I inhale. Hold it. Release it.
There’s so much I could say. So much Ishouldsay.
Instead, I gaze at the man who showed up tonight shirtless and guarded and stupidly beautiful, with his heart cracked wide open.
I open my mouth.I’m Textually Frustrated.
That’s what I almost say. But the name lodges behind my teeth, thick and burning and terrifying.
What if he sees it as a lie? A game? Another secret stacked on the ones he’s still bleeding from?
So instead, I choose the piece of truth Icangive him right now. The one that’s safest and still entirely real.
“I’ve missed you too,” I say quietly.
His shoulders relax, a breath escapes him.
“I was mad,” I admit. “Still kind of am.”
“Fair.”
“But mostly I was… disappointed.”
He nods, like he understands exactly what I mean.
We’ve quieted now. No posturing, no plans. Only two souls suspended in water, the night sky sparkling above us, vast and silent, withholding its answers, waiting to see what we’ll choose without its permission.
He’s watching me.
Not with hunger.
Not with strategy.
With softness.
And then he moves.
Slowly. Carefully.
A hand comes to rest on the edge of the pool near mine, not touching, but close.
When his eyes find mine, they hold both a question and a promise in one.
Nolan leans in. I don’t stop him.
For all the ways I’ve tried to convince myself this is wrong or reckless or doomed, I shove them away. This moment doesn’t feel like a mistake.
It feels like gravity.
His mouth brushes mine, not demanding. Reverent. A whisper of lips. A breath shared.
My eyes flutter closed, and then I’m kissing him back, fully, fiercely, like I’ve been holding my breath since the first time we fought across a rooftop and in this moment, I finally remembered how to inhale.
His other hand rises from the water, threads through my damp hair, and tugs me closer.
I shift in the pool until we’re chest to chest, his body heat soaking into mine like sunlight breaking through the dark clouds.
Our kiss goes from tentative to desperate in a heartbeat. It’s all consuming and he kisses me like I’m not just another chapter in his story but a turning point.
