34. Jack
34
JACK
AS YOU WISH
“A re you waiting for it to jump up and bite you?” I asked as I slipped into the house, toed my shoes off, and found Aurora sitting on the couch, staring at the coffee table. The new phone she had gotten was lying on top of it. “ Insurance guy is done at the house, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Aurora mumbled, clearly distracted by staring at her phone.
It had been a week since we opened the safety deposit box and found a full Aurora Archer manuscript. A full week of staring at a stack of printer paper with disappointment. As much as we had tried to make the best of it, I knew Aurora was frustrated it hadn’t been more.
Her bank cards had been replaced with temporary ones. A new driver’s license had been ordered. Her mom had shipped the spare key to her car so that she could drive while I was at work. There were only a few clothing and personal items she had to buy since the town had showered her with reinforcements. The slow and painful insurance process was, thankfully, moving.
But every day she had to look out the window and see the ash.
I approached with caution. “ Wanna tell me what’s going on?”
Her feet bounced with barely restrained nervous energy as she stared at the phone. “ It’s not published.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “ Okay . . .” I put a hand on her shoulder. “ Maybe you should go out and get some air. I think you’ve been holed up in here a little too long.” And maybe I needed to replace the batteries in my carbon monoxide detector .
“In a little bit,” she said as the hyper-focus mania began to take over.
I sat down beside her. “ Roar , what the hell is going on with you?”
“The book isn’t published!” she whispered in excitement.
“I’m gonna need a little more information.”
Aurora pointed to the manuscript from the safety deposit box. “ I have a completely finished, completely edited Aurora Archer novel that was never published. Do you know how huge that is?! So I did some digging, and since my mom is now the executor of the estate, all of Aunt Juniper’s business interests are her responsibility now. Obviously , my mom doesn’t know a thing about publishing, so she told me to run with it. I hunted down the agent who represented my aunt before she died, and she’s still in the industry!”
Things were starting to make a little more sense. “ So is that why you’re staring at your phone like it’s a bomb you have to defuse?"
She nodded. “ I emailed her and explained who I was and that I wanted to talk, so she agreed to call me.”
The phone started ringing as an unknown New York number appeared on the screen. Aurora nearly came out of her skin as she lunged to answer the call and put it on speaker.
“Hello?”
“Dammit, Dump Truck ! I told you to stop eating the damn pie! Now I’ve gotta go back to Wegmans . Sorry . Hi . Is this Aurora ?”
The tension in her shoulders loosened as she let out a light laugh. “ It is. And you’re Lucia ? Is now a good time to chat?”
“Absolutely. Sorry about that. My damn dog ate a roll of toilet paper, an entire pie, and half of a sandal. I don’t know if he ate the flip or the flop half. Now I’m one flop short of a flip. Hence , why we call him Dump Truck . Anyway . How are you, Aurora ? Obviously , it’s been quite a long time since I talked to your late aunt. I’m sorry for your loss. But I have to say, I was quite surprised to get your email. She was a riot to work with. Talk to me about what’s going on.”
“My mom is the executor of her estate now. I was helping her prepare a property belonging to the estate for sale when we found some . . . clues that led us to a safety deposit box where my aunt had kept an unpublished manuscript. I believe she intended for us to find it and publish it after her death.”
There was a clatter on the other end and some rather creative profanities before Lucia returned. “ You’re shitting me.”
Aurora laughed. “ I promise I’m not. It’s a physical copy, so I’d have to scan it all to send it over to you so you can take a look at it. I understand this sounds completely crazy.”
“No, it sounds very much like Aurora Archer . Sorry — Juniper Whitlock . Habit .”
“No worries at all. I get it,” Aurora said.
“Did you work with your aunt or something?” Lucia asked. “ I don’t think I remember hearing your name. She was a bit of a recluse about her writing.”
“No, I actually didn’t find out she was an author until we started going through the house. I’ve just been around publishing for a while.”
“Really?” Lucia said curiously. “ Do you write?”
Aurora opened her mouth to say that she used to, but I glared at her.
“I do,” she said, shooting that look right back at me.
“Good girl,” I mouthed.
