Page 9 of Sheltered

At that, Blaze guided me toward the exit before he led me across the street and toward the parking lot next to the bar.

When we came to a stop beside my car, I looked at him and felt a wave of something I couldn’t describe wash over me. Was this it? Would I walk away and never see him again? It felt like the kind of moment that required something big to happen, and yet, I wasn’t quite sure I knew what that something was.

“I had a wonderful time getting to know you tonight, Harlow,” he said.

“It was the same for me with you, Blaze.”

Seemingly prepared to handle this conversation, Blaze didn’t hold himself back. “I’d love it if we could exchange numbers, so I could call you up and take you out sometime on a real date.”

A real date.

A real date with a nice guy.

It sounded wonderful, and I imagined it would be even better than what we’d had with each other tonight, even if tonight had already been wonderful.

And I’d just been feeling worried that I might not ever get the chance to see Blaze again. It seemed foolish of me to turn down him down now.

Apparently, I’d taken too long thinking about all this that Blaze got the wrong impression. He’d reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and held out a card for me. “Look, I realize that what happened tonight wasn’t what you’d expected or anticipated. I get it. So, take my card. My cell is on there. I think you and I could have a lot of fun together if given the opportunity. So, take some time to think about it, and if you decide you want to give this a shot to turn into something else, or even if it’s just so you could prove to me how boring you really think you are, I’d love to hear from you.”

I took the card from him and tucked it into my purse.

Then I returned my attention to his face. I didn’t know if he had any expectation about what would happen next. Did he want a kiss? Did I want one? “Thank you, again, for what you did for me tonight and for helping me turn the night around.”

“The pleasure was all mine.” Blaze opened my door for me, silently answering the question I’d had about his expectations. When I folded in behind the wheel, he said, “Get home safely.”

“I will,” I promised. “You do the same.”

He smiled at me. “I will. Goodnight, Harlow.”

“Goodnight.”

The next thing I knew, Blaze had closed my door and waited beside my car until I turned it on. He continued to wait there until I put the car in drive and pulled away. And just before I pulled out of the lot to head home, I glanced up in my rearview mirror and saw that Blaze still hadn’t moved from that spot beyond turning his body, so his eyes could follow my car as I left.

The whole way home, I replayed my entire night with him in my head, doing it with a smile on my face.

Suffice it to say, my best friend was going to lose her mind when she heard all about the night I’d had with a man named Blaze Matthews.

THREE

Harlow

I’d been a fool to think I’d be able to relax when I got home from a long and busy day at work. It was Tuesday evening, and I’d just sat down to have dinner when my phone rang.

The corners of my mouth tipped up in a smile as I swiped my finger across the screen to take the call I knew was going to be coming. Not only did I already know based on the conversation we’d had last week that she would call, but I’d also texted Olive earlier today when I took a short break for lunch. Knowing my best friend wouldn’t yet be on her lunch break and that I’d be back to working with my clients when she did, I’d wanted to tease her about the news I had to share over my date.

“Hey, Olive. How was your trip this weekend?” I greeted her. There wasn’t a chance she was going to answer that question.

“Oh, don’t try that with me, Harlow,” she scolded me. “You don’t get to send me a text like the one you did on Saturday and this afternoon and expect that your date on Friday isn’t the first thing you’re going to talk to me about.”

I couldn’t stop the laugh from escaping. “Are you saying that mentioning my date hadn’t gone anything like I’d imagined was far too much suspense for you?”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re avoiding sharing now? I mean, based on the way your voice sounds, I can only make assumptions that it was positively wonderful, but I still want the details. So, enough with the stall tactics. Spill the beans,” she demanded.

Apparently, I was doing an incredible job of hiding precisely how horrible the date had been, so what I wound up sharing was going to come as quite the shock to her.

“Alright, alright. Well, I guess if I had to choose one word to describe my date with Rob, I would have to call it a disaster,” I informed her.

“What? Oh, no,” she murmured. “I was convinced you were going to give me good news. What happened?”

---