Free Blazing Hearts: Books 1-3 by Kennedy Kovit Page A

back. “We’ve got to set some ground rules before this goes any further.”
    Her body ached to be touched more. She didn’t want ground rules. She wanted him. “Anything goes.”
    “Oh, no, it doesn’t,” he stated clearly before standing slowly—almost painfully. “They’ll be spelled out on paper and agreed upon by us both. Period.”
    She wanted to protest but knew better than to try. His mind was made up, and he was as hardheaded as the day was long. She shivered, suddenly cold from his absence. With a tiny nod, she agreed to what he’d laid out before her.

Chapter 5
    T eresa initialed by each section of the rather long contract Jake had presented her first thing in the morning. He’d gone off to work with the horses and left her to read it all over. Some of the things listed she had to actually look up on the internet just to see what they were. When she did, she cringed and quickly checked no next to the corresponding box. She had a lot of hard limits and a few soft ones. She wondered if that would upset Jake or turn him off from wanting to pursue something more between them.
    Teresa just couldn’t bring herself to accept some of what was in the contract. The harder she focused on it all, the more she wondered just how many different women Jake had contracted with—how many he’d done the unspeakable acts with.
    You lost the right to ask , she reminded herself.
    She’d run out on him. On them. Of course he’d moved on the best he could, and of course he’d found ways to get his needs met. She could hardly fault him. She finished signing her name and pushed the contract forward only to stare at it for what seemed like forever before Jake entered through the front door. His dog, Charger, was with him. The sheepdog made a B-line straight for her and Jake whistled, stopping him in his tracks.
    Teresa smiled. He’d brought Charger in to meet her before he’d given her the contracts. She and the dog had hit it off instantly. From her understanding, Charger had been instrumental in saving her life when he’d alerted Jake that something was wrong near the river. For that alone, the dog would always have a special place in her heart.
    Jake approached and picked up the contract. He thumbed through it with a strange shit-eating grin on his handsome face. “Not into piercings, huh?”
    Her eyes widened.
    He laughed. “Neither am I?”
    “So why is it in the contract?” she demanded.
    He winked. “Because I was too lazy to delete all the stuff I don’t like out. Figured it was a good way to see what kind of perv I might be hooking up with.”
    Her jaw dropped and she tossed the napkin holder at him. He laughed more and she found herself doing the same, realizing he’d been joking with her. “I’m hardly a pervert.”
    He rubbed his stubble-covered jawline. “Damn shame that is.”
    She looked around for something else to throw at him while she laughed at his antics. “I was worried you’d want to stick needles in me and inject me with stuff.”
    Jake’s eyes widened. “Hell no.”
    She grinned. “Upset I don’t want my air cut off either?”
    “Sweetie, I’d kill anyone who ever tried to cut your air off, or are you forgetting I gave you mouth-to-mouth? Edge play really isn’t my thing. I tried it a few times and it didn’t work for me.”
    “Edge play?” she questioned, trying to remember what the internet had told her that was.
    “The hardcore stuff, sweetie. All your hard-limit things you marked no to.”
    Warmth spread throughout her chest. “Then you’re not mad I said no to so much?”
    “Honestly, had you said yes to it all I’d have demanded you to get fingerprinted to be sure you’re my Teresa and not someone pretending to be her.”
    Her smile widened. “I was worried you’d want pony play. That is a fetish, right? I think I read an article about it once.”
    He lifted a brow. “You tryin’ to start some horrible rumors about me and my horses? I love ’em, but I’m