She rolled her eyes.
“Anything I would have heard of?” Lucia asked.
Aurora chewed on her lip for a moment. “ Petrichor by Wander Whitlock ?” Her words formed a question rather than a statement.
“Shut up!” Lucia screamed. “ You’re joking.”
“Do people usually joke about stuff like that?”
“You’re telling me that you are Wander Whitlock , and your blood relative is Aurora Archer ? Am I having a stroke?”
“That’s correct,” Aurora said. “ Not about the stroke. But the family line. Yeah , it surprised me too.”
She and I shared coy smiles.
“Okay,” Lucia said. “ Shock over. So , I’m going to make some calls about the Aurora Archer novel and see what my legal team says about the estate situation. We’ll get the red tape squared away and then I’ll start making some calls to see who’s interested in picking it up. Email me your mom’s contact information since she’s the executor and I’ll be in touch. And you . I want to hear more about you. What’s going on? You have one more book in your series, right? Last I heard, you were on a sabbatical and the publisher dropped the series. Do you have representation? I heard you were with April Thatcher’s firm.”
“It’s kind of a long story, but no. I don’t have representation at the moment.”
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
“Excellent news for me. Publicly , I’m not open for submissions, but I’d kill to work with you. So if you want to talk about your plans and goals, give me a call and I’ll clear my schedule.”
Aurora wrapped up the call with Lucia , then hung up when Lucia’s dog went for his second meal of Lucia’s drapes and the rest of her coffee.
"Well, that was something,” Aurora said as she sat back and let out a sharp breath.
“You gonna take her up on representing you?”
“Honestly?” Aurora tangled her hand in her hair. “ I’m tempted to. But I don’t know if it’s something I’m ready for right now.”
I nodded. “ There’s a lot going on at the moment.”
“Yeah. But if she could sell that novel to a publisher, my mom and I would have a nice little nest egg. I still need to get a job, though.”
“You don’t have to rush into it,” I said. “ I know this—us—is new, but I’ve got you. I mean it.”
“I know,” she said. “ But I want to. And I still have that mountain of ex-boyfriend debt that I have to chip away at, and my current royalties aren’t cutting it. I think working on the house helped me get out of my writer’s block. I was moving my body and engaging my mind in something other than staring at a computer for ten hours a day. I think, if I go back to writing, I at least want something part-time. Maybe I’ll wait tables at Ernie’s or something. I like hearing his stories. Besides , you said it yourself. I ran out of things to write because I stopped living.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and slid onto my lap, straddling my hips. “ And I want to do all the living I can. With you.”
I settled my hands on her hips. “ I like the sound of that.”
“This is insane.”
“What’s insane?”
“Me staying here.” She let out a light laugh. “ I don’t know anyone.”
“Yeah, but they know you.” I hooked my fingers in the loops of her denim shorts. “ And I know you. But I’m serious, Roar . If you decide to go back to Colorado , I’m coming with you. If you decide to go to Mars , I’m coming with you.”
“I think I like it here,” she said contentedly. “ Fish pizza is growing on me.”
“You and that smart fucking mouth,” I whispered against her lips. “ Come here, baby.”
Aurora met me in the kiss. It wasn’t fifty-fifty. We both gave it our all. She arched her back, pressing into me as I cradled her head and swept my tongue through her mouth. She let out soft whimpers of delight as her hips rocked back and forth.
“That’s my girl,” I murmured as I sucked and licked my way up her neck to her ear.
I thought back to our first kiss on this very couch, and how far we had come. I still couldn’t believe that she was mine.
I flipped us, pinning her to the couch in one swift move before working her shorts and underwear down her hips while she yanked off her shirt and bra.
Aurora’s nails scraped up my chest as she grabbed the hem of my shirt and yanked it over my head. “ Get your dick out and get it hard,” she said in a hurry as she clawed at my shorts.
I tossed my head back and laughed. “ Sweetheart .” I kicked off my shorts and boxers, took her hand in mine, and wrapped her palm around my cock. “ It’s always hard.”
Her fingers flexed around my shaft, testing and squeezing.
I let out a sharp breath and dropped my head as pleasure pulsed and raced through me. “ Dammit , Roar .”
