I love when people use this part of their relationship in stories - it's so rife with possibility!
She’d stayed late, past eleven, reluctant to leave the warmth of his apartment and the quiet certainty blooming between them.
Love this phrasing!
Ope. Love this phrasing, too. And yikes!
Jimmy, still hovering like a kid at story time, leaned in.

Perfect Jimmy!
And now he was asking for her help like none of that mattered.
Oh, dang! That's such a mic drop sentence!
--this felt like a crack in the glass.
Dan Scardino had barely cleared out of their lives, and now here was someone new.
Aw, poor Clark, That has to feel like such a betrayal to walk into.
"It’s like the universe keeps testing us, trying to see if we’ll flinch.”
Aww. That really tugs at the heartstrings!