Page 67 of Blade

When he finally stopped, he looked a tiny bit apologetic. “You are too cute. No. If you smelled any better I’d be walking around with a full erection all the time instead of just a half one.”

Oh.

I should’ve stayed still.

I should’ve been a good grown-up.

I should’ve been polite.

I wasn’t any of those things and I was also impulsive, so I wiggled and rocked my hips to see if he was right. We both had on too many layers for me to be sure about that. Unfortunately they had a well-stocked Dollar General and we’d found some stuff like slightly weirdly made sweatpants and T-shirts for him to wear.

Blaine looked like he wanted to laugh again but instead he raised one eyebrow and swatted one ass cheek.

That was cheating too.

I was going to tell him that but he raised one finger. “Before you say anything, remember that I know exactly how your body responded to that.”

Shoot.

Collapsing against him and groaning seemed like my best course of action, and ended up making me the happiest because it got me good cuddles and more head kisses. “You cheat.”

So I might’ve been just a bit whiny too.

“Humans also give off a lot of information through their responses…fear…arousal…they all smell differently.” Blaine’s hands softly stroked over my back and down the side of my thighs, but he stayed on track which was highly frustrating. “So I understand you have very negative emotions about leaving the trailer but I need you to explain why.”

Ugh.

His chest jerked at my groan but he seemed to decide to ignore it. “Based on my reading, your options are to safeword in some way, explain what’s going on, or you continue to hide from your feelings and I have to figure out consequences to give you before you explain what you’re thinking.”

He was entirely too educated.

“You don’t want to give me consequences. You’re too nice for that.” He’d do it but every time he read about punishments his face got scrunchy. If I could read his emotions they’d have probably been talking very loudly. “So I have to behave. Otherwise I’ll upset you.”

That was the most frustrating Catch-22 I’d ever heard of and I didn’t like it.

“I understand that sometimes a submissive can’t help their behavior, so I am prepared to create boundaries for your behavior and apply the punishment.” His firm, calm tone made it even harder to be dramatic but I succeeded and buried myface against his neck as I sighed. “Which option are you going to choose? If I pick, you’re going to behave the first time.”

Education was a terrible thing.

“I’ll behave.” But I didn’t have to like it. “But I want a reward after for being good.”

Coughing didn’t cover laughter no matter what people seemed to think.

“I’ll take that request into consideration after our conversation.” His college professor kind of tone was making it hard to remember I was supposed to be being a pain in the ass. It just did it for me and made me want to squirm and tell him I was sorry for turning in my paper late. “And just a reminder, I’m more patient than you and I like cuddling on the bed.”

In other words, he could wait me out.

Ugh.

Why had I been given a mate who paid attention to me, asked good questions, and wasn’t squirrel-brained in any way?

“Fine.” I didn’t have to like it, though. “I was honest when I said I didn’t know why I was being crazy about leaving the trailer.”

His sigh made me pout. “My mate, you might’ve thought that very clearly but I had to guess that information.”

Oh.

“Um, okay. I don’t know why I’m being a pain in the butt.” Once I got started the rest just kept coming like the verbal version of eating a bad gas station burrito. “When I think about it, my heart starts pounding and my stomach starts to roll. Being in the trailer isn’t scary so that’s what I’ve been doing. But I like hanging out with you too, so it hadn’t been a hardship.”