Page 74 of Stolen By the Billionaire
Dear Lord, her kidnapper was hugging her.
Sarah hadn’t been hugged like this—long, like this—a person’s arms wrapped around her and she felt safe, like this—for seven years.
Since her father had died.
Her mom hadn’t been a hugger at all.
She lifted her arms and encircled Blaze’s tight waist, awkward as she tried to figure out where was right for her to hug and wasn’t too gropey or desperate. She settled for her own shoulder height, where her arms were around his chest, and her hands splayed on his muscular upper back.
Really muscular. Like thick-side-of-beef muscular.
And he was holding her.
Her mother hadn’t been a hugger. Slap-slap-break away, and that was all. She was great and an efficient parent and ran the farm well, but she just wasn’t the huggy type.
Sarah’s friends were the same way because they were friends. Slappy-slappy-done!
But this—this was—
Blaze was still holding her.
His hand on her upper back moved up and down her spine between her shoulder blades, stroking but not grabby.
Sarah settled into his hug, dismayed and confused, and she molded herself against his strong body. His heartbeat under her ear was a calm drumbeat of once per second like a metronome. His arm around her was an inch from the tip of her nose, the indigo ink tracing on his skin, spidery like long legs and yet maybe, the tracery formed of a series of small bones.
The fright leaked out of her muscles.
A weight pressed her head from above because he was resting his chin on the top of her skull. His arms around her adjusted, holding her closer. He said, “You’re okay. You’re safe now.”
That was when she grabbed Blaze around his waist and held on like she was dangling over a cliff.
Starvation for this had gnawed at her for years. Fearing the hunger of starving to death in this gym had been nothing compared to the absolute depths of her longing for this, for another human’s embrace.
Going out to the barn and poaching one of the barn kittens to tame so Muffintop could be her housecat and sit on her lap had been a vain attempt to dull her clawing need for this.
Charlie resting his head on her shoulder and HowNow head-butting her in the side were nothing compared to this.
Sarah buried her face in Blaze’s chest and breathed his clean, male scent, his body strong in her arms and wrapped around her, his attention and focus all on her.
Her eyes burned, and her body drank him in.
Under her arm, Blaze’s trousers hummed and vibrated.
The sizzle under his skin zipped through her nerves like an electric shock, and she snapped her arm away.
Just the one arm, though.
Blaze kept one arm wrapped tightly around her, but his other hand moved away to pull his phone out of his pajama pocket and lift it to eye level. His voice rumbled near her ear, “Reinforcements have arrived.”
“Oh. Oh, good,” Sarah said, but she couldn’t make her arms loosen from around his chest.
“They’re friends of mine. We should let them in.”
“Okay.”
Her muscles tightened, squeezing him.
Blaze straightened and loosened his arms, running his palms down her arms. “Let’s go upstairs. They have secured the exterior of the house. Everything’s fine now.”
