Page 64 of Sheltered

I stroked faster.

And the next thing I knew, Blaze had a grip on me like I did on him. The muscles in his chest, shoulders, and neck tensed and flexed as his orgasm ripped through him, and the sounds that came out of him were unlike anything I’d ever heard before in my life.

It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

That’s when I understood.

That’s when it all made sense to me how it was possible for Blaze to say that seeing me come apart had been more than enough for him.

When his muscles relaxed, I slowed my strokes to a stop. Blaze brought his eyes to mine and asked, “How is it that everything you do is perfect?”

Hearing that was such a relief. “Really? You enjoyed it?”

His hand went to the back of my head to hold me there as he lifted his from the pillow. With his mouth inches away from mine, he muttered, “I loved it. I loved every single thing about it.”

Blaze didn’t give me the chance to respond. He claimed my mouth in a bruising and possessive kiss.

We did that for a long time, my hand still wrapped around him.

But eventually, we got ourselves cleaned up and went downstairs, where we took the time to make dinner together.

And as was becoming clear to me, it was another day with Blaze that felt better than the one before. I wasn’t sure if it would always be that way, but I prayed it would never change.

EIGHTEEN

Blaze

It was mid-morning on Tuesday when my phone vibrated on my desk. Without even looking at the screen, I already knew who it was. Or maybe it was that I had a hope about who it was and refused to believe I’d find that anyone but Harlow had texted me.

When I picked up my phone and saw her name on the display, I couldn’t stop the smile from forming on my face. There was something about knowing she was thinking about me that just put me in a good mood.

Harlow

Feeling smart today, boss?

She must have had some time in between clients and wanted to send me another one of her riddles. I wanted to laugh just thinking about it. Harlow had been trying to stump me, and while she had given me a few tricky ones, she hadn’t yet succeeded. I loved playing this game with her and looked forward to it every time she sent one over to me.

Eager to play, I quickly tapped out a response.

Blaze

Considering I’m working on a case, I better be.

Harlow must have already had her response prepared, because no sooner had I sent my reply when I got one in return.

Harlow

What gets longer when pulled, fits between breasts, slides neatly into a hole, has choked people when used improperly, and works best when jerked?

Jesus.

What was this woman trying to do to me?

There was the clear and obvious answer to the riddle that I knew would be wrong. Unable to concentrate enough on figuring out the actual answer immediately, I set my phone back down on my desk and let the disbelief settle in.

I’d been feeling a lot of that over the last couple of days I’d had with Harlow. It was safe to say that things had changed a bit between us. And while there was the obvious change of the physical progression in our relationship, even if we hadn’t yet explored all the things I ultimately wanted us to, there was a new level of comfort and playfulness between us.

Harlow had come out and admitted she trusted me—something I hadn’t expected would impact me the way it had. We’d been seeing each other for nearly a month now, so it was nice to know that all we’d done together on our dates and the conversations we’d engaged in had evidently been enough for Harlow to build that confidence in who she believed me to be.