Page 68 of Sheltered

If I was honest, when I signed up for that dating app nearly two months ago, I hadn’t anticipated I’d ever wind up here, especially not this quickly.

But Blaze had changed everything. He’d made me the happiest I’d ever been in my life. And I never wanted to let him go.

Perhaps that was the reason why, as soon as the movie was over, I flipped to my opposite side to face Blaze again and declared, “I wish you didn’t have to go.”

His eyes roamed over my face. “I don’t.”

“Well, sure, I mean, you don’t have to leave immediately, but I meant to say that I wished you didn’t have to go home tonight,” I clarified.

He stared at me a beat before he asked, “Do you want me to stay with you tonight?”

“Would you… would you do that for me?”

Blaze’s lips twitched with amusement. “What makes you think I wouldn’t want to spend the night holding you close to me?”

I licked my lips. “I don’t know. I guess… I guess I didn’t think about it. But I’d love it if you’d stay with me tonight. I’ve missed you so much, and I love the way it feels to be wrapped up in your arms.”

A proud smile washed over his face. “Then there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right here with you. Anytime you want that, or anything else, all you need to do is tell me, baby. I’ll do my best to give you whatever you want or need.”

And that when it happened. Right there, on the couch in my living room, held protectively in Blaze’s warm embrace, I fell in love.

Totally, completely in love.

I wanted to tell him. I thought he should know.

But I’d never done that before with a guy.

And unfortunately, I was too much of a chicken to admit it without hearing him tell me he felt that way about me first.

So, I kept it to myself.

But that didn’t mean I didn’t think about it nonstop after we’d made it to my bed and kissed each other endlessly.

The thought still didn’t stop filtering through my mind when, for the first time in my life, a man held me in his arms while I drifted off to sleep and stayed the night with me.

NINETEEN

Harlow

“You look so beautiful tonight.”

I twisted my neck to look up at Blaze as he held my hand in his while we walked through the parking lot. Beaming at him, I said, “I know. You’ve only told me at least a half dozen times already.”

He smiled back at me and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I want to make sure you don’t forget it.”

How he thought it was possible to feel anything but beautiful when I was with him was beyond me. Blaze made the effort to show me—and tell me—at every opportunity he had.

“It would be impossible for me to ever forget it, especially when you’re around. You always make me feel beautiful,” I assured him.

“That’s the way it should be,” he returned.

It was right on the tip of my tongue to tell him how much I loved him for it, but before I had the chance to let the words spill out of me, we made it to the entrance of the restaurant, and Blaze reached his free hand out to open the door for me, so he could usher me inside.

I walked into The Ridge ahead of him, but the second we stepped inside and were greeted by the hostess, Blaze took my hand in his again.

“Just two tonight?” the hostess asked.

I shook my head. “No. We’re meeting some people here. The reservation is under the name Stout.”