Aurora slips out from between the sheets and glides across the hardwood floor of our hotel room, wearing the soft smile I’ve become addicted to. Pink stains her cheeks, her dark brown hair is still wet from her shower, and her naked body glistens with evidence of our lovemaking. I tuck a pillow in the crook of my arm and turn to my side, watching as she slips on a short peach dress with flowy sleeves, a perfect contrast to the golden bronze of her tanned skin.
Perhaps lovemaking is too gentle a term for what we’ve been doing the entire day. Our five-day stay in Brazil has been the highlight of our month-long South American journey. We’ve spent the days hiking all the angles of Iguazu Falls, including a day trip to the Argentinian side of the natural phenomenon, and painting until the stars took over the sky. But today was different. Today, our hunger for the sights was replaced by our hunger for each other. It’s the last day of our long-awaited vacation, and we’ve spent the entire day in bed. Tomorrow, we begin the trip home, and as much as we both love the adventure, we’re missing Balsam Grove.
I’m surprised by how much I miss it. Aurora and I have spent months making a home together, caring for the properties, managing the café and canvas shop, playing house with Lacey, and filling our world with everything we always wanted—together.
My eyes flick to Aurora, who smooths the front of the chiffon material before walking toward me and sitting at the edge of the bed with her back to me.
“Can you get that button at the top?”
It’s just a single pink pearl that I fasten at the top, leaving the rest of her back bare. My hand drifts down, my fingers gliding over her satin skin. She’s so soft…and I’m so hard. Again.
I clear my throat to give myself a distraction. “Is that the dress you bought in town yesterday?”
She sneaks a look at me over her shoulder, catching my gaze glued to her sexy back. With a teasing smile, she stands. My hand falls away from her skin, and I narrow my eyes at her cruelty.
“It is.” She twirls slowly. “You like?”
I resist the urge to pull her back into bed, giving her a nod instead. “I love it.”
Her eyebrow lifts. “Aren’t you going to get ready? I thought we were going to watch the sunset before dinner.”
I pout and nod. “We are. I just need a minute. I can meet you at the spot if you don’t want to wait for me.”
She hesitates, assessing me further, and then drops her shoulders in defeat. “Okay, fine. But don’t take too long.”
“Thirty minutes tops,” I promise. And then I lunge for her hand before she can dart away. Knowing Aurora, she was planning to walk out that door without another word, leaving me with an incentive to take the world’s fastest shower. Who am I kidding? I will anyway.
She gasps as she’s pulled toward me and falls onto my chest. I lock my arms around her waist as she struggles to get off, kicking her heels in the air and pushing against my front with a laugh.
“You’re like a gorilla,” she shrieks.
I chuckle.
She giggles again, and then I flip her onto her back and dive for her neck, tickling her with my beard as she squirms below me.
“Jax, stop.” Her voice is breathless through her laughter. “You’re going to wrinkle my new dress.” She tries again, but my mouth won’t leave her skin. We both know she doesn’t give a damn about a dainty dress.
“You smell like me.” I smile into her neck.
She laughs and bucks her hips again. “I smell like sex, but there’s no way I’m taking another shower. We both know what happened last time I did that.”
I groan in frustration and release her, allowing her to sprint from my hold. She moves quickly to the closet, sliding on her sandals before turning back to me with her finger in front of her face. “Thirty minutes.”
Then she blows me a kiss and walks out the door, letting it shut behind her.
God, I love that woman.
God, I love that man.
I leave him with a smile plastered on my face, a fluttering in my chest, and a soul filled to the brim with contentment. I’ve never felt so light, yet so full at the same time. Full of life and love. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, and I’ve wanted it with him.
Heat scales my cheeks as I remember the way I left him in the room. Hot, hard, and frustrated. But we made a pact on this trip. A pact that we’ll watch the sunset every night in a different spot. No matter where we are, no matter what we’re doing. It’s been the easiest promise to keep.
There’s no better excuse to stand still with Jaxon’s strong arms around me as light shifts to darkness. So many promises live inside those silent moments—promises that never need to be spoken—of a forever filled with an unconditional love that will span time and leap solar systems.
I take my time walking around the hotel property, burning every inch of its plush, green landscape and elegant décor into my memory. I’m going to miss this—waking up to paradise every day in the home of one of the seven natural wonders of the world. But the more time we spend away from Balsam Grove, the more I miss it. And the more I want to get back home to continue the life we’ve started together.
Still, things will be different when we get home. There’ll be no more heavy work hours for either of us. With Jaxon’s new property manager tending to the rentals and the small staff at Creek Canvas bringing in more people than ever with nightly Canvas and Wine classes, we’ll have more time to spend on other things. Like finally setting up the art gallery in the empty suite we bought beside Creek Café. We figured if we don’t make any money selling art, it will still serve a purpose as an art studio.
