Aura Finley

"Aura, wake up."

I whined when someone rigorously stirred me in sleep. To give that person a piece of mind who dared disturb my beauty sleep, I irritatedly opened my eyes, only to find dark brown mesmerizing eyes filled with merriment staring back at me.

I blinked a few times to adjust my vision and found a grinning Kian hovering over my face.

"Well, good morning, cheesesteak." His grin widened. "I'm sorry, but I'd have to cut short your hot and sensual dream about me because I have to show you something glorious."

Unintentionally, at the mention of the word glorious, my eyes traveled down his glory whose morning excitement was evident through his denim jeans. All the naughty stuff that thing did with me last night came flashing before my eyes and I felt my feminity pooling in heat again.

My eyes were trained on there when I saw his body vibrating and he dropped himself flat on the grassy soil, laughing like there was no tomorrow.

"Jesus, Aura, you're so damn naughty!" He suddenly came over to me and pressed me on the blanket with his body along with my hands held on the side of my face.

The mad smile still hadn't left his lips. "I wasn't talking about my glory, though, I'd love you to take the aroused matter in your hands and handle it your way."

My face flushed at the choice of his words. I had never been the one to blush frequently or easily, however, he would make me dip in blush just with his flirting skills.

"I...I..." I stuttered, unable to speak for myself.

"You are adorable." Laughing, he pecked my nose. "See, how your nose turned red."

Feeling utterly mocked, I narrowed my eyes at him and wiggled to have my arms free from his hold. "Move away, you flirtatious jerk!"

His laughter only intensified. "Alright, alright, I'll move away, but don't you wanna see what I wanted to show you?"

I stopped wiggling and glanced back into his eyes which were now twinkling with emotions, not amusement. He seemed sincere this time, so I again gave in.

"What is it?" I asked in a whisper.

His smile turned gentle. "Look on your left."

With my eyebrows creased, I turned my head to the left, and a sudden gasp of amazement left my throat when the sky blended in Rosey and yellow color with the evaporating darkness of the last night appeared before my eyes.

I pushed Kian off of me and excitedly jumped on my feet and rushed near the cliff. The sun had yet to rise. The slight arc of the sun visible above the horizon imparted a mild golden hue to the sky.

My smile knew no bounds. The scenery was marvelous and I didn't want to take my eyes off it.

I felt Kian circling his arms around my waist and he dropped his chin on my shoulder.
"Isn't it glorious?"

With my one hand placed on his arm that circled my waist and another gripped his forearm, I leaned back against him. "It surely is. Thank you, Kian for having me witness this incredible morning view."

"This is merely the trailer of what you'll witness when with me. Be with me and I'll show you as many beautiful scenes as you want to see. I can't promise but I'll try my best to fill your life with every possible adventure out there."

He whispered and I felt my heartbeat quicken. The life I had desired to live was being assured to be given to me, yet I had doubts. I couldn't get the heaviness out of my heart of what my parents went through.

Not wanting to ruin the moment with my uneasiness, I turned and cupped his face. I smiled. "I'm sure you will."

He smiled but it didn't have that Kian's charm. I was no fool. I could sense the pain I gave him by not answering his questions with the answers he wanted. I hadn't promised him anything. I had my reasons for that. But it didn't mean I did not feel anything for him.

We stared at each other for a while, not uttering a word. Maybe it was us giving ourselves time to think over, however, instead of thinking about what may go wrong, I was lost in his captivating eyes.

Shortly, I saw his mischievous smile appearing back and his eyes began to sparkle with impishness and I was like- uh oh, he was back.

Through my waist, he pulled me against him and wiggled his eyebrows. "Did you enjoy what we did last night?"

I was thinking that why hadn't this usual question come up yet.

Suppressing my smile, I faked being oblivious. "Uh, what did we do? I don't remember. Did we do something worth remembering last night?"

I widen my eyes. "Oh, you're talking about rock climbing, aren't you? Uh, foolish me, of course, you are. Well, I did enjoy it." I grinned.

His smile widened in a grin. "Cheesesteak, you should have known by now that you can't act over smart with me."

My heart skipped a beat when he leaned toward me and kissed the side of my ear. Then he whispered, "I can easily remind you of how I had you moaning in pleasure; how you begged me to go fast and hard; how you did not want me to stop fucking you."

Shiver spread down my body and goosebumps prickled over my skin, and I slightly trembled which, I was sure, he sensed since I heard his husky chuckle.

"Already remembered? Dang it, I was thinking of reminding you by doing it all over again." He nibbled on my ear.

His lips moved down to my neck, showering wet kisses down my throat.

"Kian..." I breathed when I felt his hands reaching inside my t-shirt. Although he didn't hear me, he just felt my skin through his hand under my t-shirt, but his hands came to cease on my stomach.

He pulled away, frowning. "Shit, Aura we need to leave."

