A loud knock on the door snapped Aurora out of her thoughts. She blinked once and looked down at the clothes still bunched up tightly in her hands. She had been halfway done with packing up.

"Shit," she muttered under her breath.

The last thing she needed was to be late for her flight home. She had no idea what she was going to do now, not when Michael fired her. At least he paid for a ticket back. He didn't actually have to do it.

He didn't have to fire you, either, a bitter voice in her head pointed out.

Aurora forced herself to stand up. Her knees pinched with pain and she stretched one leg out and then the other one. She took two steps before she reached the door and looked out the peephole. Her entire body froze. It wasn't Michael. It was Tom.

What was Tom doing here? Shouldn't he be on his way to Arizona?

She opened the door and stood in the doorway, keeping Tom from barging in. Things were still in that weird, confusing place for them, where they weren't sure how they felt or where they stood or what was going to happen between them.

Well, that wasn't true.

Aurora knew how she felt about Tom. She was crazy about him. She cared about him. Sometimes, she wanted to punch his face. And she didn't know how to put that into words—or if she even could. Tom was growing up, in a sense. He was trying to find a new career home for himself and the last thing he needed was someone who just got fired weighing him down. Tom liked to explore, especially when things were new. He did not like to be tied down, and if he couldn't commit, she couldn't either. It wasn't anything against Tom, but after three years with Michael, only to be fired in the way she was, she realized she wasn't going to waste her time anymore with people who didn't deserve her. Whether that was with a job or a man. She was in her mid-twenties. She didn't want to wake up one day in her thirties and ask what the hell happened to her life.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, trying to keep any tone out of it. She still couldn't read his face to save her life and didn't want to make any assumptions as to why he was here to see her. So she thought the best thing she could do was to ask and save them both the trouble.

"I needed to see you," he said.

"Have you packed?" Aurora asked. "You and Michael have a plane to catch and the last thing I need is for him to blame me for making you late."

Tom furrowed his brow and snapped his wrist, waving the thought away. "I don't care about that," he said.

"Well, you should," Aurora said. "It's expensive to change your flight around. Plus, you want to make a good first impression with Arizona because they could very well be your new team. I don't know if you know this, but Michael seems very intent on going to Arizona and—"

"I don't give a shit about Arizona," Tom said. "I'm not going to Arizona."

Aurora froze as his words sank in. She slowly closed her mouth and took in a deep breath. She didn't want to get her hopes up but she also didn't want to ignore the fact that Tom was behaving in a way she had never seen before. And she liked it. He was more take charge, share his opinion. He was fearless.

"What do you mean?" she finally asked.

"Rory, I'm staying here," he said. "And I want you to stay here with me."

Aurora felt her heart thud across her chest. It echoed through her mind. Her hands began to perspire. She couldn't possibly be hearing what she thought she was hearing, could she? There was no way Tom would say something like that to her. Tom, the man who wouldn't commit to anyone because he never knew what he was getting. Tom, who wanted freedom in everything.

"Tom, I—"

"I know what you're going to say," Tom jumped in. He started moving around the hotel room, as though he couldn't keep his energy contained. He needed to move around, even if the space he was in wasn't that big. "You're going to say that this is a big step and that I probably don't mean what I'm saying. You're going to ask if I'm thinking straight or if I'm completely drunk or something along those lines. You're going to say—"

"Let's pretend you're right about me," Aurora said, cutting him off. She held herself in her arms tightly as though she didn't want to move at all, unsure of where to go even if she did. "Tell me what you would say in response to everything you think I'm going to say."

"Right." He nodded once and pulled his arms from behind his back to gesture with them. "Of course. Okay. I would respond and tell you that I've actually been giving this a lot of thought. The minute I got here, I knew I wanted to stay here. Take away the fact that the Gulls won a Stanley Cup last year; I would feel the same. The environment is beautiful, I love Seraphina and the entire Gulls organization, and I think I would find a good place here. Even if my brother doesn't stay with me. Which he isn't."

Aurora picked her eyes up off of the floor to look at Tom. He was still a good distance away but his eyes were intense, holding onto hers tightly.

"He's always wanted Arizona," Aurora said. She didn't know why she felt compelled to say that. The silence was too loud, like a loudspeaker revealing all of her secrets. "He knew he didn't want Newport from the get-go. He was just—"

"Saving face," Tom finished. "Yeah, I know that now."

