The door opened and Alex went completely still.
Linda stood framed in the doorway, backlit by the warm glow of the house behind her, and for a moment... just one suspended, crystalline moment... Alex couldn't process what he was seeing.
Not because she looked different.
But because he was seeing her with different eyes.
The blue silk blouse caught the porch light, the fabric seeming to shimmer with each slight movement of her breathing. Deep, rich blue... the kind that made her eyes look luminous even in the dim evening light.
It draped across her shoulders with deliberate elegance, the neckline sitting lower than she usually wore, drawing his attention to the curve of her throat, the delicate hollow at the base where her pulse visibly fluttered.
She was nervous.
Excited.
Terrified.
All of it written in that single tell... the rapid beat beneath pale skin.
Alex's eyes tracked downward almost involuntarily, taking in details he'd never let himself notice before.
