Alexander POV
I hadn't meant to still be in that chair when she came home.
I'd told myself I was reviewing the Hargrove contracts, which were spread across the side table in a way that looked deliberate,papers fanned out, one turned at an angle like I'd set it aside mid-thought. But the contracts hadn't been touched in forty minutes. I'd read the same indemnity clause four times without retaining a single word, and when the front door finally opened and Sandra walked in coat, dark blouse, color in her cheeks that the house never put there, I didn't look back down at the papers.
"Where were you?" I said. It came out more direct than I'd intended, and I heard it land that way.
Sandra stopped mid-step, one hand still on her coat, fingers curved around the lapel. Something moved across her
