You said: "Here's a thought experiment for you: if you put your hand on a hot stove or if some object is flying at your eye, do you decide how to react or is that decision made before you even realize what is happening?"
My understanding is that those actions are reflexes; they are not conscious decisions. Specifically, in the case of the hot stove, the pull back reflex is initiated at the spinal cord, before the brain has receive the pain message, well before the brain figures out what is happening. That pullback reflex is not part of conscious will. I don't think it relates to free will at all. It is just a pure cause and effect reaction, without thought or free will intervening.