The Blind Date by Landish, Lauren (suggested reading .txt) 📕

thing the way I told it in those messages. My mom knows some, Arielle knows other parts, but Riley . . . knows everything. From my secret shame to my elation to my mother’s sacrifice.

Riley shakes her head. “It didn’t change anything. You were already an amazing person, just a miniature version.” She holds up her finger and thumb an inch apart like I was a tiny leprechaun that found the money. “And your mom was already a hard worker. All of that was already in place. The money was a resource, not a catalyst.”

Fuck, this woman is amazing. I tell her my deepest, darkest shame, and she somehow shines a light on it and makes it seem like I was a golden child. And not in a dismissive way that doesn’t respect what I’ve been through, but rather, in a way that accepts it as formative of who I am. Because she likes me, she likes whatever it took to make me . . . me.

“You were an amazing person back then too,” I tell her, still apologizing for what I said long ago. “And you used your awesomeness to make the world better. For so many. Even me.”

I take the spoon back, and this time, when I feed her the cheesecake, I lean in, kissing her and tasting the creamy sweetness from her own lips. She leans into me too, the cheesecake between us forcing us to become a triangle as our lips and tongues explore each other.

“Mmm . . . that bite was even tastier,” Riley murmurs when our lips part. “How about you try this bite?”

She skips the spoon, plunging two fingers into the cheesecake and holding them up. Before I can take them into my mouth, she rubs her fingers under her jawline. “Hungry?”

Fuck, am I.

I take the container of cheesecake from her, putting it on the small coffee table in front of us, and dive for her.

I pull her to me, my mouth finding the streak of creamy whiteness on her skin and licking her throat to the point of her jaw. Riley moans when I nibble there, and I want to feel that sound vibrate against my chest. I grip her hips, guiding her to climb into my lap. I can feel her heat, and I know she can feel my hardness. I use my hold on her hips to press her tighter against me, and she arches, rubbing herself along my shaft.

The cheesecake is gone from her neck and sucked from her fingers, but her skin is just as sweet, so I continue pressing kisses along her neck and up to her lips. Her mouth tastes like sugar and tart cherries, and I savor every stroke of her tongue against mine.

Riley’s hands go to my shoulders as she finds a rhythm of her own, hips stroking up and down tantalizingly. “Fuck, Riley. That feel good? Use me, Sunshine.”

She lets out a little cry that gets stuck in her throat at my words, and I think she likes a little dirty talk. Who’d have thought Little Miss Happy Skies and Sunbeams would like that? I can’t wait to see what else she likes.

It’s been ages since I dry humped through clothes, but as soon as I consider getting less fabric between us, Raffy starts barking.

“Rowf! Rowf! Rowf!” he yaps, and Riley startles to look at her dog, who’s glaring at us. Actually, he seems to be glaring . . . at Riley.

“Raffy, you can go to bed if you want to.”

She points toward the hallway, but the fluffy cockblocker barks again. Looking around Riley, I stare at Raffy, but apparently, I haven’t earned that much cred with him yet. “Come on, man, I brought you blueberry muffin dog biscuits. Help me out?” I plead.

Riley turns sharp eyes on me, but there’s a smirk on her lips. “Bribing my dog with biscuits and me with cheesecake?”

I hold up my right hand, hovering it over her left breast even as I pretend to be innocent. “I plead the fifth.”

Riley laughs, which seems to make Raffy angry because he hops up on the couch with us, nosing right between us and pushing Riley back. He snuffles against Riley’s chest, something I wanted to do myself a minute ago, leaving a trail of wet nose marks on her tank top.

“Raffy, no! Down!”

“Yeah,” I grumble, but a second later, I’m wincing when a puppy paw starts digging into my balls. “Oof!”

I recoil, trying to save myself, or at least my boys, and in the skirmish to protect my future children, Riley and Raffy slide out of my lap and to the couch next to me. I cup myself, doing a system check. Luckily, everything seems to be in working order because with the slightest touch of my hand, my cock jerks, wanting to settle between Riley’s thighs again. Clothes on or not, either will do.

But nope, the moment’s gone. Riley’s pulled Raffy to her chest, snuggling the fluffy cockblocker the way I was nuzzling her neck just a minute ago. Meanwhile, Raffy’s licking the few scraps of cheesecake I missed off Riley’s neck and eyeing me. He barks again, and I swear it sounds like ‘ha-ha.’

I’m jealous. I’m jealous as hell of a Schnauzer because I wanted that cheesecake. Every molecule that touched her skin. But Raffy seems to have gotten any residual bits because he’s moved on to licking his lips and paws, likely making sure he got all the dog biscuit crumbs too.

“I thought we were buds, man. Not cool,” I tell the scruffy guy, but I pet his head as I say it.

Riley laughs and then sighs happily, her eyes sparkling at my conversation with her bodyguard. “It is getting late, I guess. We need to do our bedtime routine.”

I arch a brow. “You have a bedtime routine with your dog?”

Riley nods. “Of course. First, he’s going to need to tinkle, and he’s got a favorite tree that he insists on after dark. Then I wash my face. I wash his face. I put lotion on my