Failed every single time.
Laughter carried loudly from the bonfire farther down the beach, pulling reality back around them.
Johanna glanced toward the lights. “We should probably go back.”
Blaze didn’t move immediately.
The truth was, he liked having her out here away from everybody else. He liked not sharing her attention. Liked the way she softened when it was just the two of them.
Still, he also knew Johanna well enough to recognize when she was close to overthinking herself into retreat again.
So instead of arguing, Blaze reached for her hand.
Simple. Natural.
Johanna looked down at their joined fingers before lifting her gaze back to him.
“You always do things like that without asking.”
Blaze intertwined their fingers. “Would you rather I let go?”
Johanna opened her mouth. Then closed it again. Because the answer was, no. And they both knew it.
A slow smile spread across Blaze’s face before he lifted her hand and brushed his mouth lightly across her knuckles.
Johanna looked genuinely offended by how much that affected her.
Which only made him grin wider.
“You’re annoying,” she muttered.
“And you still like me anyway.”
Her eyes narrowed. But she didn’t deny it. That alone nearly made him feel ten feet tall.
As they walked back toward the bonfire, Blaze kept her hand in his like it belonged there.
Like she belonged there, walking beside him.
And for the first time in years… that possibility no longer felt impossible.
Chapter8
As Blaze and Johanna walked back toward the main bonfire, Ryan looked up from his folding chair and smirked like a man who had been waiting specifically to annoy somebody.
“Well, look who finally came back.”
Blaze shot him a look. “You ever get tired of talking?”
“No.” Ryan leaned farther back in the chair completely unbothered. “It’s one of my spiritual gifts.”
MacKenzie burst out laughing beside him while Michael nearly choked on his beer.
The bonfire crackled loudly in front of them, flames twisting high into the dark sky while cold February wind swept across the shoreline. Around the fire pit, firefighters sat in camping chairs swapping stories while music drifted low through portable speakers buried somewhere beneath blankets and coolers.
Everything about the scene felt easy and comfortable in the way Sheraton Beach always managed when people gathered together near water and firelight.
A few months ago, attention like this would have annoyed him. Back then, he'd still been thinking about what came next. About bigger departments and bigger opportunities.
