By the time Friday came, Ronda had grown tired of pretending her heart was not learning new habits.
It had become annoyingly alert now.
Too aware.
Too responsive.
A glance from Karl could stay with her longer than an entire morning lecture. A soft question, a remembered detail, a sentence spoken calmly in a corridor could disturb her thoughts well into the night. And what made everything worse was that none of it felt shallow anymore.
This was no longer simple attraction.
Attraction had been easier.
Attraction could be mocked, managed, starved.
This other thing was quieter.
It asked less for attention and more for trust.
And trust, Ronda knew too well, was never a small thing.
She arrived at the firm carrying that knowledge like invisible weight.
The city had been especially lo
