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Chapter Forty-Six

THEODORE

A urora’s mad at me.

I know, I know. What else is new? She’s always mad at me.

I can’t stand it now. Now that we’re…whatever we are. After our conversation in the hallway, she was different. Quieter. She didn’t make snarky comments or light up much. When I texted her after I got back to my room, fully planning on making up for leaving her wanting last week, I got no response.

Like any logical person who hates being ignored, I stormed to her hotel room. My fist slams against the pale-yellow door a few times. “Roo? We need to talk!” I call through the wood.

It takes a second but the door swings open, revealing Aurora. She’s in a T-shirt and shorts; Juliette is standing behind her. Shocking . I’m surprised Hext isn’t hiding in there too.

“You don’t have to yell. That seems like a little much ,” Aurora says.

“It’s dramatic as fuck,” Juliette chimes in, unhelpful as usual.

I choose to ignore her obvious attempt to provoke me. “You weren’t answering my texts. We need to talk.” My eyes dart to Juliette who has her tattooed arms crossed over her chest. “ Alone .” I’m sure everyone’s favorite homewrecker has a home to wreck somewhere.

She rolls her eyes and gives Aurora a side hug. “Way to make a girl feel unwanted, Abrams. No wonder Rory’s scared of you.” As she pushes past me in the doorway, she punches me in the shoulder.

Once she leaves, I step inside and close the door behind me. My gaze lands on Aurora, who’s refusing to make eye contact. “You’re mad at me.”

“I’m not. I mean, I’m now annoyed because you’re making a scene.”

“You were ignoring me. I don’t like to be ignored.”

She rolls her eyes, turning away from me. “I wasn’t ignoring you. I—” She stops herself from speaking and sighs. Her shoulders deflate as she gives in to whatever she’s feeling. “You’re dropping your title because of me .”

I sigh. This isn’t what I wanted to talk about. Dropping the damn title sucks. It would be a lie to say it doesn’t. This was the only way to please Nathan. The more he thought about it, the more pissed he got that I made an even bigger mess of things right in front of him with zero fear. I’ve never had to face consequences before; he decided now was the best time. When it comes to keeping my job or dropping the title, I’d rather drop the title.

“Yeah, I’m dropping the title. I’d lose a million titles for you. You have no idea the things I’d give up because you’ve somehow become the most important thing in my life.” The words feel uncharacteristic coming from me but I need Aurora to understand.

I’m tired of the pretenses. I’m tired of dancing around it because she might or might not be scared of what it means. And I sure as hell can’t let her walk around blaming herself for my decisions. She has to bear enough weight. She can’t carry mine too.

She turns to look at me, light green eyes looking conflicted . “Being the champion was all you ever wanted.” Her bottom lip quivers.

“It was,” I agree. Taking a few steps forward to close the distance between us, I put my hand under her chin, forcing her to meet my gaze. “Until I found something better.”

Things have steadily changed between us. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I knew. All I know is that it’s all different now. I’m different now.

Tears form in her eyes as I continue. “You’re what matters to me now, Roo. Not a title. You .”

“Theodore.” She breathes my name as her eyes lock on mine.

The sound of my name spilling from her lips sends shockwaves of need and desire rippling through me. I wrap my hands around her waist, picking her up. She doesn’t fight it. Her body molds to mine as her legs wrap around me, letting me easily carry her to the bed.

Aurora shivers in my arms. I’m so careful as I drop her back onto the bed, avoiding any unnecessary damage to her ankle. I watch as her body bounces, her hair splaying out beneath her.

She’s the most beautiful thing in the world. She took her makeup off after the show, so I can see the light scattering of freckles along her pale cheeks, her full pink lips slightly parted. I sure as fuck don’t deserve her, but I’m going to take advantage of every moment given to me by this perfect creature.

Leaning down, I nip at the sensitive skin of her neck again. Aurora tilts her head to the side, silently permitting me to plant kisses along her smooth, pale skin. “I can’t stop staring at you,” I confess between the kisses. “Whenever you’re around, you’re all my eyes go to. I like watching the way your hips sway when you walk and how the light hits your hair and makes it glow like a halo. Even your nose is damn cute. I like the way it wrinkles when you laugh. I could watch you for hours, Roo.”

I’m ripping myself open at the seams, putting parts of myself on display for her that no one has ever seen before. The weakness that I shut down and pretend doesn’t exist is hers for the taking. Discomfort ripples through me, and I focus on her neck because then I won’t have to see her face if she cringes away in discomfort.

