Heart of Stone - Book 2: Hearts Collide
Chapter 12 - Aubree (Part 1)

Stone asked Aubree to change before they headed out. Even though she had initially put the yellow sundress on for him, thinking he’d like her in it, she suspected his reasons why. However, given the subtle blush in his cheeks when he asked her to go on a date with him, she thought it would be fun to tease him first.

“Don’t you like my dress?”

She peered up through lowered lashes as he rubbed the back of his neck. Cerulean blues drifted over her skin before dashing away. He swallowed, the hint of pink burning deeper into his face and neck.

“Your bruises...”

Ha. He may have diverted the attention to the bruises around her neck but his body language hinted that he liked very much what he saw. Smirking to herself, she agreed to change and went back upstairs.

It had been a little over a week since she first got those bruises. They had turned from purplish-blue to green and now they were yellow. While they looked much better than they had a few days ago, self-consciousness continued its nibbling assault in public.

Still wanting to look nice for their date, she put on a high-collared, sleeveless white top with navy blue thread stitched along the seams and a pair of dark wash blue jeans. She kept her hair in the braid and outlined her eyelids with a dark brown, almost black, eyeliner. She dabbed on some dusty rose eyeshadow with her fingertips and a soft pink lip gloss that made her lips look naturally a shade darker.

She was sure that Stone wouldn’t care if she even put makeup on but she wanted to look a little nicer for their date.

When she was done, she grabbed her purse and clay-gray faux leather jacket and hurried downstairs.

Stone was nowhere to be found.

The revving of a motorcycle’s engine called her to look outside.

Sure enough, he was out there with his black leather jacket on, a helmet under one arm, and another one—a hot pink one—resting on the back seat of the bike.

After slipping on her black flats, she stepped outside and walked up to Stone sitting on the bike as she raked her teeth over her bottom lip. Her eyes swept over the sleek black machine again before meeting his gaze. “We’re taking the motorcycle?”

He grinned as he put his helmet on, the visor open. “Yes.”

“Why?”

He reached for the pink one behind him and set it on her head. “Because I like the feel of your arms around me.”

He snapped the visor shut on her, hiding her face from view as she grinned. Cheeky.

Her hesitation was gone as she climbed on behind him. “You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Absolutely,” he told her over his shoulder before he snapped his visor down.

He revved the engine, making her arms squeeze tightly around his waist and earning a chuckle from him before they pulled out.

The narrow lane from the house wound through the forest and out onto a gravel road for a mile before they turned onto a quiet paved road. Sunlight flickered through the canopy of leaves overhead, the light dancing in her eyes before the road curved and the morning light was beside her.

She rested her head against his back as they flew through the forest before the land opened up to fields of sprouting grains. The sun shone on her right as they made their way north and into the city limits of the metropolis.

Stone avoided the major highways, much to Aubree’s relief. The lack of traffic enabled her to relax and take in her surroundings.

When they drove into Edina, just west of Minneapolis, and stopped at the first red light, Aubree asked, “So, where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” was all he would say.

Rush hour traffic was waning and after a few more lights, they entered Minneapolis.

She began to chew on her bottom lip, her thoughts flitting to Dan. What could he be doing right now? Was he at work? Or was he at home, too devastated and heartbroken to get out of bed?

As her mind clouded with guilt, she didn’t notice when Stone pulled into a parking lot and parked the motorcycle. It wasn’t until he turned off the engine and climbed off that her attention was snapped back to her surroundings. She looked up at the large stone structure and the red roof across the street from them. “Why are we at a church?”

The welcome sign of the impressive Mount Olivet Lutheran Church was within sight until Stone stepped in front of her. Taking his helmet off before taking hers off and setting them down on his seat, he looked down at her on the bike with furrowed brows. “What’s wrong?”

Frowning back at him in puzzlement, she searched his eyes. Why did he look at her with such a pained, yet concerned expression? It made her heart twist and she wanted to touch him, to reassure him that everything was fine.

Then it occurred to her. She had tensed up when they entered the city and her thoughts were taken over by Dan.

Her cheeks heated up as she lowered her head and a few loose strands of hair fell before her face. “Nothing.”

This was supposed to be a nice date and now she had ruined it by thinking about Dan and getting all emotional. Stupid. So stupid.

He took half a step toward her, closing the little bit of distance between them and bent down. Cupping her cheeks in his large hands, he tilted her face up and looked into her eyes. Her pulse beat against the edge of his pinkie fingers under her jaw. The heat of her skin merged with his under his touch. There was a gentleness in the way he cradled her face. In the way his eyes gazed into hers. A pinch of pain leaked out like cold water against her neck drawing a shiver to course through her down to her toes. A cold, achy sensation seeped into her bones as her heart clenched.

“It’s okay to be sad.” His voice was a whisper that rumbled in his throat.

She squeezed her eyes shut, pushing back on the memory of Dan curling into himself. His head in his hands. The pain in his voice as she shattered his world. Their world. A world she no longer belonged in.

She took a shuddering breath. “I really hurt him.”

“You did what you had to.”

But at what cost?

How cruel it was to bring Dan into her life only to throw him away like a used article of clothing. He deserved better than that.

She wished she could go back in time and tell her younger self not to get involved with Dan. Not to fall in love with him. Not to dream of a future together with him. He could have found someone else to give his heart to. Someone else worthy of his love and affection.

But then, she never would have come to Minneapolis and met Gwen and Stone.

“He didn’t deserve it.”

“When is it ever deserved?”

She swallowed, the guilt constricting her throat.

He pressed his lips to her forehead. “You know, not only can I sense shifts in your emotions based on your scent and heartbeat, but when I touch you too?”

The hairs on the back of her neck tingled as he pulled away and she opened her eyes. “I feel it too... when I touch you.”

Lowering his hands, he pulled her into his arms. She unzipped his jacket and buried her face into his T-shirt. Clinging to him, she inhaled the earthy musk she had come to recognize as uniquely his and allowed it to comfort her senses. Slipping a hand under her jacket, he rubbed the small of her back, unwinding the cold tendrils that curled around every nerve of her body. After a few minutes, she sighed in contentment.

“You’re not alone.” His voice was soothing as his hand continued its gentle massage. “Your suffering is my suffering. But there’s a part of me that’s broken and has been broken for a century. I can’t heal you and I can’t be healed overnight. We share a common pain right now and all I want to do is take that pain away from you.” His fingers grazed across her jaw to her chin and tipped it up as his eyes held hers. “I need you as much as you need me. I need time, as much as you do. I don’t want to rush what we have. I want to take it slow. I want to discover who you are as a person, not merely as the reincarnation of my soulmate.” He swallowed. “I want to be able to tell you, with conviction, of my feelings for you when I can stop comparing you to her.” He closed his eyes, as his brows drew together. “Forgive me.”

A twang of bitterness, pain, and jealousy, plucked at her heart with the knowledge that he’d been comparing her to someone else, but at the same time, she understood. She still found it hard to believe that she had lived another life, or at least her soul had, with this man.

The week-old stubble along his jaw scratched the palm of her hand as she reached up to touch him. His hand cupped hers as he opened his deep blues and gazed down at her with pained longing.

“You have my forgiveness but it’s not my forgiveness that you need,” she said as emotion bubbled up in her throat and she struggled to push it down. “You have to forgive yourself, just like I need to forgive myself.”