“And,” Brooke continued and leaned forward with sharp eyes, “you were with him and then?”
Mallory hesitated just a fraction too long.
Violet slapped her knee. “She banged King Jakob.”
Mallory groaned and covered her face. “Please don’t call him that.”
“We absolutely will,” Violet said. “Now. Details.”
Mallory exhaled slowly. She told them about leaving for a long hike and getting caught in the storm, about the old shacktucked away in the mountains, and about the way Jakob had looked at her like the world narrowed when she stepped into it. She talked about the cold, the quiet, the intensity of being alone with him in a place that was cut off from everything.
She told them about the tension. The almosts. The way he always stopped just before the line blurred too far.
But she did not tell them about the auroras.
It felt like a secret sacred to only her and Jakob. The girls didn’t need to know about the living sky or the way he had put his coat around her to keep her warm. That part stayed tucked safely inside her chest, warm and private.
“So let me get this straight,” Brooke said when Mallory finished. “He takes you to a loveshack, looks at you like he’s barely holding himself together, and then… nothing happens?”
She burst into laughter. “A loveshack? Have you been listening to the 80’s station again?”
“Forget that. What happened if nothing happened?” Brooke threw her hands up.
“Something happened,” Mallory said softly.
Violet tilted her head, studying her. “Just notthatsomething.”
Mallory nodded. “And we were just hiking. He didn’t take me to any loveshack on purpose. We were just lucky it was there.”
Brooke groaned. “Maybe he’s just taking things slow.”
“The slow burn is going to kill me.” Mallory let out a weak smile. “And I’m not the type to hop into bed like that.”
Brooke leaned over and hugged her. “You haven’t hopped into bed with anyone, ever. But I agree. His slow approach is going to get annoying.”
Violet smiled knowingly. “It already is.”
Mallory finally escaped to her own room and leaned back against the pillows. Exhaustion finally caught up with her. Her body ached and her heart felt stretched thin, but full.
Jakob was a mystery. A storm wrapped in restraint. And she was falling for him, or had already.
Whatever they were circling around together, it wasn’t finished yet. Not even close.
As tired as she was, Mallory didn’t sleep like she expected.
She drifted in and out of shallow, restless dreams while her body twisted beneath the sheets as if she could outrun her own thoughts. The resort room was quiet but her mind refused to be.
In her dream, the sky was alive.
Auroras spilled across it in impossible colors with green melting into violet, silver streaked with blue, and all curling and pulsing like something with a heartbeat. She stood on the ridge again, snow crunching beneath her boots, Jakob beside her. Only this time, he didn’t stop.
His coat slid from her shoulders, falling into the snow. His hands were warm, sure, tracing her face, her neck, her arms as if he were memorizing her. When he leaned in, there was no hesitation, no restraint. His mouth found hers and—
Mallory jolted awake with a sharp inhale. Her heart hammered in her chest.
The room swam back into focus. The muted glow of the alarm clock. The faint hum of the heater. Her own breath coming too fast.
She rolled onto her side, then onto her back, then back again. The sheets tangled even worse around her legs. Sleep was done with her. All that remained was memory.