He frantically wrapped the blanket and shoved it into his bag. He then began shoving other things including the discarded wrappers of energy bars into his bag.

I opened my mouth to speak but he wasn't done yet.

"As much as I want to take you again, I can't." He came to me and made me wear the climbing gear again. "For the first thing, I have to feed you breakfast, and secondly, we have to go back to the manor or everybody question us. They are going to question us anyway considering that we were out together all night."

I held his hand, stopping him from fastening my harness. I studied his eyes, smiling mischievously.

"I remember you saying you were fearless. Now you are scared of being questioned?"

"I'm not. I'm doing it for you because I know you're still unsure about your feelings towards me. You don't want us to be exclusive just yet. I know and I understand."

I don't know why but his words were a hard blow on my face. It was as if he was mocking me even though he wasn't.

He lowered his eyes and went on tightening the rope around my waist, while my gaze lingered into the void. I had hurt him badly, hadn't I?

"Kian..." I whispered and he looked back at me again. I cupped his face.

"I may not be sure about taking things further just yet, but remember one thing...I wouldn't have given myself to you if I was unsure about my feelings."

He kissed my forehead. "Thank you. This is enough for me to be in peace for now."

We then climbed down the rock and by the time we rea hed down, the sun had fully taken over the night sky.

While I was removing the ropes my eyes landed on the car and I sighed in unexpected relief. "Good thing Zoya's car is intact. How could have we parked the car in an isolated area without worrying about it?"

To which Kian shrugged. "Relax Aura, there's barely a movement in this area. I wouldn't risk losing someone else's property. Moreover, I have the security alarm on my phone; Zoya provided me that before we left."

I nodded my head and then we drove off and stopped by a Lebanese diner for breakfast and headed back to the manor.

The people working to embellish the manor for the D day which was the next day were running frantically here and there to get the work done as quickly as possible. It was chaotic all around. We spotted our teammates along with Zoya and approached them.

"Oh, Kian." Zoya rushed to him and held his hands. "Thank you so much for bringing me out of the mess. The flowers reached just now and are being unloaded from the truck as we speak. You are a savior."

Kian responded with a smile. "Well, I wouldn't allow the career of a deserving woman to drown for some negligible reasons."

My heart warmed at his words and also I saw Zoya getting emotional as she looked at him with admiration, although she controlled her tears and whispered, "Thank you."

She then disappeared after giving some instructions about work and left us under scrutinizing gaze of our teammates.

"Where have you been all night? As for I can guess, your work wasn't to take the night." Leo questioned with his eyebrows raised.

"And why are your clothes dirty as if you two rolled down on something muddy?" It was Rachel who had us look at our clothes.

I hadn't noticed that our clothes had gone dirty by climbing the rock. I then looked at Kian's and his clothes were the same as mine.

Then I heard Vinnie's comment that had me blushing. "Or you two had rough muddy sex all night?"

"No, it's not-" I was about to make up something when Kian beat me to it.

"You guys, our night was indeed rough, I tell you. We couldn't sleep a wink last night because we were busy-"

My eyes widened at Kian's reply. Just what was he saying?!

"Kian!" I raised my voice a little to warn him not to speak any further because he did say he wouldn't disclose this to anyone.

"C'mon Aura, let me explain to them what activity we were involved in last night." He winked and continued.

"So guys, we had a pretty heated night."

Ugh, Kian stop! I mentally groaned.

All of them had their eyes on us to hear the juicy details. I saw Ezra whose gaze was hard and jaw clenched.

"Wooo~, heated." Joy and Leo laughed and the gaze of the girls was directed at me. At the moment, all I wanted was to go back to the top of the rock mountain and never come down.

"Yes, and active too." Kian glanced at me and I pleaded with my eyes for him to stop, but only he did was wink at me.

"Oh c'mon, spill it already." Mia groaned.

"Alright, alright." Kian raised his hands. "Zoya's car broke down and we had to push it to the mechanic shop. Don't tell it to Zoya, though."

"Ugh! I thought I was gonna something interesting. Such a waste of time." Vinnie groaned. "C'mon, let's get back to work guys."

She dragged Joy with her and others dissipated as well except for Ezra.

"Aura, could you spare a few minutes to talk with me?" Ezra asked and my gaze went to Kian.

He looked between us before speaking, "I'll catch you guys later. Have to change."

With that, he walked past us.

Sighing, I looked at Ezra. "What is it, Ezra?" I asked softly.

He stepped closer to me and wanted to come further close but I took a step back, which made him stop moving.

"You alright?" He questioned. "I mean you two had to deal with a broken car all night."

I bit the inside of my lower lip and replied awkwardly. "Err, yes, I'm good. It wasn't much of a hassle actually."

He nodded his head, then his jaw clenched and his eyes turned hard. "Just so you know, I don't believe your story."

