As he stuck his hand through the opening between the edges where the fabric met, she cast him a worried frown. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“It will be like our own private fort. C’mon.”
Long seconds passed. He feared she’d chickened out, but then she sidestepped between the rustling sheets. A goofy smile stretched across his face. Until he stared his way up her body. Then his blood chugged fast and hard.
Their stares locked. Her lips parted in the silence. She was so close…
He swallowed. “See? It’s private in here.”
She darted a furtive glance over her shoulder. “I can’t stay. I shouldn’t even be talking to you. If they look out the window and find me…”
“Whatever time we have together is a blessing, Blessing.”
They both softly smiled at his stumbling words.
Then he couldn’t stand not touching her anymore and pulled her into his arms. As she gazed up at him, trust brimmed in her blue eyes. Their smiles faded, replaced by rough breaths.
“I think about you,” he confessed as he stroked a finger down her soft, milky-white cheek. “A lot.”
“Same for me.”
Her words sent a rush of heat far warmer than the sun sizzling beneath his skin.
“I have to know,” he whispered.
“What?”
“How your lips taste.”
“W-we can’t,” she gasped. “I-it’s a—”
“Shh,” he soothed. “No one will ever know.”
She stared up at him, fear filling her eyes.
Dang it. He hadn’t meant to scare her. “If you don’t want me to, I won’t.”
Blessing hesitated. “I-I want to. It’s just…”
“You’re afraid?”
“Yeah.”
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he promised.
Before he lost his nerve, he cupped the back of her neck with shaking fingers and slanted his mouth over hers. Blessing’s warm, soft lips made his whole body tingle and his cock stretch to life. Pressing his mouth to hers more firmly, he cinched a hand in her hair. Her tiny moan tickled his lips. He couldn’t believe that, for this forbidden moment, she was his.
Guided by some innate instinct, he slid his tongue over the seam of her lips. When she opened for him, he plunged inside her warm, slick mouth. Blessing welcomed him, acting on the same primal impulse. Then—
Beck aborted the memory with an ugly curse. He had to get the fuck out of this place.
Clenching his jaw, he slammed the nozzle into the pump and jumped back in Gloria’s gray Caddy. With trembling hands, he fastened his seat belt, started the engine, and floored it, wishing he could outrun the memories.
Pointing the car back toward Vegas, he dragged in ragged breaths. Thankfully, the anger and guilt eased with each mile. Then snippets of his conversation with Gloria began pinging through his brain.
Though Heavenly and Blessing were both young, innocent, and shy, the parallels ended there. While Blessing had been rooted in place, Heavenly had mustered the courage to leave behind everything familiar and chart her own future. She soldiered on every day to further her ambitions because she wanted more from life. Blessing had done only what she was told. Heavenly warily questioned people and situations. Blessing had merely accepted authority with a placid smile. Under Heavenly’s quiet disposition, she was smart, brave, intriguing, steadfast, and dedicated—everything Blessing had been too timid to be.
Now that he’d settled Gloria’s nagging question, Beck slammed the door on his past.
No denying the need to protect Heavenly burned inside him. It had nothing to do with the failures of his youth and everything to do with the unshakable feeling that she needed him. That sheltering her was his privilege and his right.
God help her, he was going to break all his own rules, even the one he’d held most sacred. Virgin or not, she was going to belong to him. Hell, in his mind…she already did. There was just one problem… How did he convince Heavenly that she was his?
“Stop behaving like her ‘professional daddy’ and tell her you want to be more than her friend, dipshit,” he grumbled out loud.
If he didn’t, he was going to lose out. Seth was running circles around him—with his pearly whites and one-fingered waves. Beck couldn’t effectively compete if he only ever spent an hour a day with Heavenly in a crowded cafeteria talking about term papers, diseases, and hospital BS. He needed to take her out—and not on some prissy-assed picnic. No, on an honest-to-god date where they could peel off their professional skins and get to know one another as man and woman.
If that went well, then he’d find out if he could coax her over to the kinky side. In the event that was a no-go… Well, he’d have to ask himself hard questions about how much of his sadistic side he could give up. Honestly, he didn’t know. But no matter what, Beck’s heart—and his cock—were determined to find a way to make it work…and make Heavenly his for good.