A Practiced Smile

Vivienne’s POV

I could feel the beat of my pulse in my neck. He looked like he was trying to say something, but no sound came out. And something in his expression—conflicted, exposed—made it nearly impossible to look away.

I reached up slowly, more by instinct than decision, and adjusted his collar where it had shifted in the moment. My fingers brushed the skin at his neck, and I felt him swallow