Chapter 11
Johanna woke slowly, wrapped in the comfortable weight of a man stretched behind her.
For one soft sleepy second, she forgot where she was and who she was with.
Then a deep breath brushed across the back of her neck while his arm tightened instinctively around her waist, and suddenly every memory from the night before came rushing back all at once.
She remembered the bonfire beside the ocean, the heated kisses inside Blaze’s truck, and eventually falling asleep tangled together in her bed after years apart.
Lord.
Johanna closed her eyes briefly.
This was risky.
Not because she regretted any of it.
That was the problem.
She didn’t regret a single thing.
The bedroom sat quiet beneath the pale gray-blue light of early morning. Somewhere outside, gulls cried faintly near the marina while ocean wind rattled gently against the windows.
Behind her, Blaze pressed a slow kiss against her bare shoulder without fully waking.
Johanna’s pulse immediately betrayed her.
“Mmm,” she murmured, her voice rough with sleep. “You’re still here?”
Blaze gave a low chuckle. “Good morning to you too.”
Johanna turned onto her back to look at him, and the sight nearly ruined her composure all over again.
The pillow framed a face still heavy with exhaustion while his eyes remained half-lidded and focused entirely on her.
Morning light stretched across his rich brown skin, highlighting the powerful lines of his broad shoulders and the hard definition of an athletic chest built from years of physical labor, discipline, and strength.
Somehow this version of Blaze felt even more unsettling than the confident firefighter from the night before.
Because this man looked compassionate, content, and entirely happy waking up beside her.
“Morning, baby,” he said quietly.
Heat spread slowly through her chest.
Nobody should sound that good first thing in the morning.
Blaze brushed one hand lazily along her waist beneath the blanket while studying her face with entirely too much attention for someone barely awake.
“What?”
Johanna looked away immediately. “Nothing.”
A grin tugged at his mouth. “You’re staring.”
“I was not,” she protested.
“You absolutely were.”
His voice still sounded rough from sleep, deep enough to send longing curling low through her stomach all over again.
Johanna pulled the blanket slightly higher. “You’re very smug for somebody sleeping in my bed uninvited.”
Blaze looked genuinely offended. “Uninvited?” He slid closer, his mouth brushing lightly near her jaw. “Baby, you literally dragged me in here.”
Johanna laughed lightly. “That’s not how I remember it.”
“That’s because your memory gets unreliable around me.”
The confidence in his voice made her shake her head.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t entirely wrong.
Blaze propped himself up on one elbow beside her then, his gaze moving slowly across her face while the teasing gradually softened from his expression.
“You okay with last night?”
The question landed with surprising gentleness. Blaze wasn’t asking casually or out of obligation. He genuinely needed to know.
Johanna studied him quietly.
That was the thing about Blaze. Underneath all the confidence, teasing, and masculine charm, he paid attention.
Always had.
And this morning, lying beside her with sunlight barely touching the room, he looked more emotionally open than she’d seen him in years.
“I’m okay,” she admitted.
Relief flickered across his face before he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
The tenderness nearly wrecked her all over again.
Blaze settled back onto the pillow beside her, one hand still resting low against her waist while silence stretched comfortably between them.
The quiet didn’t feel awkward. It felt natural, which was exactly what made it so dangerous.
Johanna stared at the ceiling for a moment before finally speaking again.
“So, what now?”
Blaze looked over at her immediately. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” She hesitated slightly. “This.”
His expression never changed. He didn’t tense or pull away. Blaze simply studied her calmly for a long moment before answering.
“Now I buy you breakfast.”
Johanna blinked. “That’s your answer?”
A slow grin spread across his face.
“Baby, I’m a firefighter from Sheraton Beach, not a hedge fund manager from Manhattan. We had a good night, we shared something special, and now I feed you pancakes.”
The laugh that burst out of her came instantly.
Blaze’s face softened while watching her, and something about the desire in his dark expression unsettled her more than teasing ever could.
“I love that sound,” he murmured.
Johanna shook her head, still smiling. “You make everything sound simple.”
“No,” he corrected gently. “You just overcomplicate things.”
That observation landed a little too close to the truth.
Blaze reached up and brushed one curl away from her face before his expression turned serious again.
“I’m not confused about you, Jo.”
The room suddenly felt quieter after that.
“Heavy statement before coffee,” she murmured.
A faint smile touched his mouth. “Yeah, but it’s still true.”
Johanna lowered her eyes briefly to the blanket pooled across them both because that certainty frightened her more than anything else.
And being loved like that again meant risking everything all over again.
Before she could disappear too deeply into her thoughts, Blaze tilted her chin gently back toward him.
“You’re doing that thing again.”
“What thing?”
“Thinking yourself out of being happy.”
Her chest tightened instantly because somehow this man still saw straight through her.
Blaze studied her for another quiet moment before leaning down and kissing her.
There was no heat or urgency behind the kiss this time.
Instead, he kissed her with affection, reassurance, and quiet promise, and somehow that tenderness felt even more intimate than everything that happened the night before.
When he finally pulled back, his forehead rested lightly against hers.
“One day at a time,” he murmured. “We don’t have to figure out forever this morning.”
