Twelve Truths and a Lie

by Christina Lee

Aurora

  When we showed up for the party the following day, Nicole and Michael were in the back yard with the kids and their extended family. Nicole was flaying her arms telling a story while one of the twins, Emily, if I wasn’t mistaken, pulled on her skirt attempting to gain her attention. She was clutching a Hot Wheels car in her hand, and given the state of the orange track behind her, she probably needed help setting up the ramp.

  The other twin, Erin, was standing at the plastic kitchen set that they had dragged outside, preparing some imaginary meal in a pot. It definitely brought back some childhood memories for me, not that I loved cooking in the least bit as an adult.

  Without a second's hesitation, Sydney headed over to Emily and knelt down on the ground to help snap the track pieces in place. She offered the twin a goofy smile and pulled her on her lap as they rearranged the cars in the lineup together.

  She looked lighter right then—beautiful, glowing—as if she’d finally accepted the reality of her situation. I spotted Maddie near the cooler with a soda in his hand, watching Sydney’s every move.

  Placing my hand on her shoulder, I bent down as I walked past and kissed her head. “You’re going to make a good mother someday. When it’s the right time.” She squeezed my fingers and got back to work as Emily made vroom vroom noises around the track.

  I greeted Nicole and Michael, and as I placed our wrapped present on the gift table near the snacks, I spotted Cameron by the trampoline playing hide and seek with the older cousins. I cracked up watching him swing one of the boys upside down and tickle his armpits after the kid fussed about his secret spot being rooted out.

  He placed the child right side up, and the kid reached his hands up to Cameron, begging him to do it again. Yeah, he’d pretty much be perfect with children of his own.

  When Cameron’s eyes met mine and held, my heart knocked hard in my chest. We were friends who had become intimate with each other. Even without the sexy times, I felt so many things for that man and I thought it might be mutual. Still, I didn’t know how, or even if, I should make that leap, especially since he would be leaving town soon.

  I had been a person who fell all too easily into relationships with men. But I hadn’t been in one for a year, let alone had intercourse. Cameron was recovering from a broken heart, and I may have been the one to help him along.

  I was a fixer—my friends had pointed that out to me long ago. Was that all I had become to Cameron? Someone who had aided him through a tough time? My fear of that possibility had kept me gun-shy around him as well.

  As the afternoon wore on, there was pizza, cake, and presents—enough to fill an entire room, it seemed. I thought of the kids on my caseload who could barely afford a pair of shoes, let alone plastic Barbies and kitchen sets and race cars.

  But every person learned valuable lessons in life, no matter their circumstance. And I figured those disadvantaged kids appreciated and valued things way earlier than those who had too much at their fingertips. And for that, they were immeasurably richer.

  Cameron stood near me watching a clown make animal-shaped balloons, our shoulders brushing at times. I resisted the urge to knit our fingers together, desperately wanting that closeness again.

  Cameron leaned forward, whispered something in the clown’s ear, and about a minute later, the tall man with the polka dotted outfit had manipulated a couple of green and red balloons into a flower.

  “Unless you’d rather have a light saber or sword?” Cameron asked, eyebrow quirked. I laughed and shook my head, too touched by his thoughtfulness to speak.

  But before I even had the chance to utter my thanks, the kids were squealing and shoving past us, begging the clown to design more bouquets.

  “See what you started?” I said, hugging the flower to my chest, lest some child try to swipe the hot commodity from me.

  A while later, a deejay, who was really a relative that brought his own equipment to every family function, had set up a makeshift dance floor on the back lawn. He was keeping the kids entertained with those strangely addicting Kids Bop tunes as they danced and sang at the top of their lungs.

  I made the rounds to Nicole’s extended family and caught up on their lives, as Michael walked by and handed me a glass of wine obscured in a red solo cup. I sipped it gratefully, wondering whether Cameron was inside the house because I hadn’t seen him for the better part of an hour.

  A shrill sound from the microphone on the dance floor was loud enough to make everybody, including me, cringe and cover their ears.

