The Winter Guest. Lines We Cross, #1

Ellie thought winter break would be quiet. Her son Jamie was coming home from college, bringing along a friend to stay the week. That was fine. She had the guest room ready, and her husband, Daniel, was buried in work as always. It would be nice to have a little life in the house again. Something warm. Something different. She wasn't expecting Nico. From the moment she meets him, Ellie feels something she hasn't felt in years, a tension that coils low in her stomach, a flicker of attention she knows she shouldn't give.
Nico is kind, confident, and just a little too observant. And as the days pass, the distance between them grows thinner. A look too long. A touch too close. A silence that says too much. Ellie tells herself nothing will happen. She is older. Married. This is her son's friend. But temptation has already found its way into her home, and once the line is crossed, it becomes harder to remember why it was ever there.
Set against the hush of winter, The Winter Guest is a slow-burn, emotionally charged exploration of desire, restraint, and the moments that change everything.