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“I’ve sort of been waiting for you to bring her up another time. I appreciate you finally considering the invite.”
“Oh.” She took a small sip of her wine, wondering if Blake had spent this whole time wondering why she hadn’t considered inviting him sooner. It wasn’t like he was a creepy guy; he was a doctor, after all. Tanith didn’t want him to think she didn’t trust him, or respect him, or think he’d be a bad influence on Hayley. In reality, it was the total opposite. Now that it was out there, she wasn’t entirely sure what to say next. “So…what are your thoughts on that?”
“On meeting your daughter?
Another sip of wine, this time slightly larger. “Yeah.” Her eyes drifted closed as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple. Something about his presence soothed her, calmed her—maybe his cologne had a sedative quality to it. Whatever the case may be, she had no problem curling up against him and snuggling her head under his chin.
“I think it’s a great idea,” he told her, words rumbling deeply within his chest. She felt the vibrations under her palm. “I love kids. You having one doesn’t make me want to date you any less, so meeting her seems like the next logical step.”
“It’ll make things more complicated,” she mused.
“Sure it would.” He rubbed his hand up and down her back slowly. “Relationships are complicated anyway.”
She chuckled. “Kids are very complicated.”
Blake shifted so that he could cup her face, stroking her cheek gently with his thumb, and gazed into her eyes. “You’re worth all the complications in the world to me, Tanith.”
A surge of tears welled in her eyes, and she hastily blinked them away as she set her wine glass down and smiled at him. “Really?”
“If I’ve known about the kid for a while, couldn’t I have already found an excuse to leave if that was what I’d wanted to do?” he pointed out. His lips twitched, as if holding back a smile. “I mean, why would I get us both this invested, then bolt now? I’m not a sociopath, Tanith. Just a regular guy.”
“I know,” she said, taking a good-natured swipe at his arm and feeling nothing but rock hard muscle on impact. “But can you really blame me for being nervous?”
“If you weren’t, I’d assume you were just using me for my beautiful body.” He waggled his eyebrows at her when her jaw dropped. Her vanilla doctor was making a naughty joke! She blinked back her surprise, and he caught her hand when she tried to smack him again—like they were in middle school and she was swatting the boy she liked.
“Kids are work,” Tanith insisted, laughing as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed each finger. “I love my daughter. She’s one half of my soul, but good grief can it be trying some days. And I would never want to force that on someone who wasn’t ready for it.”
“I’m not saying I’m ready to adopt her tomorrow or anything, but I’m ready to try it with you.” He dragged her close, the sudden jolt forcing a gasp out of her, their lips within a breath of one another as Blake whispered, “I’m not scared, Tanith.”
As much as she wanted to give in to the heat the moment, to succumb to the dark desire pooling in his eyes, her heart thumping hard behind her ribcage, Tanith couldn’t. It wasn’t like they were sitting there chatting about getting a fish together—this was Hayley. This was her child. What she and Blake did could impact her for years to come, and she had to be sure he understood that. So, she pressed a hand to his chest, muscular and hot, even beneath his t-shirt, and pushed back. She needed the distance to focus, so she wouldn’t get lost in his eyes.
“Blake,” she murmured, ignoring his soft sigh, “this is serious.”
“Do you see me laughing?”
“A little,” Tanith argued, though her mouth was about to curl into a smile herself just looking at him. She cleared her throat to focus. “I don’t want you to say all these things because you’re hoping for, I don’t know, something from me. My daughter is the most important thing in the world to me, and the man I’m with has to understand—”
“That you would move heaven and earth for her,” he finished for her, nodding. “And that you would probably murder me and bury me in the desert if I ever did anything to hurt Hayley in any way.” He smirked when she gawked at him again. “Yeah, I already accounted for the mama bear protectiveness. I’ve thought of all the scenarios, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“But—”
He silenced her concerns with a searing kiss, the kind that shot straight to her sex like a bolt of electricity. Tanith moaned, relaxing her body into him as he drew her down, one hand cupping her face and the other spread across the small of her back.
His kiss was like fire, the flame licking down her body as their lips parted, as they gave themselves over to one another completely. In his arms, there was nothing to think about, nothing to get hung up on. Everything else faded away, and all that was left in the world was her and Blake. His hands wandered down her figure and curved over her hips, then guided her onto his lap.
She went willing, straddling his muscular thighs, her fingers working through his hair as she ground herself against him. As he nibbled her lower lip, something hard and insistent pressed to her inner thigh. Had she not been so intoxicated on Blake, not the wine, she would have taken that as a sign to slow things down.
But Tanith didn’t want to slow things down. In that moment, she remembered that she wasn’t that kind of woman. The break-in had toned her down, yet Tanith Ravenna had always been a wild child, desperate to explore, to taste the exotic menu of life and let the flavors dance on her tongue for years to come.
They broke apart, breaths coming hard and fast, and Tanith trailed her tongue along Blake’s jaw, wanting to sample every inch of him. He groaned softly, hips bucking up against hers, and she took that as permission to wander lower, teeth and tongue sweeping over his neck until she found just the perfect spot to suckle. His hand threaded through her hair as she applied more pressure, sucking and clamping down until she swore Blake actually growled. When she straightened up, cheeks flushed and eyes alive, she grinned, pleased with the mark she’d left on his skin.
“I was about to say that we don’t have to rush,” he told her, voice dark with lust, “but something tells me that’s the opposite of what you want.”
“Am I really so obvious?” Tanith lifted her arms when he grabbed her shift and tugged it up and over her head. Moments later, he had her bra unclasped too; it joined the puddle of fabric at the opposite end of the couch.
With her breasts free, she arched back and inhaled deeply, enjoying the way the oxygen filled her lungs, embracing the feel of his hot hands dancing across her exposed skin. Her sex clenched as he tweaked her nipples, and she tossed her head back with an abandoned moan as his mouth covered one stiff peak. The hint of teeth excited her, the thrill of pain enticing, thrilling—something she wouldn’t have associated with Blake.
He growled again—she was certain that was the sound this time—as he sucked briefly and moved on to the other nipple, his hands kneading her backside so vigorously that she swore he’d rip her panties clean in half.