  “Aurora Jones?” the deejay announced in a serious tone, searching the tables for me. “Can you please come forward?”

  My limbs seemed to lock in place as my gaze sought Nicole’s to ask her what was up. But her eyebrows were scrunched together, and she seemed just as confused.

  I walked the few steps to the dance floor and stood awkwardly, looking to the deejay for a cue. But his gaze was peeled behind me, where Cameron now stood holding one of the twin’s hands. As they walked toward me, Erin was giggling.

  “What’s going on?” I asked Cameron, but his eyes darted away from mine.

  He bent down and whispered something in Erin’s ear. She grabbed the microphone that the deejay held out, the dense instrument nearly slipping from her chubby little fingers.

  “Aunt Rory?” she asked, looking up at me with a bemused expression. “Will you dance with Uncle Cam?”

  The murmur of the crowd behind me registered into a collective awwwww. My eyes widened and embarrassment heated my cheeks. But my heart also thumped a steady pitter-patter rhythm only for him.

  The deejay began playing a song that I quickly recognized as Lose My Breath, from our car trip home. My hand slipped over my mouth. “Oh, God.”

  Cameron cracked a tentative grin but his eyes were round and searching, like maybe he thought I was going to turn and bolt to my car. I definitely was considering it. What the hell was he thinking—this was a kid’s party, not the prom.

  Sydney stepped behind me and said, “I think Erin is waiting for your answer. And stop acting like a deer caught in headlights.”

  She gave my shoulder a little nudge and I sprang forward. “Oh, um, sure.”

  Cameron reached for my hand. I timidly connected our fingers, and then he pulled me toward him, into the middle of the pretend dance floor.

  “Christ, Aurora,” he murmured. “Way to make a guy sweat.”

  We began moving in circles, and as my eyes darted around, I noticed how very quiet and serious it became in the back yard. Everybody was staring as if waiting for us to do something—make out, hitch a ride to Vegas, perform an acrobatic routine.

  “I have no idea what’s going on right now,” I said, looking up at him.

  “Just go with it,” he whispered in my direction.

  “Okay.” His hands tightened around my waist, and he tugged me closer. I could smell him—like vanilla ice cream on a summer day, and I immediately felt at peace.

  When I looked over his shoulder, some adults from the gathering were shuffling toward the dance floor. Nicole and Michael, Michael’s parents, even Sydney and Maddie.

  Cameron’s fingers slid beneath my jaw. “Aurora?”

  I practically shivered at his tender touch. “Cameron?”

  His eyes were glued to mine. “Remember our car ride home?”

  “How could I ever forget?” I said. “I practically blubbered in front of you listening to this song.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk. Then he cleared his throat and his gaze turned thoughtful. “Do you remember what you said about why the lyrics got you choked up?”

  I felt tears pricking my eyes, I couldn’t even help myself. The song, the way Cameron had staged this dance, how his fingers felt on my back—so warm and protective.

  Even my heart was attempting to leap through my chest to get closer to him. No way to talk any sense into her now.

  “Yes,” I said in a watery voice. “I remember.”

  �
��That’s how I feel about you,” he whispered into my ear. “You walk in the room and I can’t catch my breath. My heart goes crazy. You’re like this warm and commanding light that I can’t turn away from. My very own Northern Light. I want to be near you all the time.”

  My breathing became erratic and I blinked back tears.

  “Aurora Jones,” he said, tightening his grip. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

  I gasped, taken aback. The request crushing in its simplicity. Yet the implication enormous, given the past year of my life.

  “What?” I asked, absently.

  “I’m not sure I can repeat all of that again. I didn’t bring any cue cards,” he said in a teasing voice, laced with regret. “But if you don’t—”

  “Aren’t you leaving?” I asked, cutting him off, my brain a whirlwind of chaos.

