Under the Northern Lights(77)

In the background, I vaguely heard my sister say, “I’m assuming this is Michael?” When we didn’t pause to acknowledge her, she chuckled, then said, “I’ll just let you two get . . . reacquainted. It was nice to kind of meet you, Michael.” I felt him raise a hand in greeting, but his lips never left mine.

My heart was swelling with love and happiness as I heard my sister’s car pull away. He was here. He chose me. Was he staying? God, please let him stay . . .

Finally, knowing we’d need to talk at some point, I pulled back to search his face. “You’re here? Why are you . . . ? How are you . . . ?” I shook my head. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“I . . .” His eyes drifted from my face to the bags littering the ground. “Are you leaving?” When his eyes returned to mine, they were laced with concern.

My smile was uncontainable. “I was going to you. I was done being without you, so I was going to hire a plane and show up at your door.”

Michael’s face broke into my favorite grin. “I guess I beat you to it.”

Biting my lip, I hesitantly asked him what this meant for me, for us. “Does that mean . . . ? Are you . . . staying . . . with me?”

His eyes lowered; then he peeked up at me through his lashes. “If you’ll have me . . . yes, I’d like to stay with you.”

I was floored, stunned, shocked with happiness. “I thought . . . what about living among people again? I thought you were done with that?”

He sighed, then tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I thought I was, too, until I tried living without you. I think I’d rather live in the center of a bustling city than spend one more day without you in my life.” He cupped my cheek as his voice intensified. “I can’t spend another day apart from you, Mallory. I love you.”

My eyes watered, and my chest swelled. “I love you too.”

Michael’s eyes were a swirling mixture of emotion—joy, fatigue, relief. He seemed like a man who’d finally had a tremendous weight lifted from his shoulders, and he almost didn’t know how to handle the lightness. “Let’s get all this stuff inside . . . since neither one of us is going anywhere.”

I was giddy as I began grabbing bags. Michael helped me, then stopped when he reached down for a case that was suspiciously shaped like a chainsaw. “What is this?” he asked, looking up at me.

“A gift . . . for you,” I demurely said.

His eyes returned to the tool. “You were bringing me a chainsaw?” he asked, his voice still sounding stupefied.

“Yes . . . I wasn’t spending another winter out there without one. In fact, I was trying to figure out how to get a snowmobile to your place, too, because you spend entirely too much time walking back and forth to your traps.”

Michael’s eyes were filled to the brim with love and affection when he looked over at me. “What did I do to deserve you?” he asked.

“I asked myself that a lot after you found me.” I touched my fingers to my necklace, saying a quick thank-you to the heavens for returning him to me.

Michael tracked the movement, then smiled . . . and nodded, like he completely understood my gesture and agreed. It made my heart thump even faster, and I practically scurried to get our things inside my house.

Once we were in my living room, and Michael had been briefly introduced to my three barking beasts, I tossed my arms around his neck and kissed him. I never wanted to stop now, and from the way Michael kissed me back, I could tell he felt the same. Pulling on his neck, I led him to my bedroom, then closed the door behind us. My dogs instantly complained. They could complain all they wanted, though—I wanted to be alone with my man, a man I never thought I’d have in my home, a man I’d been about to give up everything for. Because what was it without him?

Without another word, Michael and I began undressing each other. Once we were bare, we fell onto my bed. Michael kissed every inch of me, cherishing me. He stopped at the scar on my leg, the lingering reminder of the crash that had brought us together. Leaning down, he placed a reverent kiss there, then placed his cheek upon it and closed his eyes. He almost looked like he was saying a quick prayer, and a smile erupted over me.

“I love you,” I said, running a hand down his exposed cheek.

Opening his eyes, he looked up at me. “I love you too. So much. And I’m so grateful . . . to be able to feel that way again. I didn’t realize how empty I was until you . . . crashed into me.” Lifting his body, he settled over me, then lowered his lips to mine. “I don’t ever want to feel that empty again.”

He slid into me then, and I closed my eyes as the euphoria of the moment filled me. Clasping our hands tight, we began to slowly move together, intensifying everything we felt for each other. Love washed over me in waves, escalating with each pass, and as I was filled to the brim with emotion, I began to wonder if I’d been empty too. All my life I’d been searching for truth, for meaning, for a deeper connection to the world around me. And I’d found it in the middle of nowhere, with a man who hadn’t wanted any sort of connection to anything. He’d completed me, and I’d opened him.

The buildup grew to something intense and profound, and an explosion of life and beauty coursed through me, vibrating every nerve ending. I’d never felt so alive, so connected, so much a part of something vastly bigger than this mortal coil I was bound to. I squeezed Michael tight as the ecstasy flooded me. He reached his apex, holding me just as tightly, and together we transcended time and space . . . a brief moment of endless, perfect bliss.