The Compliance Kiss

<p>Arden has built her career on precision neutrality and a reputation that can't be shaken. In a world where policies are power and perception can end careers she knows exactly how to survive. Keep everything clean. Keep everything documented. Never give anyone a personal weakness they can turn into leverage.</p><p>Callum is the last person Arden expects to collide with when the building starts to tighten. He is calm where she is sharp steady where she is relentless and frustratingly unwilling to play the quiet political games that keep everyone safe. Their rivalry has rules. Their conversations have edges. Their professional distance feels like the only smart choice.</p><p>Then a fabricated clip a sudden investigation and an invisible hand inside the system turn Arden into the perfect target. A single moment is twisted into a narrative meant to erase her credibility and the pressure escalates fast. Arden can retreat accept a convenient explanation and keep her position. Or she can fight for the record even if it costs her everything.</p><p>As the stakes rise Callum becomes the one person who refuses to let fear make their choices. He won't take the easy deal. He won't let Arden be edited into a lie. And in the most high-risk place to fall for someone Arden discovers that love doesn't have to live in corners to be real. It can be careful witnessed and still breathtaking.</p><p>The Compliance Kiss is a workplace rivals-to-lovers romance where integrity is the ultimate attraction boundaries become protection and two people choose truth in daylight even when a system tries to make tenderness a weakness.</p>