I scanned the ground below us. Where the scenery had been brightly lit when our flight had taken off, darkness spread below us as our airplane slowly descended for landing. In the distance, I could make out a spattering of light. At least, there seemed to be some kind of civilization where Nevio was taking me.
“Won’t you tell me where we’re going? I’ll eventually find out,” I said. I’d asked Nevio countless times since he’d practically kidnapped me from the breakfast table this morning. I’d only had time to say goodbye to Battista before Nevio and I had driven to the airport where the private Camorra jet had been waiting. Nevio had even packed my bag, which was one of my main worries right now. I doubted Nevio had any clue what kind of clothes I’d need. I hoped he’d at least asked a female family member for help with the toiletry bag. My other worry was how Battista would fare. This was the first time I’d be gone for more than a few hours. He would turn four this year and he loved spending time with his grandparents and his uncle Giulio so my concern was completely unfounded.
Nevio crossed his arms behind his head with a satisfied grin. “Can’t you guess?”
“Well, considering our flight time and the landscape below, I’d guess we’re somewhere in Europe, most likely up north.”
“Good detective work, Sherlock.”
I moved over to him and sat on his lap. “We’re supposed to stay buckled in,” he said with raised eyebrows, but his hands grabbed my hips as I straddled his thighs.
“Then you should consider telling me or risk my health.”
“I like you on my lap. What’s life without a little danger?” He kissed me, his fingers tangling in my hair.
I sank into the kiss when the buckle up sign binged again. Nevio moved back with a sigh.
I returned to my seat with an expectant expression.
“All right. Lapland.”
My eyes widened. “We’re here to watch the northern lights?”
Because of Nevio’s obsession with the lights, I’d started researching them, and the photos I’d seen had made me want to experience them in real life.
“I thought it would be the perfect way to spend our second Valentine’s day as a couple.”
“It is!”
The hotel that Nevio had picked for us was in Northern Lapland and consisted of small round cabins with a glass roof over the bed. Our cabin even had a Jacuzzi on the patio. Everything was covered in snow, making the area look even more magical. Having spent most of my life in Las Vegas, the temperatures were a shock to my system, but Nevio had bought snow attire for both of us in preparation for the trip.
“Admit it, you got help with my clothes.”
Nevio didn’t even try to deny it. “Kiara helped me.”
Despite the jet lag and exhaustion, I begged Nevio to ride a dog sleigh through the snowy landscape. In my thick layers of clothes, I couldn’t have walked the area for long without falling over like a Michelin man.
The dog handler showed us how to steer the sleigh, but the dogs got nervous around Nevio, their howls and barks rising high above the crowns of the firs around us. I understood them only too well. Nevio was a force of nature, a predator of his own right, one who had haunted my nights for a long time—nightmares and dreams, both equally passion-filled. When Nevio and I had both taken position on the sleigh, with Nevio’s arms pressing against mine as we held the handle, Nevio let out the call that told the dogs to run. I would have toppled backward if Nevio hadn’t been behind me. The dogs raced past trees, whirling up the snow, as if the devil was after them.
It was incredible, and I couldn’t stop laughing in absolute joy.
That night and the following nights, Nevio and I watched the northern lights from our bed, wrapped in each other’s arms, and the sight never got boring. Whenever I thought I’d already seen every color scheme, nature surprised me again. The night sky flared with luminous waves, turquoise and pale blue, pink and fiery orange. My breath halted as I watched in awe how the darkness lit up above our heads. It was a mesmerizing display I’d never dreamed of witnessing, but here I was with a man who hadn’t let me run from him. I felt Nevio’s gaze on me as if I was more interesting than the aurora borealis.
Nevio
The colorful lights of the northern lights reflected in Aurora’s eyes, illuminating her hair and awed face.
“You must watch the lights, not me! You can watch me all the time!” Aurora said indignantly, never taking her eyes from the sky.
I got it. It was difficult to look away from something this beautiful. For me the sky came only in second place though. Still, I finally tilted my head back to watch nature’s display. Aurora pressed her head against my shoulder and released a small, pleased smile.
I leaned over to the nightstand and removed the box I’d carried with me since we left Las Vegas. Now was the perfect moment to give it to Aurora.
Eventually, she lowered her gaze from the sky and beamed at me. “This is just incredible. I won’t ever forget this moment. Thank you for taking me here.”
“I had to,” I said roughly. Aurora’s brows pulled together. “I had to because I wanted you to understand how I feel when I look at you. I want you to understand what you do to me. This Nordic sky is nothing to the darkness inside me, but you still manage to shine your light on me in a far more awe-inspiring way than the aurora borealis.”
“Nevio,” Aurora whispered, her breath creating small puffs between us.
My fingers around the box tightened, and I raised it so Aurora could see it.
Aurora’s eyes moved down to my hand and widened before they darted back up to my face in disbelief. “Nevio?”
I untangled myself from our warm nest and walked around the bed, then got down on my knee on Aurora’s side and opened the box. The lights became particularly bright at this moment as if they wanted to match the ring I showed Aurora. A piece of jewelry I’d spent a long time searching for until I’d ordered a goldsmith to create it for me. The stone looked as if I’d condensed the aurora borealis inside of it.
Aurora sat up slowly, her lips shaped an O, and her eyes glistened with tears that only magnified the glow of the northern lights in them. She took my breath away. The past few days with her here, I was fucking content. I didn’t need the thrill of a kill, of a hunt, of blood and torture. With Aurora, my destructive urges could rest for a bit. I knew they’d always be there, and these brief respites would always just be that, brief pauses in my otherwise dark nature, but it was more than I’d considered myself capable of.
I took her hand. “I told you before, but I know I should do it more often. I love you. The light side of me, which I never thought existed, but also the darkest, most depraved corners of myself, love you, Aurora, every fucking thing about you. Most of all how you keep shining brightly no matter the darkness I throw at you. I can’t let you go. I won’t let you go. I want you to be mine forever because in my heart, in my head, even in my damned soul if I have something like that, you will always be mine. Marry me.”
Did my words leave Aurora a choice? I wasn’t sure she had one. I hoped she didn’t need one. I hoped she felt the same painful desire to spend her life with me until the very last breath I took. Because she’d better survive me. I wouldn’t live a single moment without her.
Aurora bit her lip with a soft smile as she nodded. “Of course, I’ll marry you!”
Before I could push to my feet, Aurora slid down from the bed and fell into my lap, her arms around my neck, her lips against mine. She clung to me as I sank down full on the warm sheepskin and hugged her to me, returning her kiss with every bit of love I felt.
Soon, her tears wet my face, and I pulled back to wipe them off.
The idea of tears of happiness had always been a mystery to me. Hell, I hadn’t even cried tears of sadness as far as I could remember, but seeing Aurora’s obvious joy, I understood tears of happiness finally, even if I’d never cry them myself.
“I guess you aren’t mad at me for making you cry this time?”
Aurora let out a choked laugh. “No!” I took her hand and slid the ring on her finger. Aurora shook her head as if she couldn’t believe it.
“What changed your mind about marriage?”
“Every day I spent with you did. Maybe marriage isn’t necessary, but so many things in life aren’t. I just wanted to call you my wife. It’s as fucking simple as that. And your name will sound fabulous. Aurora Falcone.”
I kissed her again, and then I made love to her under the luminous night sky.
THE END
