An adventure with my Rune.
* * *
“New York,” I said breathlessly, reading the screen at our gate.
Rune smirked. “We always planned to go. It’ll just be briefer than we’d always thought.”
Completely speechless, I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his chest. Aunt DeeDee returned from speaking to the woman at the desk.
“Come on, you two,” she said, waving her hand toward the entrance to the plane. “Let’s get you onboard.”
We followed DeeDee. My mouth fell open when she showed us to the two front seats in first class. I looked at her and she shrugged. “What’s the point of being in charge of the first-class cabin if I can’t use the perks to spoil my favorite niece?”
I hugged DeeDee. She held on a little longer than normal. “Go on, now,” she said and shooed me to my seat. Aunt DeeDee quickly disappeared behind the curtain of the attendants’ section. I stood, watching her go. Rune took my hand.
“She’ll be okay,” he soothed, then pointed to the window seat. “For you,” he added. Unable to stop the excited giggle leaping from my throat, I sat down and stared out of the window at the people working on the ground below.
I watched them until the plane was fully boarded and we began to roll away. Sighing happily, I turned to Rune, who was watching me. Wrapping his fingers in mine, I said, “Thank you.”
“I wanted you to see New York.” He shrugged. “I wanted to see it with you.”
Rune leaned in to kiss me. I stopped his lips with my fingers. “Kiss me at thirty-nine thousand feet. Kiss me in the sky. Kiss me amongst the clouds.”
Rune’s minty breath ghosted over my face. Then he silently sat back. I laughed as the plane suddenly gained speed and we soared into the air.
When the plane leveled off, I suddenly found my lips being brought flush to Rune’s. His hands clasped my head as he took my mouth with his own. Needing something to keep me grounded, I gripped onto his shirt. I sighed against his mouth as his tongue dueled softly against mine.
When he pulled back, his chest heaving and skin warm, I whispered, “Kiss eight hundred and eight. At thirty-nine thousand feet. With my Rune … my heart almost burst.”
By the end of the flight I had lots of new kisses to add to my jar.
* * *
“This is for us?” I asked incredulously. I stared at the penthouse of the ridiculously expensive hotel in Manhattan my aunt had brought us to.
I looked up at Rune and I could tell, even through his ever-neutral expression, that he too was floored.
Aunt DeeDee stopped beside me. “Poppy, your mama doesn’t know this yet. But well, I’ve been dating someone for a while now.” A loving smile spread on her lips and she continued. “Let’s just say this room was his gift to you both.”
I stared up at her in amazement. But then a warmth filled me. I had always worried about Aunt DeeDee. She was on her own often. I could see in her face how happy this man had made her.
“He paid for this? For us? For me?” I asked.
DeeDee paused, then explained, “Technically, he doesn’t really have to pay for it. He owns the joint.”
My mouth, if possible, dropped further, until Rune playfully shut it with his finger under my chin. I stared at my boyfriend. “You knew?”
He shrugged. “She helped me plan all this.”
“So you knew?” I repeated. Rune shook his head at me, then carried our cases into the master bedroom to the right. He was clearly ignoring my daddy’s instruction of separate rooms.
As Rune disappeared through the doorway, my aunt said, “That boy would walk on broken glass for you, Pops.”
My heart filled with light. “I know,” I whispered. But that slight edge of fear I had begun to feel seeped into me.
Aunt DeeDee’s arm slipped around me. As I squeezed her back, I said, “Thank you.”
She kissed my head. “I didn’t do anything, Pops. It was all Rune.” She paused. “I don’t think, in all my life, that I’ve ever seen two kids love each other so hard so young, and even harder as teens.”