Page 23 of Breaking Blaze

“Of course, you don’t understand what you did,” she said, testily. Tired of beating her head against a wall, she just laid it all out. “Instead of waking a woman who meant less than nothing to you, you purposefully woke me up—the woman you supposedly care for like a best friend, even after knowing I was exhausted and achy and desperate for rest. You thought you were avoiding waking the woman up, but what you were really doing was avoiding a confrontation with a woman you fucked and ditched, and rather than manning the hell up, waking her up, and dealing with the awkwardness of getting your own damn keys, you called me, woke me up, and forced me to witness yet another walk of shame from another woman’s bed.”

Blaze’s eyes blazed…and Anna didn’t even know what to name what she saw.

On a roll and so damn weary of feeling like nothing, she kept going.

“That night, you showed me that I meant less to you than your fuck buddy did. That it didn’t matter to you what I would want or how I would feel or how inconvenient it was for me. You put the comfort of that woman over mine. You put yourself before me—yet again. You proved to me that I am worth less to you than some no name slut.

And because of that, I realized that this—whatever it is supposed to be between us—is twisted. You get all the benefits of my friendship without any of the work required to keep us strong, and I get whatever you have left after you’ve screwed your way through the next wave of bimbos. I am so damn tired of being the only one who wanted our relationship to matter.”

Weary. Beaten. Heartbroken. Anna closed her eyes against the burn of tears. She bit her lip and opened her eyes again, her now blurry gaze trying hard not to appreciate the beautiful man beside her. The man who tore out her heart but was still able to turn her inside out with unrequited want. Even in her moment of heartache, she wanted to reach out to him, smooth the creases from his face, and tell him it would all be fine.

But it wouldn’t be fine. And that was the problem. It would never be fine again.

Blaze sighed heavily and sat back, his body seeming to deflate.

“Fuck, Anna…” he wheezed, lifting a shaking hand to rake down his face. “I knew I’d done something wrong but….” He slammed his mouth closed, took a deep breath, and met her gaze with his. Eyes turned to flaming sapphires, his body a blur as he reached out and snagged her hands, pulling her until she was inches from him, their body heat colliding, their faces much too close…but still too damn far.

“You want to know what really happened, why I really called you, why I always call you? Why I drop by, why I can’t seem to keep myself from showing up at your place or reaching out to you, especially after I’ve fucked another woman?”

His words, like thick, hot syrup in her veins, ratcheted up the heat in her body. Curiosity and fear warred with one another, twisting and turning in her gut.

The air lost somewhere in her chest, she forced a deep, shuddering breath.

“Why?” she asked, her voice a raspy husk of what it was meant to sound like.

Her heart hammering, her body vibrating with sexual tension and need, Anna didn’t know if she really wanted to hear the answer…but knew she couldn’t live without knowing the truth.

But the truth always hurts.

Blaze’s hand gripped the back of her neck, pulling her closer until his hot breath glided over her lips. She licked her own, suddenly realizing how close they were, how close she was to knowing what his mouth tasted like.

His fingers tightened, drawing her even closer, just as his other hand rose to cup her face—like that one, beautiful moment, so many years ago. His rough thumb brushed over her cheek, his gaze dropping to her mouth, his lids growing heavy. Her breath caught.

“Why?” she wheezed, desperate to know even if it tore her to shreds.

“Because I wanted them to be you,” he growled before slamming his mouth to hers.

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