Page 32 of Blaze

No way in fuck is she going to Phoenix.That can’t happen.

I climb over her again because I really like straddling her.

Her breath hitches as she flattens her palms on my chest.“You’re so intense.”

“I am.”I bend to kiss her.“How’s your leg?”

“Fine.How could it hurt?You keep giving me pain medication.”She narrows her gaze.“Maybe I should look at the bottle you’re getting the Tylenol from.Perhaps I should be questioning what you’re handing me.I’m starting to think it’s an aphrodisiac instead.”

I chuckle.“Don’t need an aphrodisiac.You’re hot for me without it.But I don’t like you in pain either.I’m going to pull out the Tylenol every time you wince.”

“How old are you?”she asks, abruptly changing the subject.

“Forty-one.”I don’t hesitate.She needs to know.

“Twice my age…” At least she doesn’t cringe.She simply states that as a fact.

“Does it bother you?”

She shrugs.“No.Not if it’s the reason you know your way around my body like you do.I feel like I won the lottery.I’ve never met anyone as confident or…I think the word is cocky, as you.”She grins.

Her hands keep wandering.She likes touching me.I like it, too.“Do you always date younger women?”

“I’ve never dated anyone more than a few years younger than me,” I tell her honestly.

“Why me, then?”

“I don’t know, baby.When I met you, I just knew.I don’t care how old you are, but I can’t say I’m disappointed to find out you haven’t slept with another man.I’ll be the only man who ever touches you.”

She shrugs again, nonchalantly.“I mean, what if I take a job in Phoenix and there’s some hot guy my age working there?”

I grab her arms, pull them over her head, and hold her wrists together with one hand, freeing the other one to tickle her.

Victoria squeals.

I grip her tiny waist and hold it.“Where is this interview exactly?”

Panting, she says, “At a museum.”

“A museum?So, a hot young paleontologist or something like that?”I tease.

She giggles.“Maybe.Though he probably wouldn’t be as buff as you or as talented with his tongue, so perhaps I should reconsider.”

I tickle her again.“You should definitely reconsider.”After lowering my face to her neck, I kiss her and repeat myself, whispering, “You shoulddefinitelyreconsider, Victoria.”

“Mmm.I like it when you say my name.”

“I’m sorry your stepmom called you something else.”I lift my head.

“When she renamed me after my dad died, it was like she stabbed me.She erased me.She erased my dad.I was too young to realize at the time, but my father called me Victoria.My stepmother does not.”

Suddenly, this moment is very sobering.“I’m sorry, baby.That was cruel.Delete it from your head, Victoria.”

“Having kids scares me,” she murmurs.“I’ve always thought I wouldn’t bring a human into this world.What if I die?What ifyoudie, too, and some bitch raises our baby and renames them?”

My heart hurts.How did we get so fucking serious?I don’t know, but this moment is important.I cup her face gently and give her a quick kiss on the lips.“Let’s go downstairs.You need to meet everyone.Then you’ll know who would raise our baby if something happened to us.”

Tears come to her eyes.