Tessa couldn't sleep, so she took up her sleeping bag around midnight and moved to the living room to look at the cold fireplace. She wished she knew how to start a fire, but it wasn't something she had ever learned to do.

She unzipped her sleeping bag, wrapped it around herself, and then curled up on the couch with her laptop. She was never the best sleeper under normal circumstances, but Josiah's steady breathing from across the room while she was wearing his shirt made her think things she ought not to, so she decided it would be best just to leave the room.

She had been working for about half an hour, designing an advertisement using the photo she had taken, when Josiah wandered into the room, looking from her to the cold fireplace.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He still wasn't wearing a shirt, and his hair was mussed. He looked yummy.

"I couldn't sleep, so I thought I would get some work done," Tessa said, forcing her eyes back to her laptop.

"Why didn't you start a fire?" he asked with a frown.

"I don't know how," she admitted,

"How do you not know how to light a fire?" His voice sounded disbelieving as he moved toward the fireplace.

"How do you have buildings without air conditioning?" Tessa asked in return.

He looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Touche, now come down here and let me teach you how to light a fire."

Tessa set her laptop aside and unwound herself from the sleeping bag. She couldn't help but feel a little thrill as his eyes glanced over her body wearing his shirt. Her hair had come undone while she slept, and it fell over one shoulder.

She swore she saw a possessive look in Josiah's eyes, but it was probably only her wishful thinking.

Tessa knelt in front of the cold grate, watching him throw a few more fresh logs in with the ashes.

"Always make sure your wood is dry."

Tessa watched his back muscles flex as she adjusted the logs, and she clenched her fist to keep from touching him. "You'll need some kindling." He reached for an old newspaper. "Here, stuff this in between and under the logs."

Tessa leaned forward and did as instructed, hoping he didn't notice how his shirt shortened in the back and gaped in the front.

"Then," he handed her a very long match with a strike plate, "you light the match and set the kindling on fire."

Tessa tried to light the match, but her unsteady hands made it hard, so he placed his hand over hers and helped her with the motion, and her heart skipped a beat at the connection. She was so captivated by his touch that when the match burst into flame she jumped and then laughed nervously.

"Now light the paper," he reminded her, and she leaned over and did so while he reached for a fire iron, waiting for the logs to catch. They sat and watched the fire quickly take over the logs, and Tessa couldn't help but think that it was a good analogy for how she was beginning to feel every time Josiah was near.

"Can I ask you something?" Josiah poked at the logs, helping spread the fire more quickly.

"Sure," Tessa said, unwilling to move from the cozy circle of light the fire had created.

"Why didn't you bide your time and stay with your family?"

Tessa shrugged. "They never let me grow up and they take me for granted. I also don't want to marry Ted, and I knew if I accepted my fate as the eternal daughter, I would also accept the fate of having to marry Ted."

"Ted is the Director of Operations you're supposed to marry? You don't like Ted?" Josiah looked at her, his eyes taking in her hair and profile.

Tessa gave a small smile. "He's nice enough, but I'm still young and idealistic enough to want to wait for love or at least have one passionate affair before I marry a man who leaves me cold." Tessa took a deep breath and stood. "Thanks for helping with the fire." She shouldn't have said as much as she had, but the intimacy of the late hour, the darkened room, and the firelight had created a personal moment between them.

Josiah poked the logs again, put the fire poker back in its stand, and followed Tessa to the couch.

"Is that what your sister meant about sowing your wild oats?" He wasn't ready to let the conversation go yet.

"You heard that?" Tessa asked, arranging the sleeping bag around her.

"Yes, and I take offense at the slumming part," he teased as he elbowed her arm.

What could Tessa say? She couldn't tell him that he was far from slumming because that would mean that she had thought of him as more than her boss.

"You realize that this is not the place to move to if you want a passionate affair, right? There are slim pickings, and almost everyone in Sweetwater is already spoken for." Josiah leaned his head back on the couch, watching the flames.

"Are you trying to get me to leave?" Tessa teased back.

"No!" he shook his head and sat up. "That's not what I meant at all. I didn't mean for you to take it that way." His eyes were full of concern that he had hurt her feelings.

"There's always Steve at the grocery store," Tessa said, wanting to ease the situation with a joke, and she couldn't help but be amused at his shocked look. "What! He's cute and full of energy."

"He's a teenager!" Josiah objected.

"He's legal, and a younger lover might be beneficial." Tessa hid a grin in an attempt to make him think she was serious.

"Not if you've never had a passionate affair before!" He burst out.

Tessa was suddenly very uncomfortable with the direction of their conversation. It had taken a turn she hadn't expected.

"You asked a personal question, and you can't get mad at me if you don't like the answer you get in return!" She crossed her arms and clenched her jaw, going on the defensive for throwing what she had confessed back at her.

"Now you're mad!" he took a deep, calming breath. "Why are you mad?"

"Because you threw my weakness back at me."

"How is it a weakness?" Josiah asked with a shake of his head.

"Forget it, this is probably not a conversation we should have." Tessa followed his lead with a deep breath. "I can't imagine you care all that much about my personal life anyway."

"How is it a weakness, Tessa?" he asked, ignoring her request to forget it.

"You've never had trouble with romance or lovers, as your ego proves."

He frowned at her words.

"When you get to be my age without having fallen in love once or twice, you start to feel like there's something wrong with you, like it's a weakness. Like you're unlovable, at least in the boy-girl kind of way." 

"I've never been in love. I don't think I have it in me. I like women and I like sex, but I don't like the idea of anyone placing all of their happiness on my shoulders." Josiah shook his head. "I don't see that as a weakness; I see it as a strength."

Tessa stared hard at him. How could he not see what he just admitted to as a weakness? There was something broken in him if he viewed love in such restricted terms.

"That's not love, Josiah. That's obsession. No one should ever rely on someone else for all of their happiness. That's too big a burden to put on anyone. A lover should be part of your happiness, but not all of it. That kind of relationship is not sustainable."

They were silent for a few minutes, lost in their thoughts.

"Why are we having this conversation? It's only going to make things awkward tomorrow morning." Tessa gave a half-hearted smile.

"Not if we don't let it. Nothing says we can't be friends too, Tessa." Josiah looked over at her, and their eyes met.

Tessa nodded her consent but couldn't look away.

"Seeing you on a date with Steve would make things awkward, though, and not just between us but for the entire town, especially Steve's parents."

Tessa grabbed a couch pillow and threw it at him. "We listen and we don't judge!"

"Oh, we definitely judge." Josiah easily caught the pillow and then stood. "I'm going to try to get some more sleep."

Tessa nodded, reaching for her laptop. "I'll see you in the morning."

"In the morning, when it will not be awkward," Josiah said before closing the bedroom door behind him.