The words loosened something inside her she hadn’t realized was clenched so tightly.
Maybe that was enough.
Maybe one day at a time with Blaze was already more than she’d had in years.
Outside, Sheraton Beach slowly woke beneath pale morning light. Inside, Blaze Carter held her like he had no intention of letting her go again.
And for now, that was more than enough.
* * *
Blaze eventually convinced Johanna to leave the bed.
Barely.
Mostly by bribing her with breakfast delivery and kissing her senseless every time she tried to pull away long enough to think clearly.
Which felt deeply unfair.
By the time she finally disappeared into the bathroom, Blaze was sprawled across her sheets wearing the kind of satisfied grin that belonged to a man who’d finally stopped looking for something he already had.
He lay there listening to the muted sound of water behind the bathroom door, one arm thrown behind his head while the memory of her body lingered warm against his skin.
Johanna.
Not another sleepless night replaying old conversations and wondering what would’ve happened if either of them had been brave enough sooner.
He was here in her bed. And right now, there was no other place he wanted to be.
Blaze dragged a hand down his face slowly, exhaling a rough laugh under his breath.
He was absolutely fucked because eventually he would have to come back to reality.
The bathroom door opened a second later, and every coherent thought in his head disappeared immediately.
Johanna stepped out in an oversized white T-shirt that barely covered the tops of her thighs, damp curls clinging to her shoulders, her skin flushed soft from heat and steam. She looked freshly ruined and entirely too beautiful for first thing in the morning.
Blaze sat up slowly, gaze dragging over every inch of exposed skin.
Johanna narrowed her eyes. “Don’t even think about it.”
“That sounds incredibly anti-romantic.”
A reluctant laugh escaped her.
Blaze leaned back against the headboard, completely unapologetic as he looked at her.
“You walking around like that should honestly require a warning label.”
Johanna rolled her eyes and turned toward the dresser drawer. “You’re dramatic.”
“No, baby.” His voice lowered. “I’m trying very hard to behave.”
Heat crept visibly across her cheeks.
And God, he loved that.
“Are you getting up,” she asked, facing the mirror, “or are you planning to stare at me all morning?”
Blaze stood.
Her gaze dropped. Then a smirk tugged at her mouth. “Wow. What do you have there?”
“It’s your fault.”
“But I just got out of the shower,” she reminded him.
He crossed the room without hurry, giving her plenty of time to feel the desire building in the air again.
And to see what effect she had on him.
The second he reached her, his hands settled low against her waist.
Johanna inhaled.
Their eyes met in the mirror, and suddenly everything felt quieter.
Blaze bent his head and pressed a slow kiss against her shoulder while his palms slid over the thin cotton clinging to her body.
“You know what I like about you?” he murmured against her skin.
Johanna’s fingers tightened around the edge of the dresser. “That question never ends well.”
His mouth curved against her shoulder.
“You act like you’ve got everything under control.” His lips brushed the sensitive skin beneath her ear. “But you still melt every time I touch you.”
A shaky breath escaped her.
Blaze slid his hands beneath the oversized shirt, palms smoothing slowly up her stomach until he reached her breasts.
Johanna’s eyes fluttered shut. She felt soft, warm, and perfect in his hands.
His thumbs brushed over her nipples until they hardened beneath his touch, and the little sound she made nearly snapped the last thread of restraint he had left.
“Damn,” he muttered. Blaze lifted his head, meeting her gaze in the mirror. “You know how long I thought about this?”
Johanna swallowed hard. “Touching me?”
“You standing in front of me exactly like this.” His hands tightened possessively against her body. “Looking at me like you know what you do to me.”
His palms drifted lower beneath the shirt, fingers tracing the curve of her hips and thighs while he watched her body react to every touch.
Blaze watched the arch of her back, the change in her breathing, and the way she tried and failed, to stay composed beneath his hands.
He kissed her neck again, slower this time, lingering until she shivered.
Then he turned her carefully in his arms. The oversized shirt rode higher. His gaze dropped instinctively. Bare skin, long legs, and no panties.
“Baby,” he said roughly, almost like a warning to himself, “you’re making resisting very difficult.”
Johanna looked up at him through her lashes, deliberately innocent. “Maybe I like watching you struggle.”
His hands flexed at her waist. “Wrong answer.” But the grin threatening his mouth ruined any real authority behind it.
Johanna laughed.
Blaze kissed her immediately after, deep and slow at first before hunger gradually took over.
The sound dissolved against his mouth as he backed her toward the bed, his hands roaming freely beneath the shirt while years of unresolved tension crashed between them all at once.
Every missed chance, every restrained glance, and every night they had spent pretending this connection no longer existed lived inside that kiss.
He dragged the t-shirt slowly over her head before tossing it somewhere behind him without looking. Then he stopped just long enough to stare at her. Johanna’s breath caught under the weight of his gaze.
“Damn, you have no idea…” he said quietly.
Her hands slid up his chest. “I got a pretty good idea.”
“Cocky.”
“You like it.”
He laughed against her lips before lifting her effortlessly into his arms.
Johanna wrapped her legs around his waist automatically, her fingers caressing his hair. Blaze carried her back toward the bed because he had no intention of letting her go anytime soon.