She’d woken up early, like she always did, panicked at her surroundings, and then, with Blaze sound asleep, she had spent an hour wriggling out of his grip and leaving his apartment. Completely dressed.
The moment she got to her own place, she had showered, changed, and then left so Blaze wouldn’t come and find her.
She had to think. The only person who could help her do that was Blair.
She’d wandered the city, filling out several job applications before going to work. Then she’d snuck off to Blair’s place. Fay had never considered herself a coward.
“It was … awful,” she said.
“Damn it. I thought he was a nice guy. What was his name?”
Fay couldn’t even remember. Blaze hadn’t been wrong about leaving her home to go out with strangers.
Blair had encouraged it.
“I’m done with dating.”
“No. You can’t be done with dating.” Blair tutted. “The right guy is out there for you, Fay. You just have to keep on looking.”
“Who has to keep on looking?”
Fay froze as she heard Blaze’s voice.
What the hell was he doing here?
Blair rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t you call?”
Fay knew the moment he entered the room as the hairs on the back of her neck seemed to rise.
“It was a last-minute thing.”
That was a lie. He didn’t call because he knew she’d be here. Fay didn’t turn around.
“What are we talking about?” Blaze asked, stepping into the kitchen.
She wanted the floor to open up and swallow her, but that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, she reached for her wine glass and quickly drank it up.
This was already her second glass, and she was no drinker. It didn’t take much to have her slightly tipsy.
“We’re talking about Fay. She had a bad date last night, and I’ve told her she can’t stop looking. The right guy is out there for her.”
“I’m sure he is, and you know what? I don’t think he likes it when she sneaks off in the middle of the night.”
“Huh?” Blair asked.
Fay pushed her chair back. “I’ve got to use the bathroom.”
Blair was going to say something else, but suddenly, her cell phone rang while she was arguing with her brother.
Fay made her escape to her best friend’s bathroom. She closed the door and moved toward the sink, taking a deep breath. What was with Blaze?
She ran the cold water tap, coating her hands and then pressing them to her neck.
Fay turned as the door opened, and Blaze filled the tiny space with his presence. He closed the door and folded his arms across his chest.
“I … we’re in Blair’s apartment.”
“She is taking a very important phone call.”
She looked at Blaze and shook her head. “You made sure she got the phone call.”
“Within five minutes of me entering her apartment. Yes.”
“How?”
“I have a lot of favors.”
“Damn it, Blaze, I don’t know what’s going on right now, but I just…” She couldn’t finish because the truth was that she didn’t have a fucking clue what she needed.
“What?” He took a step toward her. “Did you not like how I rocked your world last night?”
“This isn’t— Damn it, Blaze. You are confusing me. You don’t even like me.”
He wrapped his arm around her and drew her back so she felt the hard ridge of his cock pressing against her ass. His arms were across her waist, and his lips were so close to her ear.
She couldn’t look away from him. Against Blaze, she looked small.
His heavily inked body was a dream. She had watched those tattoos as he got each one of them done. They were so pretty. She wanted to touch them, but with how he held her, her hands were right by her sides.
“You think I don’t like you?” he asked.
“I know you don’t.”
He chuckled. “And what makes you think that?”
“You couldn’t stand me.”
“No, I couldn’t stand you as a kid, but that is all a boy’s prerogative. I couldn’t stand my own sister. She was bratty, and needy, and I wanted to do my own thing. I never disliked you.”
She wanted to close her eyes, to sink against his touch, to feel him surround her. Fay stared at their reflection. Her mouth was dry.
The wine had to be messing with her head. There was no way this could be happening.
“Do you have any idea what it was like to look at my sister’s best friend and suddenly want to fuck her?” Blaze asked.
She gasped.
“No, I don’t think you do know. How I stared at this beautiful girl who had turned into a woman before my very eyes, and I wanted her. Craved her. How it was next to impossible to even touch another woman because all I wanted to do was take her?”
“Blaze?”
“I never disliked you, Fay. I tried to protect you from me.”
This surprised her. “What?”
“You saw me last night. I’m not a good man. You deserve a lot better than me, but I can’t stay away. I have tried to be a good guy to you, but that ship has sailed. Now, I cannot stay away. I don’t want to. If you think to even try to date anyone else, I will fucking kill them.”