Maria.
He pulled away suddenly, so abruptly that the loss of his warmth felt like a shock to my system. We both stood there, breathing hard, chests rising and falling rapidly as though we had just finished running a thousand-meter race without stopping. The air between us was thick, heavy with everything we hadn't said and everything we almost had.
For a brief second, neither of us spoke.
Then Noah's lips curved into a faint, hopeful smile.
"Is that a yes?" he asked softly.
His voice wasn't teasing. It wasn't playful either. It was careful, almost fragile. His eyes searched mine intensely, scanning my face like the answer he wanted was hidden somewhere in my gaze. He looked nervous in a way I had never seen before, like a man standing at the edge of something life-changing, terrified of falling but willing to leap anyway.
