’t get enough of me.

It was precisely how I felt about him.

And I just adored the way he called me baby.

Maybe it was because I didn’t have much experience that I couldn’t be certain, but there was something about yesterday, especially once he’d said those seven words to me, that felt like a turning point for us.

Not only did Blaze make me feel things I’d never felt, but he made me want to do things I’d never done. And those feelings, the ones that were new and foreign and very, very exciting, became amplified when he called me baby and told me he couldn’t get enough of me.

I was relatively certain that was part of the reason I was struggling so much right now. He was bound to be here at any minute, and I was doing my best not to break out into a sweat over the things he didn’t know, the things I needed to share.

Because what if that changed everything? What if he didn’t like what he learned once I worked up the courage to share it?

I nervously bit my lip as I shifted back and forth on my feet in the kitchen, where I’d come after taking my shower to grab a cool glass of water in hopes it would help to calm me down.

As though he knew I was getting more and more worked up with each second that passed without him here, Blaze knocked on my door. Or, well, I assumed it was him, since he was the only one I was expecting.

Despite the nerves I’d been feeling about this new experience I was about to have with Blaze, I quickly moved to the door to let him in. I still wanted to see him, regardless of the worry I felt about how being completely honest with him tonight might change things between us in a negative way. That was the only part of this I was absolutely dreading.

I unlocked the door, swung it open, and instantly felt my nerves settle at the sight of Blaze’s handsome face smiling back at me.

The second he moved forward, I stepped back to allow him to come inside. He shifted the pizza box to the opposite side and leaned in for a kiss.