Juniper’s beat racing faster than ever, as Daniel’s gaze met hers, his eyes dark with an intensity that made her shiver. For a moment, she thought he might say something, might cross that final, invisible line.

But Juniper, feeling the heat of the moment threatening to sweep her away, blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Like I painted it,” she joked, her lips playing a smile, trying to break the tension that crackled between them like the lightning above.

Her eyes closed for a brief moment.

There it goes.

Maybe better that way.?.

Something shifted in his expression… subtle, barely there… a flicker of recognition that she’d just pulled them both back from an edge. His eyes held hers for just a breath longer than necessary before he looked away, back toward the storm.

The moment stretched, reseting itself.

When Daniel’s smile returned, it was different. Knowing. “If I stay any later, you’ll have to pay me per diem,” he teased, his words a low rumble that flushed her every surface with a blooming heat.

They may have made a choice, she realized. Both of them. Without saying it.

But the tension between them didn’t dissipate… it just changed shape, lingering in the space between their bodies like the charge that hung in the air after lightning strikes, waiting for the next opportunity to arc across the gap.