Chapter 9 #2
Her pulse hammered harder every second he looked at her like that. Maybe it was the kisses. Maybe it was the emotional whiplash of having Blaze back in her life. Or maybe she was simply exhausted from fighting something that had never really gone away.
Whatever the reason, her caution slipped.
"Maybe," she whispered, "I don't want you to behave."
Blaze went completely still beneath her.
The kind of stillness that came from a man holding onto the last of his self-control by sheer force of will.
His dark eyes locked onto hers with a look that stole her breath.
And for the first time all night, Johanna realized Blaze Carter was one heartbeat away from completely losing control.
* * *
Blaze stared at Johanna for a long moment after the words left her mouth.
Maybe I don't want you to behave.
The confession landed like a match in dry brush, igniting every ounce of tension that had been building between them all night.
For a moment, he simply looked at her.
The woman sitting on his lap wasn't some fantasy he'd built during lonely nights or a memory he'd carried around for years. She was here. Warm and impossibly soft, looking back at him with those dark eyes that had always managed to strip away every ounce of common sense he possessed.
Shit!
His pulse hammered hard enough to feel in his throat, and for one suspended second, Blaze honestly forgot how to breathe.
Slowly, he exhaled and lowered his forehead to hers, closing his eyes as he fought to gather the last scraps of self-control still hanging on by a thread. Because Johanna clearly had no idea what she was asking of him.
Or maybe she knew exactly what she was asking.
That possibility wasn't helping.
"Baby," he said quietly, his voice rough around the edges, "you really gotta stop challenging me like that."
The corner of her mouth curved ever so slightly. Not quite a smile, but enough to tell him she knew exactly how much trouble she was causing.
Instead of creating distance, instead of climbing off his lap and ending the night while they still had a chance to walk away with their sanity intact, her fingers slid along the back of his neck.
The touch was light, almost innocent, yet the effect was anything but.
Blaze shut his eyes briefly.
"Yeah," he muttered. "That right there is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about."
A breathless laugh escaped her, wrapping around him like temptation itself.
When he opened his eyes again, Johanna was still watching him. Still touching him. Still sitting so close he could feel her warmth through every layer separating them.
The restraint he'd been clinging to all evening suddenly felt paper-thin.
He was tired of pretending she didn't affect him. Tired of acting as though every glance didn't land somewhere beneath his ribs. Most of all, he was tired of pretending that touching her didn't feel like coming home after years of wandering around, lost.
His gaze drifted over her face, taking in the flush in her cheeks, the slight swelling of her lips from his kisses, and the nervous excitement shining in her eyes.
Beautiful didn't begin to cover it. She looked like every prayer he'd never admitted he'd been making.
Blaze reached up and brushed a curl away from Johanna’s face. The gesture felt surprisingly tender for a man currently fighting every primitive instinct he possessed.
"Tell me to follow you upstairs."
The words came out low and steady, far calmer than he felt.
Johanna's breath caught. He felt the quick flutter of her pulse where she rested against him, and for several agonizing seconds she simply stared at him.
The silence nearly destroyed him.
"What happens if I do?" she asked softly.
The question landed like another challenge. For a moment Blaze simply looked at her. Because there were a hundred answers he could have given, most of them reckless.
Blaze's gaze dropped briefly to her mouth before returning to her eyes. What he wanted was simple. For tonight, anyway.
To hold her. To keep kissing her. To stay wrapped up in this moment until the rest of the world disappeared.
What he gave her instead was the safest version of the truth. "I’ll kiss you until neither one of us remembers how this night started."
The air inside the truck seemed to tighten around them.
Blaze's hand slid to her jaw, his thumb brushing softly across her cheek.
"And then?" Johanna's breath trembled.
His chest tightened.
Because beneath the teasing, the chemistry, and the heat that had been building between them all night, something far more intense was taking root. Something neither of them seemed willing to name yet.
Blaze studied her for a long moment before answering.
“Make love to you.”
He brushed his thumb across her lower lip.
"You still got time to go upstairs alone," he said quietly. "Because once I follow you inside, Jo, I'm not coming out until sunrise." The confession settled low and warm in his chest.
Her lips quivered once beneath the dashboard lights while her brown eyes stayed locked on his as though looking away wasn't an option. Johanna looked like a woman holding herself together through sheer force of will.
Then Johanna reached for the handle and whispered, “Follow me.”