Suds & Sparks
Where this Story began…
There’s something about the moments you don’t plan for.
The ones that interrupt your day, throw off your schedule, and refuse to fit neatly into the life you’ve worked so hard to organize. The ones that feel inconvenient at first… until they aren’t.
Until they become the moment everything quietly shifts.
Suds & Sparks was built on that kind of moment.
Not grand. Not dramatic.
Just a single, ordinary day that refuses to stay ordinary.
Sebastian shouldn’t have stepped closer.
He knew that.
Knew it the second the space between them disappeared—when the sound of water hitting pavement faded behind the sudden awareness of her.
Hannah didn’t move.
That was the problem.
She didn’t step back. Didn’t laugh it off. Didn’t do anything except look up at him like she was trying to figure something out she wasn’t ready to say out loud.
Water dripped slowly from the edge of the Jeep, steady and rhythmic, like it was counting down something neither of them had agreed to.
“You’re staring,” she said, quieter this time.
“I know.”
He didn’t even try to deny it.
Her breath hitched—barely there, but enough.
Enough for him to notice.
Enough for him to shift just a little closer.
Not touching.
Not yet.
But close enough that he could see the exact moment her composure slipped.
“You’re not supposed to—” she started, but the words fell apart halfway through.
“Not supposed to what?” he asked, voice lower now. Softer. Dangerous in a way that had nothing to do with the situation and everything to do with her.
Her hand, still holding the damp sponge, pressed lightly against the hood behind her.
Grounding herself.
Or maybe bracing.
“I had this planned,” she said, like that explained everything.
His mouth curved slightly.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “I can tell.”
Another step.
Closer now.
Too close.
Her gaze dropped—just for a second—to his mouth before snapping back up, like she hadn’t meant to do that.
Like she definitely hadn’t meant for him to notice.
But he did.
He noticed everything.
“Plans change,” he said quietly.
And for a moment—just a moment—she didn’t argue.
Didn’t push back.
Didn’t step away.
She just stood there, caught somewhere between holding on… and letting go.
And Sebastian realized—
This?
This wasn’t just a photoshoot anymore.
