"Just thinking."
Her eyebrow lifted. "That sounds risky."
"Probably is." Blaze laughed softly, the sound rougher than usual because his emotions felt close to the surface tonight.
He shifted beside her and pulled her naturally against him as though there had never been years between them. Johanna settled against his chest immediately, fitting there so perfectly it almost hurt. Like she'd always belonged there.
Blaze reached for the blanket at the foot of the bed and wrapped it around both of them before pulling her closer.
It wasn't passion driving him now. It was something quieter and infinitely stronger, the need to protect her, keep her warm, and hold her close for as long as she'd allow it.
Outside, ocean wind rattled softly against the window. The room glowed with warmth, feeling miles away from the rest of the world.
For several minutes neither of them spoke. They simply lay together, breathing, resting, and relearning each other after years apart.
Blaze rubbed slow circles along her back beneath the blanket while Johanna traced absent patterns across the center of his chest. The touch felt intimate in a way that had nothing to do with desire. It felt intimate because it was familiar.
"You know what's crazy?" she asked eventually.
"Hmm?"
"I spent years convincing myself I was over you."
Blaze tightened his arm around her automatically. The reaction came without thought, born from equal parts protectiveness and possessiveness.
"And how's that working out for you?"
Her laughter vibrated softly against his chest. "Terribly."
The sound settled somewhere deep inside him.
God, he'd missed that laugh.
Missed all of it.
The way she smiled when she was happy. The way she laughed when she was trying not to smile. The way she laughed right before she rolled her eyes at him after he said something annoying.
Blaze lowered his head until his lips brushed the top of her hair.
"I never got over you either." The confession came quietly, stripped of pretense. "I just got better at pretending."
Johanna lifted her head. The vulnerability in her eyes smacked him in the chest. "Really?"
Blaze stared at her for several seconds. Then his fingers brushed gently along her jaw. "There has never been anybodyafter you that felt like you."
He watched the words land. Watched them settle. Watched years of uncertainty begin to shift behind her eyes. Because that had always been the truth. There had been dates. Distractions. Women who were smart, beautiful, and perfectly nice. But none of them were Johanna. None of them made him want to stay or ever felt like home.
Looking back now, Blaze realized he'd been measuring every woman against someone he'd never stopped loving. And nobody had ever come close.
He studied Johanna’s face for another long moment before his expression softened.
"You tired?"
A small smile touched her lips. "A little."
"Good."
She laughed softly. "Why is that good?"
