THE CITY THAT KISSED HER🌹

Mixo Chavalala Romance

🌹 “THE CITY THAT KISSED HER” By Mixie ChvTHE COLLISIONRose Hartley always believed the city had its own heartbeat — a rhythm pulsing underneath the blaring horns, the chatter, the distant train rumbles. She moved through it every morning: heels tapping pavement, hair tied high, iced coffee in hand, eyes on her goals. She didn’t step lightly; she stepped like a woman planning to conquer all of Manhattan in a pair of red heels.This morning, however, the city beat back.She was running late. Her boss had scheduled a last-minute meeting. She’d slept through her alarm after binge-watching a drama she swore she’d stop after “one more episode.” And of course, the café line was out the door. But Rose was a woman of stubborn routines—coffee first, chaos later.Finally clutching her iced caramel latte, she pushed through the revolving door… and straight into a hard chest.Her coffee exploded.“Oh my God—!” Rose gasped, staring in horror at the brown stain dripping down the man’s perfectly pressed white shirt.The man looked down, blinked once, then lifted his eyes to hers.Warm brown eyes. A sharp jaw. A tiny scar near his eyebrow. Hair just messy enough to look effortlessly handsome.He was the kind of man romance novels put on the cover.“It’s fine,” he said, voice deep and unbothered. “Adds character.”“I—I’m so sorry. Seriously. I can pay for dry cleaning. Or a new shirt. Or—”He chuckled, lifting a hand. “You’re flustered.”“You think?”“I’m Adrian.” He extended his hand, stained shirt and all.She took it. “Rose.”His smile widened, slow and appreciative. “Beautiful name. Accidentally violent, but beautiful.”Her face burned.“Let me make it up to you,” Adrian said. “How about I buy you a new drink?”“You’re the one who should be furious,” she muttered.He looked down at his ruined shirt. “I’d be furious if it were anyone else.”Her heart did a ridiculous flip.They reentered the café. Rose tried to act casual; Adrian looked like he strolled through life with a permanently raised eyebrow and a hint of mischief.While they waited, he asked, “So, what’s your story, Rose Hartley? You look like a woman with one.”“My story is that I’m now late for work and responsible for caffeinating a stranger.”“Lucky stranger.”She tried not to smile. She failed.---Two hours later, Rose was sitting across from him at a wooden corner table, her untouched replacement coffee sweating beside her. She’d never talked to someone this long—especially not someone she’d just drenched in caramel latte.Adrian was magnetic. Ridiculously so. He asked questions that made her think, laughed in a way that felt like warm honey, and somehow made her feel like the room shrank to just the two of them.“Tell me your dream,” he said.“What?”“Everyone has a dream. Even people who ambush strangers with beverages.”She rolled her eyes but answered. “I want my own fashion line someday.”His brows lifted. “You design?”“I sketch. A lot. It’s kind of my… escape.”“That’s incredible.”She shrugged, shy in a way she hadn’t been since high school.“What about you?” she asked.Adrian hesitated, fingers tapping his cup. “I’m a software architect. I build things that help corporations pretend they know what they’re doing.”She burst into laughter, startling him into smiling.Outside, the city kept beating. But inside, something had shifted.When they stood to leave, Adrian paused, looking down at her with that heart-stopping gaze.“Dinner tonight?”Rose’s breath caught. “Tonight?”“We’ve already skipped half a workday together. Might as well commit to being irresponsible.”She hesitated. She wasn’t impulsive. She was Rose the Planner. Rose the Structured. Rose the Color-Codes-Her-Calendar.But something in his eyes tugged at her.“Alright,” she whispered. “Tonight.”The smile he gave her felt like sunrise.“Meet me at Vela Rooftop. Seven.”He walked away, sunlight catching his shoulders, coffee stain still drying across his shirt. Rose stood frozen in the doorway, heart thundering like she’d woken a sleeping part of herself.Tonight.God help her.---Seven o’clock arrived too quickly.Rose stepped out of the elevator to the rooftop restaurant, wind teasing her hair, the city glowing below like it was holding a thousand secrets. Her red dress hugged her hips, the slit brushing her thigh like a whispered dare.She spotted him immediately.Adrian stood near the glass railing, hands in pockets, jacket tugged by the breeze. He turned, eyes raking over her slowly—slow enough to heat her skin.“Rose,” he said, voice lower than before. “You look…”She waited.He exhaled. “Dangerous.”The words slid over her like warm water.Dinner was laughter. Shared stories. Lingering touches. Moments of silence that felt loaded.When their fingers brushed for the first time, neither pulled awayWhen his knee touched hers beneath the table, he didn’t move.Neither did sheEvery time his eyes drop- PART 2?

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