Annoyance surged inside me. "It's up to you, I'm not going to explain myself. Besides, you're not supposed to be bothered about what I do in my personal life." I stated firmly.

Not wanting to have a conversation with him anymore, I walked past him but stopped short in my track when he spoke,

"You have fallen for Kian, haven't you?"

My heartbeat raced a mile. Had I? That was one question I was probably running away from.

However, I wasn't obliged to answer him.

"Again, it's none of your business." I gritted through my teeth, without turning over to him.

In a quick movement, I was spun to face him. And I met with furious Ezra. "You two spent the night together, didn't you?" He gritted out.

I withdrew my arm from his hold. "We went out for work together which means we were together. It's not hard to guess."

Angler flashed in his eyes. "You know what I mean, don't try to manipulate me. You kept me in dark, Aura."

"Excuse me?" I screeched. "What dark? Hadn't I made it clear to you not to keep your hopes high? Don't blame this on me, Ezra. You were the one who didn't want to give up despite being warned."

"Yes, I did not want to give up because I thought you wanted time to think about me. But I never knew you'd make a fool of me by getting involved with Kian despite knowing I was trying to woo you."

That's it. I had had enough of him.

"Enough Ezra. I did make it clear before and I will make it clear now. I can't reciprocate what you feel for me. Man up and accept it." I stated firmly, however, I kept my voice in check.

"I have now." He took a step back, without breaking eye contact with me. "Because I don't want a bitch like you to make a fool out of me anymore. I have now understood that you're not worth being involved with."

At that, I slapped him hard. Good thing, no one saw this, it wouldn't have mattered even if they did. But I didn't want their curious gaze on me when I had to run away the next day. It would have caused problems in the escape plan.

With that, he walked away, leaving me in tears and heartbroken. I thought he was a good guy worth being friends with, but guess he wasn't at all. He was a downright rude and insensitive bastard.

His vile behavior had my mind reaching to Kian. Kian was way better than him. Despite not promising anything, he understood me, he didn't force me for anything. But Ezra, he called me worthless in my face for not reciprocating feelings for him.

I had never felt this low in my whole life that he made me feel in a few minutes. His accusation made me feel like an opportunistic bitch.

Harshly wiping off my tears, I ran back to my room to change my clothes. I wouldn't cry for some awful bastard. He and his words did not mean a thing to me. However, my tears didn't want to stop, they ran down my face like a waterfall.

In between my silent cries, I had a shower and changed into my uniform. I then composed myself before heading out of my room.

Just to my luck, I bumped into Kian in the hallway.

He grinned. "Hey, you have changed-" But the grin on his lips disappeared when his eyes met mine.

He rushed to me and cupped my face. "What happened? Have you been crying?"

I tried to smile. "Uh, no-"

"Don't you dare lie, Aura!" He stated, searching for the answer in my eyes. I lowered my eyes because I felt transparent under his gaze.

"It was Ezra, wasn't it? He made you cry. Tell me what did he say, I'll set him straight." He gritted out.

I grabbed his hands. "No Kian, you'll not do anything. We're not going to be in contact with any one of them after a day, so let it be."

"What did he say to you? I am not leaving you unless you tell me." He was adamant to know.

I had to get the heaviness out of my chest, hence I told him. "He...he called me a worthless bitch for not accepting to be with him."

"That bastard!" He swore loudly. "I'm gonna have a word with him."

He tried to walk away but I stopped him by grabbing his wrist. "Kian, stop."

"Why? Why do you want me to stop? He called you something you're not. Does he know how strong-willed and daring you are? Does he know how you help troubled people live their life happily by helping them escape from nasty situations? No, he doesn't! He has no right to call you worthless."

Tears again ran down my face. Kain was really someone out of this world.

Now I was sure that I indeed have fallen for him.

I cupped his face. "He doesn't need to know because he doesn't mean anyone to me. And it's going to matter the day after, so leave it. Leave him be."

He pulled me to him and embraced me in his arms. "You're not worthless. Don't ever listen to anyone's shit talk about you, get that?"

I nodded my head against his shoulder. He kissed my hair. "You are an amazing girl, Aura."

"Thank you, Kian," I whispered.

Pulling away, he tucked my hair behind my ears and wiped my tears with his thumb. "Now, stop crying. Anyway, you are right, he doesn't need to know how feisty, cold, beautiful, and sexy you are."

I laughed and playfully slapped his chest.

"Ah, and there's the million-dollar smile I love." He ruffled my hair, making me groan for making my hair untidy.

"Now, in case you haven't noticed, we haven't kissed yet." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Oh? What do you want me to do then?" I chuckled, wiping the traces of tears from my face.

"Not much, just kiss me back." With that, he dipped his head and sealed my lips in a searing kiss, making me forget what Ezra said to me.

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