The music softened around them then, slower now, smoother, while Blaze drew her closer until she settled naturally against him. Johanna placed one hand lightly against his chest to steady herself and immediately regretted the decision. Because the solid muscle beneath the black henley and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat hit her all at once.
A knowing smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “You always liked this color on me.”
Johanna looked up suspiciously. “You remember entirely too much.”
“You used to say black made me look dangerous.”
Heat climbed to her face. “That sounds like something the younger me would say.”
Blaze leaned down slightly, amusement warming those dark brown eyes. “Younger you was smart.”
The flirtation between them had shifted tonight in an entirely different way.
Charged. Hungry. Dangerously aware.
Neither of them pretended attraction wasn’t running theshow anymore.
Johanna became acutely aware of how naturally Blaze controlled space around her. Without thinking about it, he positioned his body between her and the wind. His hand stayed steady at her waist while his attention remained focused so completely on her that everything else blurred into background noise.
The masculine intensity in his gaze felt overwhelming in the best possible way.
“You know what your problem is?” she asked softly.
Blaze grinned. “You diagnosing me now?”
“You’re enjoying this entirely too much.”
“That’s because you finally stopped fighting me every second.”
Johanna narrowed her eyes, and Blaze laughed quietly under his breath. The sound settled low in her stomach every single time she heard it.
As the song drifted toward its end, they walked toward the others. Johanna noticed several women near the bonfire glance openly toward Blaze.
Honestly, she understood why.
Blaze carried himself with an easy masculine confidence that drew attention naturally. Women noticed him because he looked like exactly what he was: a strong, capable man entirely comfortable in his own skin.
And Johanna didn’t like them looking. The realization startled her badly enough that Blaze noticed.
Interest sharpened his expression. “What was that look?”
Johanna straightened too fast. “I don’t know what you mean.”
A smug little sound rumbled in his chest. “You jealous, Jo?”
She scoffed entirely too quickly. “Absolutely not.”
Blaze’s mouth curved before he leaned closer, his handsettling more firmly at her waist.
“Good,” he murmured near her ear. “Would hate embarrassing those women for nothing.”
Johanna’s breath caught sharply.
There it was again. That quiet possessiveness that somehow affected her more because it wasn’t performative. Blaze wasn’t trying to claim her publicly for attention. He simply made it very clear where his focus stayed.
On her. Always her.
Blaze pulled back just enough to study her face again, his gaze moving over every reaction she tried hiding.
