But they could still be, Thornton reluctantly acknowledged to himself, if Teller found out about Thornton’s relationship with Blake. The man could force Blake to choose—
“It’s done!”
Thornton immediately closed the PDF app and dropped his phone back into his pocket before joining Blake in the kitchen. It was already four in the afternoon when they had gotten back, but she had still insisted on doing something for dinner. She always acted like personally preparing for his meals was some kind of honor, and this was something no other woman had done for him before.
After a quick thanksgiving prayer, Blake stood up to cut Thornton a large slice of pie before placing a smaller one on her plate. She had just sat down and taken a bite when she saw Thornton already reaching for the serving knife.
“But—” And then she saw his already-empty plate and burst into laughter. “Are you that hungry?”
“Not really.” Thornton’s tone was matter-of-fact. “But I like how it tastes.”
“That’s because your girlfriend made it,” she teased him. “If you try any other pie, you’ll see. It will never taste as good.”
Thornton simply nodded. “I believe you.”
This, too, was spoken in a matter-of-fact tone, and she couldn’t help but laugh again. He was such an easygoing person really, but because he also had all that facial hair making Thornton resemble a certain unkempt assassin, most people couldn’t get past his appearance to realize this about him.
Blake worked hard to anticipate Thornton’s needs throughout dinner, a part of her subconsciously wanting to make up for her earlier gaffe. She had seen the way Thornton momentarily stilled when she accidentally let slip about Curt having no choice but to like her. And of course, of course she knew what that meant. But until her brother gave her the green light to share his secret, Blake hadn’t any choice. She had to stick to their usual cover-up about being childhood friends.
“Blake…”
She looked up, her lips automatically forming an expectant smile. “Yes?”
He nodded towards his wineglass. “Are you planning to get me drunk?”
“What? No—” She paused, realizing all of a sudden that in her anxious desire to please him, she had ended up refilling his glass nonstop throughout dinner. In fact, this was probably her fifth refill for Thornton…in the past half hour, and spontaneous laughter spilled past her lips. “It does look that way, doesn’t it?”
“It does.” Thornton might not be smiling, but his deep voice was made just a little tender by amusement, and for that one moment, all thoughts and worries about a certain New Yorker were forgotten.
Blake could feel her entire body burning and melting all at the same time as Thornton captured her gaze and she saw the heat that smoldered into an erotic swirl of promises. She watched him reach for the wineglass, watched him slowly take a sip, and with his eyes still on her, it felt like having him drink all of her in.
Oh God.
“Thorn.” His name was a shaky, involuntary cry full of plea and yearning.
He put the glass down, and she could only gulp as he rose to his feet with lazy grace. It was like watching the most dangerously beautiful beast come into life, and her heart once again jumped a thousand beats per second as she watched him move towards—
“Oh!” She could only let out a breathless laugh at suddenly finding herself swept up in her beloved’s arms.
And then he began walking.
Towards his bedroom.
Oh.
He saw the flare of understanding in her eyes. “Scared?”
The slender arms around his neck slowly tightened. “Of you?” She shook her head. “Never.”
And he could see that she meant it.
Blake’s eyes widened when she saw the way Thornton’s lips curved ever so faintly. “An almost-there smile,” she blurted out, but even as his eyes gleamed with amusement, his lips didn’t yield any further, and it was like having him silently tell her, Don’t push it.
Thornton felt her body shaking with mirth, and he couldn’t help thinking how this was another first that he only experienced with Blake. All the other women he had dated never felt the inclination to smile in his presence, much less laugh or giggle. They had genuinely wanted to fuck him, yes, and some he even had decent and occasionally interesting conversations with.
But he couldn’t recall a single one of them laughing or, even rarer, have the ability to make him laugh in return.
It really was just Blake…
And that was why he could not, would not, and would never give her up to any other man.
He didn’t know if that was how love worked, but what he did know was that he needed this woman and her alone in his life.
Chapter Fourteen
Black book shelves. Wood plank floorings. A rusty clock hanging from a wall bracket, like those in old train stations. Blake could only snatch the barest impressions of Thornton’s unit as they went further and further in. It was just so impossibly hard to think, with the way her heartbeat was pounding against her chest and the way her body couldn’t stop tingling all over.