Noah kept his hand over my heart.
“When you call, I turn. When you hold me here, everything stops moving.”
His hand reached behind his neck and covered mine.
“I don’t remember meeting you. I don’t remember moving into this apartment. I don’t remember the years.”
His voice failed.
I waited.
“But this knows you.”
He pressed my palm more firmly against his skin.
“Some part of me knows where to go.”
The room disappeared around us.
There was only Noah.
His face wet with tears.
His hand over my heart.
The impossible mercy of being recognized without a single intact memory.
I leaned closer until his breath touched my mouth.
“May I kiss you?”
His gaze dropped to my lips.
Fear moved through his face.
Then desire.
Then decision.
“Yes.”
I waited.
Gave him time to reconsider.
He did not.
Keeping my hand at his neck, I touched my mouth to his.
The first kiss was barely more than warmth.
Breath.
Soft pressure.
Noah inhaled sharply.
I pulled back an inch.
