Chapter 14 The First Kiss

Chapter 14 The First Kiss
Nora’s POV

The hallway outside the apartment felt colder than it should have in early winter. My boots dragging on the concrete as I stormed toward the elevator.
Tears blurred the numbers on the panel as I jabbed the down button three times, like that would make it come faster.

Behind me, the door to the apartment stayed closed. No footsteps followed. No voice calling my name. Just silence and the faint hum of the building’s ventilation.I should have kept walking. Should have called Maya, crashed on her couch, let the anger burn itself out overnight. But my feet wouldn’t move past the elevator doors. My hand hovered over the button again, trembling.The doors slid open.I didn’t step in.Instead I turned around. Marched back down the hall. Every step is louder than the last. I didn’t knock. I used my key and shoved the door open so hard it nearly bounced off the wall.

Daniel was exactly where I had left him. He was standing in the middle of the living room, still holding his phone, his shoulders hunched like the weight of the entire scandal had settled there permanently. He looked up. His eyes wide with surprise. Like he hadn’t expected me to come back. Neither had I.
“You don’t get to do this,” I said, still angry. My voice was shaking and loud enough to fill the room. “You don’t get to tell me to leave and then just stand here like it’s already over.”He opened his mouth but closed it.
The phone slipped from his fingers onto the rug with a soft thud.“Nora–”
“No.” I stepped closer. Close enough to see the pulse in his throat. “You promised honesty. You promised no more secrets. And the second the boardroom starts bleeding into our life, you decide I’m expendable?”
“You’re not expendable.” The words came out hoarse. “You’re everything. That’s why I–”
“Stop.” I cut him off. “Stop finishing that sentence with some noble bullshit about protecting me. I don’t need protection from your mistakes. I need you to stop running from them. From us.”
Rain started tapping the windows–sudden, hard, like the sky had been waiting for this moment. Lightning flashed white across the room, turning everything stark for half a second. Thunder followed so close it rattled through the glass. Daniel flinched at the sound. Or maybe at me. I couldn’t tell. I closed the last two steps and grabbed the front of his T-shirt. Fisted the fabric so tight my knuckles ached.
“Look at me,” I said. He did. Slowly.
Like it hurts.
Another flash. The room blinked bright.
His face –shadowed jaw, wet eyes, lips parted like he was still searching for the right words to say. He looks so exposed. He looks so handsome in a way that made my chest cave.“I’m terrified too,” I whispered. “Of the headlines. Of the calls that might come tomorrow. Of losing my job because someone decides I’m tainted by association. Of waking up one day and finding out you’ve disappeared again because you think it’s kinder.”
His hands came up, hesitant as he cupped my face. Brushing the tears I hadn’t bothered hiding.“But I’m more terrified of a life where I let you push me away,” I finished. “So if you want me gone, you’re going to have to say it again. Right now. While you’re looking me in the eye. Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me you don’t love me enough to fight.”

Lightning again. Closer. The thunder cracked like a whip. He didn’t speak. Instead he leaned down–slow, giving me every heartbeat to pull away and then he kissed me.
So gentle. So careful.
His mouth crashed into mine like he’d been holding his breath for years and I was the only air left. I kissed him back slowly and softly then hard–teeth clashing, my hands yanking him closer, nails digging into his shoulders through his shirt.
He groaned into my mouth and backed me against the nearest wall. My spine hit the plaster but I didn’t care.
Rain hammered the windows. The wind howled.
His hands slid under my coat, under my shirt, his palms hot against my waist. I arched into him. Gasped when he lifted me just enough to wrap my legs around his hips. He pressed me harder against the wall. His mouth never leaving mine–kissing me so hard and rough. When we finally broke apart. We are gasping, with our foreheads pressed together. His voice was rough and shaky.“I love you. So much it’s tearing me apart. And I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry for trying to decide what you can survive.”

I cupped his face. My thumbs tracing the damp tracks on his cheeks.“Then stop deciding,” I whispered. “Let me choose.”He nodded and swallowed hard.
Another flash lit the room. Thunder rolled long and low.He kissed me again–slower this time. Deeper. Like he was pouring every apology, every fear, every promise into it. My fingers threaded through his damp hair. His hands roamed my back, my sides, memorizing me like he was afraid I’d vanish.When we finally pulled apart again, breathing ragged, he didn’t let me go.
Just rested his forehead against mine, eyes closed.“I’m not letting you walk out that door again,” he murmured.
“Good.” I smiled–small, tear-streaked, real. “Because I’m not leaving.” Lightning cracked again–brighter and closer, and the lights flickered. Then went out.
The apartment plunged into dark.Only the rain and our breathing filled the silence.Daniel laughed–soft, surprised, almost disbelieving.“Perfect timing,” he said against my lips.I kissed the corner of his mouth.
“Romantic, even.”He carried me. My legs still wrapped around him toward the bedroom. We stumbled once when thunder shook the floor. Laughed again. Kissed through it.In the doorway he stopped. Looked at me in the faint city glow leaking through the blinds.“No more running,” he said quietly.
“No more running,” I echoed.He kissed me one more time–slow, searing, full of everything we hadn’t said yet.And outside, the storm kept raging.