Page 35 of Breaking Blaze

Two things happened in that instant. Excitement and terror flooded her system, though they felt too similar for her to figure out which emotion was prevalent. And the doorbell rang.

Sally gasped, clapping her hands together as elation lit up her face.

“He’s heeeere,” she whisper-yelled, jumping in place. “I’m going to go answer the door and let him in, then I am going to get the hell out before he sees you and decides that Anna Cass is on the menu.” Chuckling to herself, Sally hurriedly gathered the odds and ends she brought to help in Anna’s beautifying process.

At the bedroom door, her arms full, Sally stopped and turned back.

“Anna…I know I’ve said some stuff about Blaze in the past, and I know that what I said was completely warranted, but…. I think that this is your chance to finally have the story you’ve been wanting for far too long. Yeah, the guys a manwhore, and he talks shit better than most televangelists, but I honestly think he’s sincere in his desire to make things right.”

“How?” Anna barely got out before the anxiety lodged in her throat once more.

Sally offered a sad smile, one Anna had never seen on her gregarious friend before.

“There are things I can’t explain…things I’ve noticed lately, and…I just want to hope for you, Anna. For you and for Blaze and the love you two deserve.”

With that, Sally disappeared down the hallway, leaving Anna confused by her friend’s words and somber, wistful expression. The sounds of the front door opening, then voices, then the door closing brought Anna back to the imminent happening—her coming face to face with her date.

Blaze Harris.

Her one and only love.

Her heart hammering like a piston in a racing engine, Anna took a deep breath and turned toward the door.

You can do this. It’s just a date. With Blaze. A man who can have any woman he wants but has chosen you. This means something.

It had to.

Grabbing her clutch from the bed, she made her way from the bedroom toward the living room where Blaze waited.

When she caught sight of him, her hammering heart halted mid swing.

His back to her, staring out the window next to the kitchenette table, Anna took him in.

Black dress slacks that cupped an ass too deliciously hard and perfect to be real. His thick thighs strained the seams and her ability to think. Her gaze moving up from his ass and thighs, she took in the cotton shirt pulled taut over well-defined back muscles; his broad shoulders filling out a light blue cotton that had to have been tailored to fit. The man had dressed up.

She must have made a noise—probably the sound of her drowning in her own drool—because he turned to look over his shoulder. He jerked as if punched, sucking in an audible breath. Slowly, he turned toward her, his movements were as though it was taking far too much effort to move under his own power.

His sky-blue gaze slammed into hers and her breath stalled, heat blasting through her as his eyes darkened to cerulean. She raised her hand to smooth the material of the dress over her legs nervously. It wasn’t every day she dressed up like that…and then stood in front of a man made of sex and testosterone. What did he see when he looked at her? Did she compare to the other women he’d been with? His gaze watching her hand move over her body then up to where she tucked a lock of wavy curls behind her ear. His chest expanded then seized, his breath trapped there. His large body was still, his presence intense as he continued to stare, his darkening eyes pinned to her. A predator eyeing prey.

Very willing prey.

He was holding his breath. And so was she.

A slow, wicked lopsided grin lifted the side of his mouth, flashing his canine.

Predator, indeed.

Blood rushed to her face, her cheeks warming to the point of lava as she ducked her chin to hide her shyness from him. His other women definitely wouldn’t be blushing.

As if her woo-woo psychic-ness were eavesdropping on her thoughts, Sally’s words crashed into her mind. “You are not them. You will never be them. You are you, but you, Anna, are still beautiful and sexy and sensual and could bring Blaze to his knees by simply walking into a room….”

A grin lifting the corners of her mouth, Anna lifted her chin and met Blaze’s gaze once again—his breath rushed from him and he jerked once again.

“Holy shit, Anna…” he growled, his eyes scanned her from head to foot, sliding over her, devouring every curve and dip as though his eyes could outline her figure in fire. “I knew you were beautiful—the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, but now….” His words ended on a full body shudder. Blaze licked his lips and swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He took a step forward, his hands at his sides fisting tightly. “I don’t know if I can do this—and before you think the worst right out of the gate, know that I mean I don’t know if I can take you out looking like that without beating every man with eyes to death.”

A laugh exploded from her chest. Lord, but he was ridiculous.

She rolled her eyes.

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