Page 92

“Idiots,” he muttered, neither surprised nor exactly pleased. “But it’ll be good for you—for the business. I mean, look…” He flicked through the photos. “Not a single one focusing on that dickhead or what he said about you.”

True.

“Yeah, I just don’t like that this might be at your expense.”

His brows popped up and then he shook his head with a low laugh. “Trust me, there’ve been a lot worse things printed about me over the years. Far more than anything they could make up about this morning,” he said and I must not have looked convinced because he added, “I could look at a rock too long and they’d assume I have a rock fetish.”

The tension broke when I couldn’t help but laugh. He handed back my phone, heat clawing over my skin as my fingers brushed his. Instantly, the levity dissolved, and I felt—I knew what was coming.

“Blaze,” I said thickly, not sure how to begin a conversation that I’d never had or had to have before.

He craned his neck to check on Paisley who was now even farther away from the water as she went in search of the perfect shells.

“We need to talk about last night,” he said in a low voice.

“Yes.” My mouth opened and shut again. Maybe it was better for the expert to lead the way.

Tension creased his face. “Do you know where you are in your cycle? I need to know what the chances are—if we need to look at Plan B⁠—”

“No,” I blurted out and winced. “I mean, I do but it doesn’t matter. I have an IUD. So, I can’t—we can’t—it’s fine.” I finished on a huff of air, feeling heat pulse into my cheeks.

I don’t know what I expected—maybe not a shout of joy but at least a sigh of relief. Instead, all the edges of his face sharpened and his steely eyes bored into mine.

“It’s…fine,” he repeated like I’d spoken in a foreign language.

I swallowed. “Y-yes?” I was so confused. Wasn’t that what he wanted to know?

“Harper,” he began, jaw pulsing. “I need you to be clear⁠—”

“It doesn’t matter if the condom broke—it doesn’t matter if there’s a condom at all because I can’t get pregnant.” I wasn’t sure how much clearer I could be.

He winced like I’d struck him.

“Say that again.”

“Say…”

“That last part,” he growled.

“The condom doesn’t matter because I can’t get pregnant,” I repeated but I was so confused why he didn’t seem to be understanding this concept. Of all people, I was pretty sure Blaze Stevens had acquired a PhD in contraceptives. When he still said nothing, I added quietly, “So what happened last night is fine. You don’t…have to worry.”

“Harper,” he said slowly, his voice like a husk of need. “I need you to be clear—very clear about is what exactly is fine.” His head tipped closer to mine, our breaths colliding. “Is it fine that I came inside you by accident or…” His eyes roamed over my face, his Adam’s apple bobbing like the next option was his undoing. “Is it fine that I come inside you on purpose?”

I felt my brows lift up, my lips forming a small O of understanding. He wanted to know if it was okay to do it again.

Heat rushed between my legs, my thighs suddenly sticky with the thought.

Blinking, my throat worked to carve my answer out. “That one,” I managed thickly. “The second one.”

He slid his hand to cup the side of my face and tilt my head back. I should’ve cared who was watching—who would see—but I couldn’t. Not when he looked at me the way he did.

“It’s fine for me to fuck you bare?” he confirmed, lowering his head closer to mine.

“Yes.”

“Fine for me to pump you full of my cum?” he went on, and I felt my knees go weak.

“Mhmm.” I was beyond words now.