Page 70 of Grant’s Blaze

“What?” she snapped.

“The sassy thing? Are you looking for a red ass?” I growled in response to her open glare. “Oh, you’re all full of it, now. What’s going on?” God, the woman could turn on a dime.

“You know I’m all-in here, right? I’m standing here, giving you everything I have, Grant. Every. Damn. Thing.” She put her hands on her hips yet again, and her ireful pose spiked my desire for her in the most intense way.

“And you don’t think I’m doing the same thing?” I heard how I was raising my voice and also knew I needed to bring it way down. But seriously, she was pissing me off. How much more did she want from me? What else was even left?

“Well, I’m not sure. I hear you telling me you’d rather lie to me than be open with me, and, well, that’s not a super comforting notion.”

“No. You’re hearing what you want to hear. I’m telling you my instinct is to protect you. I wanted to keep all that shit from you because it’s a damn horror movie. Why would I want to share that with the woman I want to protect from all the bad things in this fucked-up world? Why would I want to bring the monsters into our home myself?”

Yep. Now we were yelling.

If she just weren’t so damn stubborn and would just admit there might be another way to look at something.

“Because partners slay monsters together, Tree! What about that don’t you get?”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt, damn it! And I don’t want to be the one to hurt you. I would never forgive myself. Do you have any fucking idea what seeing those marks on your skin did to me this morning? Marks I’d inflicted? And then that look of absolute terror on your face?”

I gripped my hair, but even that sharp pain wasn’t enough. I wanted to cut off something vital to prove to her how much it hurt me to see her like that.

“In that moment, I wasn’t your partner, baby. You get that, right? Not by any stretch of anyone’s imagination. In that moment, I was the monster.”

My voice completely broke on the last word, and I dropped my chin to my chest. I didn’t even have the courage to hold her gaze. When I looked up, I knew what I was about to say was going to be brutal, so I sucked in a deep breath first.

“If that happens again, I think we’ll have to go our separate ways.”

“What?” Her voice was hushed and shivery. Tears immediately filled her eyes. “Wh-Wh-What did you just say?”

“I don’t think you need me to repeat myself.”

“So that’s how you deal with the hard stuff? Like that? You run, when you’ve yelled at me so many times about not running? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No. I’ve never run away from anything in my life. But I don’t know what else to do, Blaze. I can’t hurt you like that again.” It was agony to have to say these things. How did she not understand?

“Have you even considered seeing a therapist? Like a non-egomaniac would do?”

“I’m not an egomaniac.”

“Okay,” she said in the most condescending tone. Coupled with the way she patted my arm while she said it, I wanted to put her over my knee and take it out of her backside right on the spot.

“You’re pushing the wrong buttons with me right now, woman. I can’t warn you strongly enough,” I said in a lethally calm voice.

“Is that right?” She smirked. “Maybe something will finally get through that thick tree-trunk head of yours. My God, are you that dense? Why would you throw away something this good instead of going and talking to a professional first? You’ve suggested—oh no, pardon me—you’ve insisted I see a therapist how many times now? So how hasn’t it crossed your thick skull for you do the same thing?”

I watched her closely while she spoke. Her point was a good one, I had to admit. But something else was going on with her, and I really hoped I wasn’t reading her wrong. All the tension that had built up between us was cracking something in her, and a mischievous glint twinkled in her eye. One more smart remark, and I’d know she was pushing me on purpose. I just needed to lay the bait and see if she’d bite.

“All right, Blaze. You make a solid point. And you’re right, we are good together. In fact, I’ve never had better.” I went to stand in front of her, next to her desk. Then I pushed in closer, crowding her back until her thighs were up against the edge of the thing.

At once, her nostrils flared. She gave my body a quick once-over, starting down at my wingtips and finishing at my Adam’s apple. No way did she miss the erection in between. Probably not my rough swallow when her attention was there, either. It was as though her body sent out a command and mine responded.

Her answering throat undulation was the confirmation I needed. Inside her tight little body—and throughout mine—our argument had turned to full arousal.

Hooking my fingers into two of her front belt loops, I tugged her body forward until it thunked into mine.

“What’s on your mind now, Blaze? You look like you’re burning up inside.”

“What?” She nearly choked, and I chuckled. “What are you talking about?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but the red flush creeping across her chest gave her away. It always did.