Page 49 of Puck Fest
He grabs my shirt and pulls me toward him.
His lips are hot and hungry as they capture mine. The kiss is desperate. Almost angry. Like he’s been holding it back for so long that now that the dam’s broken, he can’t stop.
I kiss him back just as hard, one hand tangling in his hair, the other gripping his waist. My entire body sizzles as he presses into me.
He backs me against the door, and I hear the lock click. His hands are everywhere…my chest, my shoulders, my face…like he’s trying to memorize the feel of me.
I pull him closer, deepening the kiss, and fuck, it makes my heart swell and my balls tighten.
This is everything I’ve been wanting. Everything I’ve been thinking about late at night when I can’t sleep. Noah’s control is completely shattered, his walls crumbling around him, and it’s just him and me and this thing between us that we’ve both been fighting.
Suddenly, he pulls back, like I burned him.
“Fuck.” He’s breathing hard, looking at me through hooded eyes like he can’t believe what just happened. “Fuck. This was a mistake.”
“Noah—”
“You need to leave.”
“We should talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. This shouldn’t have happened.”
“But it did.”
“And it won’t happen again.” He’s rebuilding the walls right in front of me, brick by brick. “This was a lapse in judgment. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Jesus Christ, would you stop doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“Pretending you didn’t feel anything. Pretending that didn’t mean something.”
“It can’t mean something, Danny. Don’t you get that? It can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I just proved everyone right. I just proved that I can’t maintain professional boundaries. That I let my personal feelings compromise my judgment. That I’m exactly the kind of unprofessional that gets you fired.”
“No one knows. It’s just us.”
“It doesn’t matter.Iknow.” He turns away, bracing his hands on his desk. “You need to go.”
I turn away, unlock the door, and open it. Then I stop, my hand on the handle.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think that was a mistake. I think it’s the most honest thing you’ve done since I met you.”
He doesn’t respond.
So I leave, close the door behind me, and stand in the empty hallway trying to process what just happened.
Noah kissed me.
Then pushed me away.
Same pattern, different day. Except this time, I felt him break and give in to what he’s been fighting. What we’ve both been fighting.
And now he’s in his office, probably trying to pretend it didn’t happen, going back to being the cold professional who keeps everyone at arm’s length.
