Chapter 16 #2
They’re standing in front of the emergency roof exit after climbing a flight of stairs, and Theo raises a brow at her request. “Really?”
“Yes, really. I’ll guide you out.”
He holds her stare for a moment before complying and shutting his eyes, hearing her open the large metal door before taking him by the arm. He tilts his head up at the cold nip of snowflakes on his face. “When did you come out here?”
“I might have done some exploring while you slept. Don’t worry, I took the gun just in case.”
There are a dozen replies on his tongue about how it’s dangerous to go off on her own when they hadn’t cleared the roof yet, if only because his anxiety rises a notch any time he imagines something happening to her.
But he isn’t about to ruin whatever moment she’s planned, so he keeps his mouth shut and takes three more steps, halting when she places a hand on his chest.
“Okay,” she half whispers. “Open them.”
What he sees when he does isn’t at all what he expected, not that he had any expectations.
A rainbow of colors illuminates the night sky, threading like stardust in between constellations.
The northern lights are even more lovely than he’s seen in photos, and a lump catches in his throat, releasing some lingering emotion from his earlier ordeal that laid dormant until now.
The world feels hushed, as if nature paused to grant them such a fleeting show.
When he looks at Nora, she’s watching him instead of the aurora.
Her wide eyes twinkle with eagerness for his reaction, and her smile crinkles them at the corners, twisting his stomach into all the best knots.
She is more breathtaking than the sky could ever hope to be.
“Thanks for showing me this. It’s amazing. ”
“Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” she says, turning her attention toward the sky again, her tone full of the same awe he feels when he looks at her.
“I have.” His focus remains on the only thing more transfixing than the colors painting the sky.
She shakes her head like he’s being silly. “Smooth. And here I thought you weren’t holding in any pick-up lines.”
“It’s not a line if it’s the truth.”
He doesn’t join her in dismissing the compliment.
It would be so easy to let her assume he’s not serious.
Go back to being friends like none of the last twenty-four hours ever happened and she isn’t the only person in his whole damn life that actually gives a shit about him.
The only person he trusts. But he can’t do that.
Not now. The veil of denial has lifted, and he makes no attempt at hiding his true feelings.
Nora goes quiet, her face shifting from teasing flirtation to mirror his more serious, calm facade. Her eyes get bigger as their gazes lock, and the raw vulnerability he reads in them is enough to make his heart shiver.
They are the same, he realizes, as if it had been some hidden secret when the truth of it was obvious this whole time. Their fears are intertwined, and he only hopes he can succeed at easing a few of hers.
“I need to tell you something,” he begins.
The worry lines in her forehead crease like he’s about to drop an awful bomb between them. “Okay. I’m listening.”
“I need to tell you the truth about what happened between me and my ex. I didn’t cheat on her.
She left me because I gave away most of my inheritance before I bought that farm.
I told her that I was going to do it. It wasn’t a secret, but I guess she didn’t actually believe me until it happened, and then…
she left. Called the tabloids to spin some story about me cheating.
I guess that sounds better than leaving your fiancé because he’s not obnoxiously wealthy anymore. That’s the truth. I promise.”
He practiced this in his head a few times since he met her. Never intending to actually say it, but he vibrates a little now that he’s let it out, and he braces for the worst-case scenario to become reality.
Instead, one delicate hand comes up to cup his cheek, her thumb feathering across the stubble. “I already know. You told me before you passed out.”
He has no memory of any confession, but he was high on fentanyl at the time, so that’s no surprise. “Do you believe me?”
“I believe you.”
He didn’t fully realize how much he needed to hear that until the words fell from her lips. Theo leans into her touch…right before insecurity gets the best of him and he opens his damn mouth again.
“You understand what I mean when I say I gave the money away, right? I don’t mean I gave up half, and the other half is still burning a hole in the stock market.
There will never be anything more than what I make running that farm, if we even get back to the farm at all, and that’s looking unlikely, but I need to be clear here about my financial situation so there’s no misunderstandings.
I’m not saying that I’m destitute, I can pay my bills, I own the farm outright, but there’s a massive difference between inheriting fifty percent of Omnivar International and owning one hundred percent of a goat farm. ”
Past experience when it comes to his partners and money has him word vomiting at her feet in the hopes that he can prevent any future problems before they take hold, but more than that, he wants reassurance that she doesn’t give a shit about his money or lack thereof.
