Chapter 35 Aurora
AURORA
My heart jumps to my throat, and I spin in circles, scanning the lobby, looking through the crowd of people waiting for our guided tour to begin. It takes all of ten seconds for my eyes to land on her, and she’s already looking at me.
Slowly, she walks toward me, but I don’t trust myself to move. I’ve thought I saw her before. Once in Portugal. Another time in Scotland. Both times my heart filled with hope before it shattered.
This time though, she doesn’t disappear when I blink. She just gets closer and closer, until I swear I can smell the most hauntingly beautiful blend of gardenia, pear, and brown sugar.
She looks just as gorgeous as when I left her in Sydney in her platform combat boots and thick black tights under a distressed denim skirt.
The coat she’s wearing is bright pink and puffy, and it matches her black and pink stocking cap.
She’s bundled appropriately for viewing the Aurora Borealis on a November night in Iceland, and it makes me even happier.
She knew. She figured it out. She came.
I fold my lips between my teeth to tame my smile and taste tears. When she steps up in front of me, I inhale, filling my lungs with the scent of her. Confirming what I already knew but was too afraid to believe. It’s real. She’s here. She came.
Mabel reaches up, her hand covered in black, fingerless gloves, and wipes tears from my cheek while ignoring the steady stream of her own.
“Hey, Roar.”
I laugh. “You found me,” I say, my voice a trembling whisper.
She shakes her head, and lifts my journal, hugging it to her chest.
“No,” she says. “You found you.”
Then she kisses me, and everything is finally perfect.
Hours later, in my hotel bed, I snuggle into Mabel’s warmth as she runs her fingers through my hair.
“I like it short,” she says, toying with a single streak of purple. “It suits you.”
“Thank you.” I press a kiss to her breast, and she hums. “I like it, too. I can’t wait to hear more about your family. Your mom, dad, and sisters. I’m so happy for you, Mabel.”
“I’d like for you to meet them. If you’re comfortable with that, I mean.”
I smile against her. “I’d love that. As long as you don’t think we’re going too fast.”
“I’ve been missing you for two years, Roar. I’m all in if you’re all in.” I feel her body tense. “Are you all in?”
“I’m more than all in.” I can’t help but giggle as I pull her tighter, lifting my leg up and over her hips so I’m clinging to her like a koala in a tree. “Should we have had this conversation before we fucked?”
When she laughs, the sound vibrates through her chest and tickles my ear. “Maybe. But the next best time is now.”
“I’m all in, Brooklyn Susan Ainsley Mabel Rossi,” I tell her firmly. “I fucking love you. No lies here.”
She shifts and tilts my chin up so our lips meet, and she kisses me so deeply, I could sink into it.
“I fucking love you, Aurora Jade Hammond,” she says into my mouth. “Foundation of truth.”
I grin. “Thank God. This would all be so embarrassing if you didn’t.”
Mabel rolls her eyes playfully, then tucks me back into her side, and we lie together in the quiet for a while. I listen to her heartbeat. My breathing syncs with hers. I want this to be my life forever now. I never, ever want to lose her again.
“Your journal is beautiful.” Her voice breaks the silence, and I can feel her words dancing through my hair. “I read every single page the moment I opened the package, and then I read it again on the jet. And your poetry, fuck, you’re so talented, Roar. You should be published.”
“I’m proud of it,” I say, tracing my fingers along her stomach and marveling at the goose bumps that rise on her skin. The fact that she loves it just makes me love it more. “Actually, I have sort of a surprise.”
“Yeah? What kind of surprise?”
“Well, my journal is being published. I wanted you to read it first.”
She sits up quickly, making me fall into the pillow with a gasp, and then I laugh loudly when I see her gaping at me with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her face.
“Are you fucking kidding?”
I shake my head. “I’m very serious. It should be out next year.”
“Oh my God, we have to celebrate. What do you want to do? We need to do something.”
“I mean...” I smirk and drag my eyes over her naked body. “This kind of was my celebration.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “Let’s order room service. Champagne or something.”
My stomach flips with an idea. I didn’t plan to do this tonight.
I didn’t know if I’d do it ever actually, but being with Mabel tonight, it’s like no time has passed.