My teeth sink into her soft flesh, making her gasp and arch into it. That reaction only makes my cock harden and I busy myself by worrying a maroon-colored mark on her neck with my teeth and then soothing it over with my tongue. Mine .

“You’re so goddamn brave and tenacious. You’re strong and smart and you put up with my shit more than any woman ever has before,” I whisper against her skin.

Her fingers lightly trace over my arms, sliding up and down and making me wonder how one touch can make me feel more than anything else ever has. Aurora speaks quietly, “I think your smile—your real smile, not your shit-eating grin—is the most beautiful thing in the world.”

My heart slams against my ribcage as my vulnerability is met by her own. Tilting her chin back, I run my tongue down the slope of her throat, feeling her body squirm beneath me. “You’re the only one who gets a real smile from me. You’re the only one I can be real with. When everyone else expects a villain, you make me want to be a hero.”

Her body arches into my touch, but she lets out a quiet laugh that’s broken up by a moan. “Don’t be something you’re not. Sometimes the villain gets the girl, Abrams.”

She called me on my bullshit. Okay, fine. I jumped the gun when I spoke about wanting to be a hero. That’s not who I am. Never have been, never will be. I do things for her because I want her to be mine and I want to make her life easier.

But I’m not her knight in shining armor.

“Keep looking at me like that and calling me by my last name and I’m going to pin you down and devour you,” I warn, heat dripping from my voice as my tongue dips into the hollow of her throat before I move down to her collarbones. “You’re the worst thing that ever happened to me,” I whisper against her warm skin.

Stupid damn t-shirt is in my way. Gripping the bottom of it, I roughly tug it and Aurora sits up, letting me pull it over her head and toss it off the bed, finding her wonderfully bra-less. “You turned my entire goddamn world upside down,” I tack on as my lips kiss down her sternum.

Goosebumps erupt over her skin. Her body twists and arches, trying to get more from me. We’re not rushing tonight. I need to take my time. I need her to know that she’s mine.

“Wouldn’t that make me the best thing that’s ever happened to you?” she challenges.

Wouldn’t that be the case for anyone else? Contrary to popular belief, I liked my life. I liked who I was. I didn’t ask for this redheaded spitfire to change everything for me.

My lips move to one of her full breasts, sucking a dusty pink nipple into my mouth. She cries out, fingers threading into my curls as I suck on it until it’s a stiff, painful peak. Pulling away with a pop, a string of saliva connects me to her still. “Absolutely not,” I answer gruffly. “You are the bane of my existence. A goddamn thorn in my side, making me want to do things that I shouldn’t want to do. I would commit felonies for you.”

Technically, I already have. A couple of times. Fraud to get her father moved to a different hospital, assaulting a co-worker, sort of blackmailing our boss. It was all worth it.

Her pale skin has a pink hue to it as I kiss my way over to her other nipple.

“No felonies,” Aurora gasps as I suck that nipple into my mouth, treating it the same way as I did the other one. Except I let my teeth scrape over this one and she whines, fingers tightening in my hair. “They’re not necessary.”

Fuck. I love the sound of her voice when it’s desperate and breathy, when she’s losing her mind for me .

“No promises,” I growl back. My lips leave her breasts and I set my sights on what I’ve wanted to see for so long. The start of the floral tattoo along her side. I can take in all the details I don’t usually see because of her clothing concealing it.

Detailed flowers start right underneath her armpit, down her ribcage, wrapping slightly onto her back. Darkly shaded leaves and stems connect the flowers, complete with a black and white ladybug settled on one of the leaves. It’s photorealistic, continuing down her side, over her hip, and stopping at the top of her thigh.

I trace my fingers over the details before my tongue follows that path. I’ve dreamed of this tattoo. Naively, I thought seeing the black and white ink would mean I finally reached my goal. I would be able to let go of the woman who’s wrapped around my heart like barbed wire, sinking into the organ and refusing to be pulled away without ripping it apart.

“You have consumed my every thought. I can’t go twenty minutes without wanting you in my life. Wanting to hear your voice, see your smile, watch you roll your eyes when you’re done with my shit. You know how long it’s been since I’ve been able to think about something other than myself or wrestling?”

I spill myself to her as I kiss down the tattoo, listening to the little hitches of her breath and the way she sighs.

Then she inhales sharply, her voice shakes as Aurora utters three words that stop me in my tracks. “You love me.”