  “I’m not sure that I can,” he said, shrugging. “Not when you’re here and I could be walking away from the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  “God, Cameron.” I could feel my pulse thrumming in my veins. “I don’t want to be the reason you—”

  “You won’t be, I promise you,” he said, his voice strong and fierce. “Besides, can you really see me teaching in some shiny suburban school?”

  “I guess not,” I replied, a grin slipping across my lips. He was so amazing with his kids, possessing some intrinsic quality. He understood their needs.

  “I mentioned the job offer to my principal,” he said. “And he was really bummed. Asked me to hold off, to see if he could pull some strings to keep me in that classroom.”

  “I can see why,” I said, nodding. “He knows your value.”

  A ghost of a smile traced his lips as he twined his fingertips through the ends of my hair. I could’ve stayed right there, in that perfectly scripted moment, with him for the next year.

  “We can go slow—as slow as you want—but I have no desire to be with anybody else,” he said, and I saw a mixture of trepidation and wonder in his eyes. “I’m in love with you.”

  His words struck my chest like a thunderbolt, and I was standing in the center of the hurricane again, completely electrified and terrified all at once. Scarcely controlling my runaway breaths, I could feel a tear rolling down my cheek, but I was too numb to swipe at it.

  My heart had already vacated the premises and was nuzzling up with Cameron’s without even a time-out to properly think things through. Traitor.

  “I…” Glancing at him, I realized we had stopped dancing and his grip had loosened on my waist. His face had slightly crumpled as he waited on me to say something. “I’m scared.”

  “I’m scared, too,” he mumbled, taking a step back, as if to give me space. And I realized that I didn’t like it, him moving any further away. “But I’d rather navigate this fear with you than without you.”

  He watched me across the distance, his gaze strong and unwavering.

  “You’ve become one of my closest friends,” I said, gazing at his mouth and eyes, remembering exactly how gorgeous he looked in the throes of passion. And on that day he stood up for his student. “One of the best men I’ve ever known.”

  His eyes softened and he tenuously bit his lip.

  “And?” he asked, his voice barely audible above the music, which I only now realized had changed to a different song. I no longer had that gnawing and cloying feeling in my gut. The one that came with hearing those lyrics. I only felt happiness and hope.

  My fingertips grazed against his. “I’ve been in love with you for weeks.”

  He sucked in a harsh breath, his eyelids shutting. I watched his lashes flutter and his brow smooth out, as he seemed to weather his storm of emotions.

  When he opened his eyes, I saw so much longing reflected in them.

  His fingers gripped my neck, and his thumb brushed over the hollow of my throat. Everything else around us fell away. The drone of adults talking, kids squealing, music drifting along the wind.

  “Aurora,” he whispered, his tongue swiping across my lips. “I missed this.”

  And then he was kissing me, licking deeply inside my mouth. I moaned at the very sensation I’d been craving for days on end as his hands curved beneath my jaw.

  My fingers clutched at his waist dragging him nearer, and I kissed him with all I had. I let him feel everything as my lips fused to his. Everything I had to give.

  Then the sound whooshed back in and I heard clapping.

  Hoots and whistles and people laughing. Get a room!

  I was making out with Cameron at a kids party.

  Scratch that. I was making out with my boyfriend in my friend’s back yard, in the center of the lawn, next to plastic toys and leftover birthday cake.

  And in the presence of all of my closest friends, I had never felt more like myself. More alive. And more certain of my decision to take a leap with this man.

  34

  Cameron

  We’d just returned from an afternoon drive to a bulldog rescue center. Aurora had found her pup and would be returning the next day, after she completed the paperwork and bought supplies—carrier, food, and toys.

  I loved seeing that light in her eyes. It was mixed with trepidation, but she was a compassionate person, and that dog would have the best kind of home.

  We had devoured our Chinese takeout and were lying naked on her bed after I’d been between her legs, licking her senseless until she moaned my name.

  Now she knelt on the sheets in front of me, her fingers gripping my thighs and her slick tongue sliding lower on my shaft heading for my balls. Before she could make me lose my mind, along with my load, I snatched her arms and hauled her body up to mine.