Her smile was feline as she cupped my balls and massaged them. “ Who’s needy now?”
I kissed her. Hard . My hands were in her hair, pulling. My mouth was on her tit, sucking. I grabbed her thigh and pushed it out until it was hanging off the edge of the sofa, opening her up for me.
My cock pressed against her entrance, and she gasped.
“Two can play that game, baby girl. What do you want today?” I pressed my thumb to her clit and massaged it back and forth. “ Do you want me to kiss this pussy until you come on my face?” I slid two fingers inside her and curled them, stroking her walls. “ Or maybe you want me to fuck you like this, nice and slow while you make all those pretty sounds.” I pulled my fingers out and spanked her pussy, making her keen with delight. “ Or maybe you want me to put you on your hands and knees while I fuck your little cunt and make your tits bounce until you scream.”
Aurora opened her eyes slightly. “ Door number three, please.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. “ As you wish.”
I hopped off the couch, threw her over my shoulder as she let out a heart-stopping giggle, then upended her over the arm of the couch. It was just high enough to put her pussy at the right angle for me to fuck her.
“Your ass is a dream,” I said as I smoothed my hand over her cheek and gave it a squeeze.
Aurora rocked her hips in response. “ You promised hard and fast.”
“We’ll get there,” I said as I reached between her legs and played with her clit while I fucked my hand. “ Let me enjoy you.”
She whipped her hair over her shoulder like a mare. “ I would enjoy it if you pulled my hair and made it hard for me to walk tomorrow.”
I shackled her throat and gave it a playful squeeze. “ What did I tell you? I’m enjoying you right now.” I smoothed my other hand down the swooping arch of her back. “ I love this.” I cupped her pussy and squeezed it in the palm of my hand. “ I love your cunt, all pink and swollen for me.” I palmed her tit. “ I love your breasts.” I lowered myself to her level and brushed her lips with mine, still controlling her head with my grip on her throat. “ And I love you. So bear with me while I take my fucking time worshipping the body you live in.”
Aurora gasped for air as I released her throat, then let out a desperate wail as I toyed with her clit. Her pussy grew slick and wet for me as I brought her to the edge over and over again, watching her muscles flex, her back arch, and her ass seek closeness.
“I like watching you need me,” I said as I fisted my cock and brushed the head across her entrance. “ I want you to need me.” I gripped her hair at the root and yanked her head back as I slowly fed my cock inside her pussy.
She whimpered as she widened her stance. “ I need you.”
“Say it again.”
“I need you,” she cried as I snapped my hips and bottomed out inside her.
“Again,” I grunted.
Aurora’s recitation was music to my ears as I fucked her hard and fast, just the way she wanted. It was harmonized with the lewd slap of skin on skin. It was accented by the way she breathed. The way she moved.
It was everything. She was everything.
“You feel so fucking good, Roar .”
“Likewise,” she choked out between breaths.
I grinned at her sass. I love that fire. I loved the way it could warm and sustain or wreck and burn. I wanted it all. I was consumed by her—heart and soul.
I wanted her to consume every sense that I had.
She was the summer—hot and formidable. Magical and inspiring. She was a cloudless blue sky and stormy, moody grays. She was the radiant sunrise and the breathtaking sunset. She was the feeling of home and adventure, all wrapped into one.
She was enchanting.
Aurora’s fingers curled into the couch cushion as her breath hitched. “ Jack ,” she rasped. “ Make me come. I’m — I’m so close.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said as I pulled her hair back, slammed into her, and reached around to tease her clit.
Aurora’s body pulled taut like a bowstring right before firing. “ Jack? —”
I loved the way she whispered my name.
She gasped as she came, soaking my cock as I thrust inside her. I grabbed her hips so hard I was certain she would have bruises from my fingerprints tomorrow. Electricity ripped down my spine in a blaze as I unloaded inside her. I collapsed over her bent body, breathing in her scent and kissing the salt on her skin.
She was the ocean, wild and untamed. Peaceful and calm. Teeming with life and full of the unknown.
I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I would love every side of her that was and would be.
Till death do us part.