I’ve changed, yes, but our connection hasn’t.
If anything, it’s only gotten stronger, and I think my confidence has a lot to do with that.
So, I wrangle the butterflies in my stomach and raise up to my knees.
“Actually, I kind of want to try something, if you’re up to it.”
Her eyes narrow with curiosity, and she tilts her head. “Anything.”
I stand and walk toward my beat-up travel trunk. I’ve lugged it around with me for two years. It’s covered in stickers and stamps and, with the exception of my important documents and a few mementos that I keep at my uncle’s, it contains all my possessions.
“You can say no if you want. Don’t feel obligated, okay?”
“Just tell me what it is.”
I purse my lips, consider it again for just a second, then say fuck it, and dive into my trunk. I find what I’m looking for, then stand and show it to Mabel. She takes one look at it and barks out a laugh, but there’s no hiding the heat that flashes in her eyes.
“You haven’t seen me in two years, and you’re busting out a glittery pink dildo?”
I can feel my cheeks flush, but I scrunch up my nose and give her a shrug.
“Depends. Are you still a girl who likes pretty things?”
She nods. “I am. I very much am.”
“Oh, phew. That’s good.”
I mime wiping sweat off my brow, then upend the box, dropping everything on the bed. I stare at the leather harness, then at the glittery pink dildo, then I look at Mabel.
“I might need some guidance.”
A night from years earlier flashes in my mind as soon as the words leave my mouth, and I have to give my head a shake to loosen the image of me on my knees in a shower in Sydney. I can still taste her, and it’s not just from what we did earlier.
“Have you ever used one before?”
“Nope. Never.” I shake my head and pick up a small piece of paper with instructions and squint at it. “This is actually brand new.”
She goes quiet, and when I look up at her, she’s staring at me in a way that makes my heart skip.
Like she can’t believe I’m real. I haven’t exactly been celibate in the last two years.
She basically told me not to be, and I’m not na?ve enough to expect it from her either.
But I wanted to save some experiences for her.
For us. I wanted her to have more of my firsts, and from the way she’s looking at me, I’m so glad that I did.
She clears her throat and gives her head a shake. “Okay, well, we should probably start by cleaning it.”
“Oh, I did that already. With rubbing alcohol.”
Her eyes go wide, and I smirk.
“Kidding. I used a toy cleaner.”
“Funny.” She rolls her eyes. “You want help?”
“Yes, please.”
I hold the jockstrap harness out to her, and she helps me step into it before pulling it up and adjusting the buckles so it’s secure, but not too tight.
“Is it comfortable to move?”
I bend my legs, one at a time, then drop into a squat, and we both start to giggle. I’m doing squats in a jockstrap harness while naked in a hotel in Iceland, and I’m giddy over it.
“It feels good.” I stand, then hand her the dildo. “Dick me up.”
Mabel snorts, and then I snort, and then we fall into laughter again, until I’m giggling so hard I have to bend over and support myself on the mattress until I catch my breath. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time, and I’m just so damn elated that it’s with her.
God, I’ve missed her so much.
When we’ve composed ourselves, I stand, and hand the dildo back to her.
“I like the color,” she says as she fits it through the harness. “I’m partial to glittery pink things.”
“Well, I bought it because it reminded me of you,” I say on a laugh. “It was in a sex shop in Amsterdam, and I had to get it for you.”
She freezes. “You were in Amsterdam over a year and a half ago.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
She locks her gaze with mine. “You bought this for me over a year ago?”
I hear the question within the question, and give her a small, shy smile.
“I was always going to come back to you, Mabel. It was just a question of whether you’d want me.”
“I have always and will always want you.” She rubs at her eyes and laughs. “I can’t believe I’m crying over a dildo.”
I shrug. “It is glittery pink.”
“Facts.” She taps my hip lightly, then takes a step back. “Finished.”
I put my hands on my hips. “How do I look?”
I don’t have to ask, though. Her face says it all. “This is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
A smile, sinful and mischievous, stretches slowly across my face, and I pull confidence from the way her breathing speeds up.
“Good.” I take a few steps toward her, then drag my finger down the middle of her breasts. “Because I’m a giver, Mabel Rossi, so lie back and enjoy what I have to give.”