Epilogue
“Pen.” A faraway voice caught her lingering on the border of sleep. “Wake up. Quick.”
Penny’s eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, but she managed to open them. Rhys hovered over her, with the familiar green of her aurora light dancing on the ceiling. “Mm?”
“Look at the sky—and out over the fjord.”
The word fjord brought her back to reality quicker than a snowball to the face.
She remembered where she was: an extraordinary private cabin overlooking a fjord in northern Norway, kitted out with a glass ceiling.
A birthday present from Rhys, and without a doubt, the most incredible present she’d ever received.
Even better than the Iron Maiden tickets he’d bought for her last year.
Penny sat bolt upright, her heart in her throat. The green lights on the ceiling—the glass ceiling—she’d dismissed as her usual nightlight was anything but.
These were the real thing.
“Come on.” Rhys held out a hand to her, his features hidden by the emerald glow behind him.
She let him pull her to her feet, her eyes directed skywards.
The northern lights shimmered above their heads in long ribbons of icy green, pulsating like the earth’s lifeblood. They must have gone on for hundreds of miles. She watched as the colours shifted and morphed, changing from the brightest green to the palest pink.
She didn’t realise she’d crossed the room until her hand touched the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the fjord. The many colours of the aurora were reflected on the still waters, holding her captive.
“It’s stunning,” she whispered, her breath turning into a fog against the glass.
When Rhys remained silent, she turned—and shock froze her in place, her mouth hanging open.
Holy shit.
He knelt in the middle of the fur rug, his amber eyes on her as he held out a small ring box.
Next to him, she caught sight of the little polar bear plushie keyring on the zip of her handbag.
“Penny Isaac,” Rhys began, a knowing look in his gaze.
“I never imagined I could be as happy as you have made me. You are my everything—my love, my life, and I would like very, very much for you to be my wife.”
She approached him, her feet ghosting across the floor and onto the rug. Cupping his face, her heart skipped a beat when he clasped her hand with his. “Really?”
Rhys nodded vehemently. “Really. I’ve been waiting for four nights for these fucking lights to appear,” he laughed. “I’ve had plenty of time to think.”
A snort escaped from her at the mental image he conjured, followed by a gasp as she connected the dots. “That’s why you’ve been so exhausted since we got here.”
“Yeah,” he confirmed, a self-deprecating grin gracing his jaw. “I’ve had absolutely no sleep.”
Penny bit her lip in an attempt to stop herself smiling. “Yes.”
There was a pause. “As in yes to—”
“Yes!”
In the blink of an eye, Rhys went from kneeling to standing, hoisting her into the air like she weighed nothing at all.
His kiss was rough with relief, but the flicker of his tongue against hers sent ripples of sensation down her spine as she wrapped her legs around his waist. “I fucking love you,” he growled, his lips brushing hers. “Do you like the ring?”
In her astonishment, she’d forgotten to look. As Rhys lowered her back onto the bed, he passed over the little box.
Penny opened it.
The silver ring that sat within its clasp was unlike any she’d ever seen.
Instead of a diamond centrepiece, the gem was a breath-taking arrangement of blue and green—just like the aurora above them.
She brought it closer to inspect, but the colours shifted and glittered in the light like it was holographic.
Penny brushed her thumb over it, feeling the little accent stones on either side. “It’s perfect. It’s like…the northern lights in a gemstone.”
A delighted smile spread across Rhys’s face. “That’s exactly what I was going for.”
She offered out her hand. “What even is it? The stone?”
“Australian black opal.” He slid the ring onto her finger, and a little shiver shook her shoulders. “They’ve been on the lookout for the perfect stone for a while, but they finally found one a couple of months ago.”
“They?”
“The mine.”
Penny blinked, realising just how much effort he’d put into this.
To go so far as to contact a mine looking for an individual stone.
She cupped the back of his head and pulled him in for a kiss, feeling his hair flickering through her fingers.
“I love you,” she breathed into their embrace, a tidal wave of emotion, of love, sweeping through her.
Needing to be closer to him, she climbed into his lap, her thighs straddling his.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing their bodies flush together.
“Penny.” Rhys’s voice was a low rumble as their kiss hardened. His hands traversed her thighs, her waist, her spine.
She rolled her hips over his, grinning as she felt the first hint of his erection. She pulled off his shirt as he rid her of hers, sighing at the heavenly feeling of his bare hands roaming over her skin.
Suddenly, he held her in place by her hips, thrusting his hardness against her. His lips travelled downwards, kissing his way down her neck and across her collarbone, before taking one of her nipples in his mouth.
Penny tightened her hold on his hair, closing her eyes at the dizzying sensation of Rhys’s tongue on one of her taut nipples, each suck tightening it further. Her hips worked almost without thought, rocking against Rhys’s until her arousal had dampened her pyjama bottoms.
Without warning, he flipped them, her back hitting the bed. He wasted no time in ridding her of her bottoms, leaving her naked and needy. He was just about to dive between her thighs when she snapped them closed.
“Flip around first,” she ordered him, her tongue brushing against her bottom lip.
The corner of Rhys’s lips ticked up in wry amusement. He knew what she wanted.
He shoved his trousers down, his cock so hard it almost looked painful, before climbing up the bed. Penny wrapped her hand around his erection the moment it was within reach, guiding it towards her open mouth.
“Fuck, Pen.”
She sucked, the first hint of his taste bursting across her tongue. She felt Rhys spreading her legs, kissing a path down her inner thighs. It only spurred her on—sucking his cock always did.
Rational thought left her as the slick, rapturous warmth of his tongue split her open. She whimpered around his cock as he passed over her clit, toying with the little hood before moving towards her entrance.
In response, Penny redoubled her efforts, dragging her tongue along his length as she fondled his sac, moaning all the while.
She loved this, the madness that came with pleasuring him whilst he pleasured her.
It drove her wild each and every time, but despite her best efforts, Rhys always ended up winning their little race.
It came as no surprise, therefore, to feel the familiar heat of her approaching release. Her eyes rolled back as she keened around his cock, her hips beginning to wriggle.
Rhys let out a chuckle against her, pinning her in place.
Penny cried out as her orgasm hit her, her lips never leaving him. She sucked desperately through each wave, even as her thighs shook.
When her release finally ebbed away, Rhys lifted himself off her, pulling his cock out of her mouth with a smug grin.
“Damn you,” she panted. That bloody grin had been irritating her since the day they’d met, and she had a feeling it was going to do so for the rest of her life.
He knelt between her thighs, lowering himself over her and taking her lips in a languid kiss. “Just accept it. I’m better at oral than you.”
“You’re better at holding back an orgasm.” Penny’s breath hitched as the head of his cock slid through her glistening folds, coming to rest at her entrance. Need swelled within her once more—the need to be filled. “That is not the same th—oh!”
Rhys didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence, plunging inside.
The stretch was merciless, arching her back as she clutched at his shoulders.
He took hold of her jaw, forcing her to look at him, that grin still playing about his lips.
“Don’t worry. As my wife, you’ll have plenty of chances to practice. ”
Try as she might, Penny couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. “Good,” she whispered, her lips brushing against his. “Now fuck me.”