One Night with the Fire Captain

He was my best friend’s older brother. A firefighter who kept his heart behind locked doors.

I went to Hocking Hills for quiet and found Aiden Sloan instead, all uniformed control and eyes that said don’t. The warnings were loud. I stayed anyway.

Twelve-year age gap, family lines, and bad timing.

But my body stepped over them like they were ash. His hands left proof, his mouth wrote promises he refused to speak, and I let the heat take what it wanted.

By morning, he was steel again, shutting doors like he hadn’t just undone me.

I gave him one night, and he gave me a scar I still feel in the dark.

So I built a life that didn’t include him. A ring, a baby, and a divorce that taught me how to breathe through pain.

Then my bar went up in smoke, and the captain on the hose was the only man who ever made me burn. His gaze caught on my son like a match finding paper.

When he offered his penthouse, the walls turned to tinder.

The fire wasn’t finished with me, and neither was Aiden.