He wants to know it doesn’t matter, and he holds a dense breath in his lungs while waiting for her reply, even as embarrassment starts to fester.
He might have ruined everything, if not with the facts, then with his complete and utter inability to lay them out in a palatable way.
“Are you done?” The hand on his face drags down to cup his neck, where his pulse beats a frantic melody against her palm, then lower to rest on the front of his shoulder.
“Yeah. I’m done.”
“Good, because I was hoping you’d bring this up. I do have a problem with the farm and we’ve talked about it before, but it needs to be said again, so thanks for the transparency.”
He might cry right here under the northern lights. The lump in his throat gathers deeper and he swallows hard to try and dislodge it while his eyes burn. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”
“It’s the goat thing. If you aren’t willing to purchase a few fainting ones, then I don’t think we have a chance, to be honest. I feel strongly about this. I’ve never made my stance on this a secret, so—”
When the marble in his head finally falls into the hole that she’s teasing him, relief washes over him like a wild wave breaking against the coast. There is nothing more he wants in this world than to kiss her.
Swiftly, he moves in to cut off her deadpan joke about goats. Her face breaks into a delicate smile as he pauses close enough to see it in his periphery before their noses nestle together and her warm breath tickles his lips.
It is soft and gentle at first, merely a press of contact that sparks between them.
Her hair caresses his face as the wind picks up and swirls snowflakes around them both, as if nudging them even closer together.
The aurora bends and shimmers above, painting them in ribbons of emerald and violet before the world falls away and all that’s left is the warmth of her pressed against him and the overwhelming urge to never let go.
She is supple under his mouth where he captures her bottom lip between his own, her lower half leaning against him as they come together with more force, greedy like they can’t get enough.
Her hand weaves up into his hair as his arm pulls her in close at the waist, her sharp inhale as they come apart for the briefest moment, as if she’s trying to breathe him in, sends a shiver along his spine.
The taste of her lingers, sweet and warm in the cold night air, and he realizes that for the first time in years, maybe in his whole life, he doesn’t feel hollow anymore.
All he ever wants from this day on is her wrapping around every cell in his body.
“I’ll buy you five fainting goats,” he exhales along the seam of her lips, before stealing another kiss. “Twenty,” he drops his mouth to her neck, searing a promise there. “A whole herd.”
“I’m so glad we could come to an agreement on this very important matter.” The laugh vibrating against his lips is the best thing he’s ever felt. Then she’s urging his head up from her neck, her expression serious and her lips kiss-swollen. “Hey…”
There is a question or statement on the tip of her tongue. He waits while she struggles with letting it out into the open, head tilted in curiosity and encouragement.
“I’m scared,” she admits. “But I trust you.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
They’ve both been hurt so many times and to such an awful degree that letting anyone else in close could be foolish, and yet here they are, doing exactly that anyway. She is worth the risk.
He’s about to kiss her again, cold be damned, when a blinking red light off in the distance catches their attention before he can. It’s strong enough to cut through the impending blizzard like a lighthouse in a storm.
“The wildlife center?” she says hopefully.
“Probably. If we follow the light, it’ll lead us right to them.”
There is elation on her face at the promise of rescue, and his smile matches hers when he imagines that their journey will finally end in seeing their friends and family again. Gwen. Oliver. He has to assume they’re both alive and waiting. A reunion feels closer than ever.
“You know…” she continues. “The snow is picking up. It’ll be too thick to see soon, and there might be other people there. Living ones. At least I hope so, but once we get there…”
He nods. “It won’t be very private.”
“Exactly.”
“Plus, it’s safer to wait out the storm before we begin that hike. Five miles when you can’t see a foot in front of your face is a good way to get lost.”
“So you agree we should stay the night here and go in the morning?”
He nods. “I agree. It’s only practical.”
It’s so much more than practical. Yes, it’s safer.
But their motivations are clearer than that beacon shining bright in the snow.
It might be insane not to run straight for it this very second, but they have no idea what’s waiting for them beyond this building.
Right now, they are safe, they have food, heat, and each other.
They deserve at least one night together before any further hell breaks loose.