  I spun her to the mattress, my lips claiming her mouth in a bruising kiss. I could still taste her on my tongue and that flavor mixing with the pre-come from her lips made me groan out loud. “You drive me crazy, Aurora.”

  My fingers braced the nape of her neck, drawing her forehead to rest against mine. I needed that constant connection with her. It helped me feel calm, grounded, at peace.

  “Now, Cameron,” she said against my mouth, her teeth nibbling at my bottom lip. “Please. I want you so much.”

  The rawness of her request was evident in her glossy eyes, her weighty breaths. The naked desire escaped from her flushed lips and stirred beneath her stormy indigo eyes.

  “You know what that will mean, right?” I said against her ear as I licked and sucked on the lobe.

  “What?” she asked, breathless, as her hands burrowed in my hair. She loved to tighten her fingers and tug at my unruly waves, begging me never to cut it. I loved it best when she scraped her nails along my scalp. It made me purr like a damn cat.

  “It’ll mean that you’re mine,” I said, in a playful tone. I knew that she despised any alpha male language, so I was liable to get kneed in the nuts. But I was deadly serious in that moment. I wanted Aurora and me to belong to each other in a way that meant something only to us.

  I licked a stripe across her neck and she shivered. “Nobody else can have you, Aurora.”

  Her fingers stilled and I figured I had gone too far. She tugged on my head so that I would meet her gaze. My eyes slid deliberately up to hers, expecting to find her lips twisted with sarcasm.

  Instead, I found tenderness in her features, the gravity in her gaze making my breath catch and my throat thicken with emotion. She knew what those words meant to me, given my recent betrayal.

  “I don’t want anybody else,” she whispered. “Only you. I promise to make you feel that every single day.”

  The way she looked at me, like I was responsible for hanging the moon, made my chest ache and swell. This girl was it for me. My confidante, my best friend. She had become my everything.

  “Are you sure?” I mumbled, searching for the stark truth in her eyes.

  As her hands groped my neck, she dragged my mouth to hers in a hungry kiss, telling me how certain she was.

  This meeting of our lips wasn’t nearly as gree
dy as the others before it, instead replaced by a skin-tingling gentleness. We kept our eyes open as we kissed and licked and tenderly bit each other’s lips and jaws and ears.

  As if we both wanted to be wholly present, fully aware, as we made this heady decision together—to give ourselves to each other in the ultimate way.

  “Cameron, inside me. Now.” She teased my bottom lip with her tongue, smoothly sweeping across it, urging me on.

  My hands roved over her body, mesmerized by her opaque skin, before I reached for a condom on her nightstand and rolled it quickly down my stiff erection.

  I arched over her and when my cock met her heat, I held her gaze as steady as the passion that bonded us together. Her eyes flickered closed as she sucked in a breath and moaned.

  I grew motionless, allowing her to adjust to my girth after having abstained for so many months. I was suddenly so damn glad we had waited, because being inside the person you were head over heels in love with was way different—more profound, awe-inspiring, more everything.

  I waited for her gaze to focus on me and when her hands braced my thighs, I surged forward, entering her partway.

  A sound—half hiss, half groan—burst from my lips at the sensation of finally being connected with her in this way.

  “God.” The words tumbled from her mouth before her hands reached around to my ass. Her fingers gripped my flesh as she dragged me flush against her so that I was buried to the hilt. “Oh, that’s—”

  She adjusted her legs to rest comfortably across my back, so that I could plunge even deeper in her wet and addicting passage.

  I rocked in and out, setting a mind-blowing, drugging rhythm. I clenched my teeth, barely hanging on, the feeling and the responsiveness too damn incredible.

  “Fuck, Aurora.” My voice sounded husky, as I was overcome with so many emotions at once. “So amazing. I want to stay buried inside you like this all night.”

  Our eyes remained fused to one another, and I stretched down to swipe my mouth against her pink and swollen lips. My stride remained deliberate and slow, memorizing every sound and expression, as I drove in and out of her.