Gemotions

He’d called it “Operation Nightingale.” She knew because she’d been forced to acknowledge it was the same name she’d used for her design, the name she’d carefully guarded, the name that felt so personal. He'd poured over the same details, the same software, and he was *right there*. Sarah’s heart thrummed a wild rhythm against her ribs.

His eyes crinkled when he smiled, and she found herself captivated by the curve of his lips as he explained the project’s intricacies. It was ridiculous. Her hands felt clumsy, incapable of anything but trembling.

“Pretty wild, right?” He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture that, in that moment, seemed profoundly intimate. Sarah nodded, unable to speak, a giggle bubbling in her throat. She found herself trying to appear nonchalant, as if her entire world wasn’t currently reorganizing itself around the fact that he understood everything she understood.