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It was my turn to laugh. “I think it’s beautiful. I wouldn’t cut it either because you can do so many things with it. So, are you hungry?”

As if on cue, Jordan’s stomach grumbled, and I laughed. “Okay. Do you like eggs? Pancakes? Bacon?”

“D! All of the above. I’ll help you.”

It was my turn to laugh again. “Oh, you wrecked my best skillet. I think you’ve helped enough. You can keep me company and read me some of the lyrics you’ve written lately while I make us breakfast.”

Jordan snuggled into my body and sighed. “All of that sounds great, but can we do it in an hour?”

I wrapped him in my arms and fell blissfully asleep. It was so much better than food.

“God, this is incredible.” Jordan’s mouth was full, but his smile was bright.

“Thank you. I’m no chef, but I’ve kept myself alive since I moved out of my parents’ house.” I had to laugh at my stupid comment.

“Do you like your job, Thatcher? Do you ever get scared?” Jordan studied me closely.

I was surprised at his questions, but I wasn’t going to sugarcoat things. “I love my job. It’s the only job I’ve ever wanted to do, but yes, there are times when I get scared. I learned to read a fire at the academy. Until I started there, everything I’d learned in college was useful, but it wasn’t hands-on. The fire academy was an entirely different way of learning, and it was amazing.”

“Do you know, like in your bones, when you show up at a fire if it’s going to be more dangerous than others?” Jordan asked.

I reached for his unbandaged hand. “When I arrive on the scene of a fire and hear the blaze roar like a lion, I get nervous. Those bastards can be unpredictable and deadly. My goal is to save people, not let them die because I was too scared to do my job. I can’t explain it much better than that.”

Jordan stopped eating. “How do you deal with the fear?”

I stared into his eyes to see he was fighting more demons than just those associated with his injured hand as a result of that fucking bus accident. He was on shaky ground, and I wanted to help him find terra firma. I wanted him to find his way forward.

“I mean, how do you overcome your fear when you’re doing your job? Can you overcome your fear? I only ask because I’m afraid of you continuing to do your job.” His worried gaze nearly took my breath.

After a moment to formulate my response, I cleared my throat. “Fear can be a vicious bitch. One moment, she can lull you into thinking everything’s going to be okay. It’s going to be an easy extraction, and the team is going to come out of it unscathed.”

Jordan took my hand. “And the next?”

I sighed and stroked his right hand. “The next minute, she’ll thrust you into the depths of hell faster than you’d expect, and the heat comes at you like a fucking freight train. It threatens to run you over.

“Managing the fear is a priority, though it’s not always a clean win. One thing I know is that if I’m going to beat the fire, I have to do everything I can to stay calm and remain levelheaded so I can help my crew achieve the goal of keeping everyone safe.”

Jordan’s beautiful brown eyes doubled in size at my confession. “And you do that every time?”

I slid off my stool and took Jordan’s hand, stopping at a cabinet to grab the plastic wrap. Once I had his brace secured and waterproofed, I kissed his cheek. “Come with me.”

We walked out of the blue bungalow. I grabbed a bamboo mat and a few towels from the cabinet on the back porch, carrying them toward the shore. I spread the mat on the sand and sat, pulling Jordan into the space between my legs and wrapping him in my arms.

The air was cooling because there was a tropical storm off the coast. It would lose its bluster once it made landfall, so I wasn’t worried about it doing any damage to my part of the beach or my home. Watching a storm come in was an amazing experience. It reminded me of nature’s majestic fury.

The air was balmy, filled with the falling barometric pressure accompanying the storm. We watched the waves become angry as they approached the shore.

For a moment, I wanted to grab my surfboard and paddle out because taming the sea when it was churning was an adrenaline rush I loved. I resisted the urge because I had Jordan in front of me, and I wanted to show him the beauty of a storm while still highlighting the danger. I tightened my arms around him to make sure he felt safe.

The wind was picking up a bit, so I wrapped the towels around us to make a little cocoon where we could be together without being sandblasted.

“You like or hate storms?”

Jordan turned to me and grinned. “I don’t exactly have a stance on storms, but if you sit with me, I’ll let you know how I feel after it passes.”

I kissed the back of his head as we watched the curtain of rain over the ocean. When the black clouds moved toward us, I leaned into his ear. “There’s no lightning, so we’re safe to sit here, unless you want to go inside. Do you want to go in, or are you okay getting wet?”

Jordan turned his head and smiled. “I’m not sugar. I won’t melt.”