The powerful rush of water intensifies upon my approach, and my lungs fill with air as I rest my hands on the balcony overlooking the falls at the edge of the hotel property. I’m not sure Jaxon could have picked a more beautiful location for our final stay. We planned most of our month-long journey together, but he wanted the final stop to be a surprise. And it was. Imagine my shock when we arrived at the same spot my finger landed on when I flipped to a random page in Art World Magazine months ago.
With over two hundred seventy-five falls combined, the tallest at two hundred sixty-nine feet, the falls span nearly two miles across three countries: Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. We’ve ventured around most of it, hiking through the park in Argentina, going on a jungle tour in Brazil, and taking a boat ride to get closer to the falls. And almost every day, we set aside time to paint the beauty around us.
A monarch butterfly lands on the rail beside my hand. I smile at the fearless winged creature that reminds me so much of myself. It wasn’t long ago I was secluded in darkness of my own making. But it was me who set myself free, who found the light and made a home there. I was just fortunate to have Jaxon standing there waiting. Always waiting.
I hear his footsteps before his hands slip around my waist, the fresh scent of his aftershave and deodorant the most delicious complement to my serene thoughts. His front presses against my back and his nose dips to my neck, his scruff tickling my sensitive skin. Chills spread over me, and my smile stretches from ear to ear.
“Good evening, Mr. Mills. I take it your shower was satisfactory,” I tease.
He growls from deep in his throat as his lips press into my skin. “Not as satisfactory as it would have been if you were with me, Miss June.” He pulls back slightly, his focus moving up toward the horizontal landing at the top of the falls. “Did I miss anything?”
I shake my head, my heart beating like mad in my chest. He still does this to me, makes me breathless. I love him. I just can’t believe he’s actually mine.
“No,” I say as his lips graze mine. “It’s just about to start.”
So we face front, wrapped in each other as we watch the orange blaze of the sun reflect hues of purple and pinks against the nearby clouds until it dips behind the falls. I let out a deep breath, a bundle of emotions swarming my chest as I bid farewell to the sun, marking our final night in the most magical place on the planet.
I take a step back from the balcony. I hadn’t even realized Jaxon stepped away until now. My head turns left, then right in search for him. Then I turn around, my eyes locking with his. They’re the first thing I see, those perfect storms, hovering near enough to know something is brewing beneath them. I feel it in my chest.
There’s something he’s been keeping from me.
And then he kneels.
My heart stops.
Or maybe it starts.
I’m not sure I could tell the difference. He hasn’t taken his eyes off me. He hasn’t spoken a single syllable, yet the tears are already streaming down my face, so fast they could rival the waterfall behind me. My hand flies to my chest, as if it could stop my heart from crashing through it.
Jaxon smiles. “Aurora June,” he says with a calm, sexy confidence.
My entire body is quivering. I’m sure he can see it, and it only makes his smile grow.
“You came into my life like the fastest river, unsure of where you would end up. And then you leapt—from that rock at Hollow Falls when you were fifteen years old. You leapt and you crashed into my world. Even then, I saw you. I didn’t realize what it meant—I wouldn’t allow myself to figure it out—but I could feel it.”
My tears are unstoppable, but I’ve given up clearing them from my face. I wasn’t expecting this. Not at all. I knew it would happen one day, and I hoped it would be soon, but after a few weeks of our month-long getaway passed, I figured it just wasn’t our time.
“Aurora.” He reaches into his blazer pocket, and I shake harder when I see the ring box in his hand.
This is really happening.
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved—the only one I want to sit through a million sunsets with. I’ve loved you for as long as it matters, and the easiest promise I’ll ever make is to continue loving you. Waterfall Eyes, will you spend forever with me?” He blows out a breath, and it’s then that I realize, deep down, he’s nervous too.
Now it’s my turn to smile. I step forward and reach for his hand to pull him up. My arms wrap around his neck, my lips crash into his, and I kiss him harder than I ever have before. I kiss him until my head clears and I realize I never did respond. I pull away and wipe my eyes one final time, and then nod, emphatically, until my words begin to work again.
“Yes, Jaxon. I will spend forevers and eternities and infinities with you. That’s the silliest question you’ve ever asked me.”
He smiles before pressing another kiss against my lips and lifting me from the ground. “Good thing I don’t have to ask it again.”
I squeal before our lips find each other’s again and we lose ourselves in the roar of the waterfall—and in each other. Forever.
SURPRISE! The extended epilogue can be found here: