William had barely driven a few minutes before he pulled the car over.

He switched off the engine and sat there in silence, staring through the windscreen. His heart was still pounding, and his mind was racing in every direction.

He couldn’t get Colleen out of his head.

The image of her in that dress kept replaying in his mind. It wasn’t simply that she looked beautiful. It was the way she had stood in front of him with such confidence, asking him what he thought. The way she had looked at him while she posed. The fact that she had invited him into her bedroom at all.

Something had changed.

William could feel it.

For months, their friendship had felt comfortable and uncomplicated. But tonight had been different. There had been a new awareness between them, something neither of them had spoken about but both seemed to feel.

He leaned back against the headrest and let out a long breath.

“What the hell is happening to me?” he muttered.

He felt ridiculous. He was a grown man, yet sitting there in his car he felt like a teenager who had just left his girlfriend after their first real date.

He smiled to himself, almost embarrassed by how happy he felt.

Then the smile faded.

Because underneath the excitement was a question he couldn’t escape.

Had Colleen simply been showing a friend her dresses?

Or had she been showing him?

William started the engine but didn’t immediately pull away.

For the first time, he admitted something to himself that he had been trying to ignore.

He was completely smitten with her.

And whatever happened next, he knew their friendship would never feel quite the same again.