"Tom, I'm—"

"Please don't say sorry. That is the last thing I want to hear from you."

Aurora furrowed her brow. "I don't know what you mean," she said.

"Rory, you're the only person who's kept me in line," Tom said. She could tell he was uncomfortable with where this conversation was going but he pushed through it. She was surprised. "You're the only person who sees through my bullshit and isn't afraid to call me out on it. You're also one of the few who can reject my charm without any struggle. I mean, it does bother me but I find it oddly endearing."

Aurora started laughing before she could stop herself.

"Oh, now you think I'm funny?" he asked. There was a playful sparkle in his dark eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not trying to be funny."

"I know," she said. "I know." She softened. "Tom, what does this even mean?" She gestured between the two of them. More than anything, she wanted to feel him wrap his arms around her, to make her feel safe. This was a scary new adventure she was about to embark on. She had been with Michael for three years and didn't know what she wanted to do now that he officially fired her. Maybe Seraphina Hanson was hiring. Katella had said she was always welcome to assist with coordinating their events.

"Does it have to mean something?" he asked. "Maybe we can just go with it. Maybe we can let things happen when they happen and not worry about it." He shut his mouth and winced. "That wouldn't work for you, would it?"

Aurora shook her head. "I mean, I don't need the whole relationship planned out," she said. "I'm working on not being a control freak. But I can't just put my life on hold while you figure out how you feel for me."

"Oh, my feelings for you?" Tom asked. "That hasn't ever been a question. I'm in love with you, Rory. I thought that was obvious."

"You thought that was obvious?" Aurora asked. Why was her voice so high? Why did she need to stand up and start walking? Where had all of this nervous energy come from? As she brushed past him, Tom grabbed her wrist and gently tugged her so she was in his lap. She looked down at him, startled, but she slowly locked her arms around his neck and arched her back, trying to get comfortable. "I had no idea you were in love with me, Tom. I just thought…"

"You thought what?" His voice was low. It sent shivers down her back and she had to squeeze her insides to try to keep control over herself.

"I just thought you thought I was pretty or something ridiculous like that," she said.

His fingers started to trace a pattern against her stomach. "That is not ridiculous," he said. "I do think you're pretty. I think you're gorgeous. But it's more than that."

"What, I take care of you?" It was hard to get the words out. It was hard to breathe, when he was touching her like that. It reminded her off the way he touched her before, when they were wrapped around each other in bed together.

"You do," he agreed, coming in close and kissing her on the column of her throat. "But it's not that either." Another kiss on her shoulder. "You make me want to be a better man, Rory. You make me want to take care of not only you but myself. I want to be someone who deserves you."

"Tom—"

"Don't ‘Tom’ me." Another kiss, this time, just underneath her ear. She shivered, despite herself. "It's true. I don't deserve you. At least, not right now. It's like you tell me all the time: I have a lot of growing up I need to do. Which is fine. I can do it."

Aurora smiled. "You are more grown up than I care to admit," she said. "No one has ever fought for me the way you did after Eddie Reno grabbed my ass."

"It was more than that." Tom tensed underneath her. "The fact that he implied my brother would pass you around like you were some kind of…whore." It was as though he didn't like saying the word even though Aurora had heard him say it plenty of times when he was playing the latest NHL game on the Xbox and someone had just scored on his goalie. "My brother is an asshole. I can admit that. But he would never do that to you."

"I know," Aurora said, nodding her head.

Another kiss, this one on her jawline.

"I'm signing with the Gulls," Tom told her. "They want me. Just…me. And I know you have a good job with my brother that you might not want to give up. But I love you and I want you to stay with me. If you don't want to, I understand. It'll be hard, but I know I can't make you do something you don't want to do. That's been happening with me my entire life and I won't do the same to you. But Newport is where I belong."

Aurora's smiled widened. "Good," she said. "Because I belong with you."

She tilted her head down and captured his lips with hers.

"I love you too, Tom," she murmured against him.

Tom grinned. "So I take it you already put your two weeks' in with Michael?"

"Actually, Michael fired me after what happened between you and Eddie and the fact that I made the wrong call with Arizona," she said.

"What a dick."

"I know," Aurora said, "but I hear his brother is way worse."

Tom wrapped his arms around her and tackled her to the bed. She burst out into laughter as he looked down at her and stuck up his finger.

"You are a lucky woman," Tom declared.

"I know," Aurora said before he attacked her with an onslaught of tickles.

And she was.