A week had passed—a very slow week—and my foot was almost as good as new. It felt good enough to bear weight finally, and I could wear a normal shoe. I’d started getting back out to my little projects, even. I hadn’t yet braved the remains of the hut farthest from my house, though. That place could wait until I didn’t get chills every time I thought of it.

Despite my body healing and feeling better, emotionally, I was having a tough time. It was overly apparent that feelings didn’t heal at the same rate as cuts. I thought about Blaise constantly. If there was ever a moment when he wasn’t on my mind, it was like my body had physical withdrawals.

I’d become testy and impatient with everyone around me. Cherry had decided to stay away from me “until I got it figured out,” she’d told me. Other friends who’d shown up to check on me had just stopped coming around. Visits had become phone calls and then silence. I was fine with it. If they thought my mood was sour, they hadn’t even scratched the surface.

I decided enough was enough. I was going back to Blaise’s. I needed to—to talk. I told myself it was to talk, but I was craving him like a fiend. Waiting a week had been my aim. I’d told myself that if I could resist for a week, maybe the cravings would fade, even just a bit. That hadn’t happened, though. If anything, they were stronger. Some moments, it was like I could feel his desire, too.

When Cherry called me, she caught me climbing into my boat. She actually cheered. “You’re going to him, aren’t you?”

I wanted to deny it, but I couldn’t get the words past my lips. “I need to talk to him.”

“Finally. You were becoming a lunatic. And Cezar says that Blaise is a mess without you.”

Strange how that perked my ears right up. “What?”

“Oh, yeah. He’s been drinking gallons of Armand’s brew. When he isn’t watching over you, of course.” She let out a little gasp. “I did not say that.”

I froze, my hand on the rope, ready to untie the dock line. “I’m gonna need you to repeat that.”

“Oh, what the hell. You’re headed to his place, so I guess you were bound to find out anyway. Besides, he deserves credit for what he’s been doing. We were all worried about you. None of us more than Blaise, though. You know, after he found you in that fire and rescued you, he never left your side, not for a second. He cleaned all the mud off you, inspected you for injuries, bandaged your foot, tucked you in bed…”

“Cherry!” She jumped when I screamed, and her hands flew in the air.

“Okay...well, he still hasn’t left. He’s been watching over your house…and you. He wanted to make sure you were safe, despite you rejecting him.”

“I didn’t…” I was about to deny that I had rejected him but, technically, that is what it amounted to. I had rejected him. Admitting it left a bad taste in my mouth, for some reason. A shame that weighed heavily on me. “So, he’s just been watching my house?”

“Not in a creepy way.” Cherry was fast to defend Blaise.

She didn’t need to, though. The revelation did little to calm my already raging hormones. I felt like I was in heat, my skin almost as sensitive as it had been after the fire. I was desperate.

“Chyna?”

“Call you later.”

I tossed my phone in my bag and pushed the boat off the dock, starting the engine as I drifted away from land. I sped toward the bay that fed off the mainland and would get me to Blaise’s faster. I was feelin’ reckless. The closer I got to his house, the more the heaviness on my chest seemed to lift and lighten. For the first time in over a week, I could breathe easy.

Reminding myself that it wasn’t permanent didn’t faze me. I couldn’t think past the here and now. I was going to see Blaise and talk. Talk…

I tied my boat off at his dock and rushed up to his door. There was a mess on his patio, chairs knocked over, broken glass, and it looked like new damage to a wall.

I raised my hand to knock, but before my fist made contact with the door, I felt someone behind me. Turning, I watched as the great crimson dragon landed and shifted back to his human form. Blaise, all his male nakedness before me, sent jolts of heat through me as though someone had hooked a power cord to my body. I buzzed with energy and excitement.

Blaise walked swiftly toward me, his strides eating up the ground between us. He was already hard and, at that moment, neither of us pretended that I’d come for anything else. Raw desire radiated from both of us. When he got close enough, I launched myself into his arms, and he caught me in midair, holding me tight as I wrapped my legs around his waist.

My lips found his, and for the first time in days, all was right with the world. He and I together in a lover’s embrace—it was as though nothing else mattered. Before I knew it, I was naked and Blaise was inside of me, moving hard and fast. We both climaxed fast standing on his patio, amidst the mess. The experience was rough and needy, a far cry from the first time we’d been together. It was just what the doctor ordered, though.

I felt like I could think again. On top of Blaise, his shaft still hard inside of me, I felt like myself again. His scent filled my nostrils, and I had the thought that I could stay there forever. Forever, spent in the embrace of a man I barely knew. A man with a father so cruel and tyrannical he’d been dubbed the Demon King. A man who Cezar had said began his short reign the same way his father had. Minus the cruelty, but with the same oppressiveness.

Blaise growled. “I can feel you thinking. I don’t hear your thoughts, but I can sense they are not good. Please stop. Stay.”

I wanted to. I couldn’t, though. Without the blindingly needy libido, I could process what I was doing in a more sane and rational way. I was leading Blaise on, making him think that I’d changed my mind about his mate thingy. “I gotta go.”

He rolled his head back, looking at the sky and groaned. “Chyna…”

I slipped off him, disengaging and disappointing. “I’m sorry I came back here, Blaise. I shouldn’t have.”

“Why did you?”

Staring up at him, I shuddered. Apparently, my neediness had not been completely sated. Sure, the quickie had taken the edge off, but I still desired him. Badly. “You know why.”

“So, we can have sex but not have a relationship?”

“Would that be okay?” I wanted to slap myself as soon as the words were out of my mouth. “Forget I said that.”

“You do not want to be my mate, or spend time to get to know me, but you want to have sex with me?” He sat in one of the lawn chairs, his rippled abs tightening as he did. He also didn’t bother covering his naked sex. Instead, he stared at me like I was a puzzle to solve. After a few uncomfortable seconds, he scratched his head and shrugged. “Fine.”

A part of me cheered. The idea of getting to have no-strings sex with Blaise was beyond thrilling. Another, probably larger, part of me felt self-sabotaging. I ignored that last part, though. “Just sex? No relationship commitments, no chance of being controlled or manipulated?”

Blaise looked out at the water beyond his yard and rested his elbows on his knees. “It must be this way, right?”

If I’d been a better person, I would’ve acted like I hadn’t said anything. Hearing the disappointment in his voice, I wanted to take it all back and end things for good. I knew that wouldn’t last for long, though. It had been hell staying away from him for the week. Any self-control I’d ever had was a joke when it came to Blaise. “It’s just all I have to offer right now.”

“My door is always open for you.” With a final frown at me, Blaise stood, dusted his bare ass off, and walked into his house, giving me a beautiful view of his tight derrière and stiff back.

I knew he wasn’t happy with me. His feelings were clearly transmitted: frustration, disappointment, and hurt. But, if I blocked them, I could almost convince myself that I was doing the right thing. Didn’t men want uncomplicated sex? Wasn’t that a dream come true for guys?

Heading back to my boat, I forced myself to ignore what Cherry had called the mate pull. Like a mantra, I repeated, just keep moving.