Chapter 71

Wiping her hands on a towel, Aura eyed her kitchen sink and decided that the dishes could wait until later. Pulling her messy hair back up onto her head and securing it, she sighed before walking back into her living room, wondering if she should turn the television on to see if there was any new information on the explosion at Junon. The sick feeling in her stomach had continued to grow without word from Reno, and she had needed to try harder and harder to ignore the dread that came each time she wondered where he was.

The front door opened before Aura had taken two steps into the living room and she froze for a moment. Relief flooded her hard enough to make her stumble when Reno came through the door and Aura reached a hand out to her couch to steady herself.

"Reno…" she looked him over quickly, her eyes moving from his red hair, over the clean clothing he wore, including his old jacket. Deciding that he looked just fine, Aura looked back to his face to find him looking her over in turn. Slowly she raised a hand, reaching for him.

Reno had crossed the room before she could blink and practically lifted Aura off her feet. "Lock your fucking door…" he murmured an instant before his lips found hers, and Aura threw her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer as she felt his arms wind around her waist.

"Are you hurt?" he murmured, his breath hot on her skin and Aura shook her head, "Has anyone hurt you?"

"I'm fine…" Aura lifted a hand to his cheek, bringing his face up where she could see him, "Are you?" Reno's green eyes met hers for a moment and he nodded.

"I'm okay, Aur."

She leaned into him. "I… started to think…" shaking her head, Aura closed her eyes. "When nobody had heard… maybe you were dead…"

"No." he breathed, and Aura felt his lips trace lightly over her cheek. "I'm not dead." His grip tightened on her then and Aura nodded, looking up to meet his eyes when she felt a hand tilt her chin up. "Didn't I promise that I'll always come back to you…?"

Aura nodded, sliding both of her hands up to hold his face carefully as she met his gaze. She could feel Reno's hands moving over her, caressing and clutching at her as he kept pulling her closer to himself, never ceasing for a moment. Watching as the look in his eyes intensified and grew heated, Aura released a shuddering breath. "You're all I thought about." He murmured, that hot gaze moving over her while his hand on her lower back pressed her even closer, "Knowing that you were waiting for me…"

"Yes…" Aura breathed, nodding again, her eyes still on Reno's face. "I was."

"Mine…" he murmured, and Aura nodded again.

"Yes…"

Reno's lips crashed down on hers an instant later, his arms locking around her. His kiss was hungry and demanding and Aura felt herself melting, yielding to him. She sighed when his lips moved to her throat and down her chest, his hands still pulling her more tightly to himself.

"Not dead, see…?" Reno's voice was rough as he bent to kiss her again and Aura felt his hands moving up her thighs, dragging her dress with them.

"Reno…" she murmured, her hands sliding across his shoulders, "Maybe… do…do you want to …. move to the bedroom?"

His hands didn't stop what they were doing and Aura felt him easily rip her underwear away a moment before he'd spun her around, pressing himself firmly against her from behind. "No…" he growled in her ear, "Here…" Aura gave a soft gasp when Reno used a hand on the back of her neck to bend her over the back of the couch. She felt him pulling her dress up out of his way with his other hand and Aura braced herself with her own hands on the cushions of the couch as she widened her stance for him, listening as he undid his own pants. One of Reno's hands came to her hip when he was evidently ready, though he kept the other on the back of Aura's neck, holding her down over the couch as he positioned himself.

Closing her eyes, Aura bit her lip, trying to ready herself as her heartrate increased, thumping loudly in her ears. She felt Reno's grip tighten on the back of her neck a moment before he'd pushed into her with a single hard thrust. "AH!" Aura's hands moved across the cushions, trying to get a better grip before he'd thrust again. "AH!" Reno used his hold on Aura to bend her further over the couch, pushing her down, before both hands then took a firm hold of her hips. His fingers dug into her skin as he increased his vicelike grip, pulling her up and back to meet the vigorous rhythm he had settled into. Aura gasped. Her feet didn't reach the floor in this position, and she could do nothing but try to steady herself with her hands on the cushions, scrambling to find purchase after every movement he made. Her eyes closed as she listened to the almost animalistic sounds Reno was making, hunched over her as he continued his hurried thrusting.

"Ah… ah…" her hands clenched down on a cushion when she felt Reno shift his stance, finding a new angle, and her arms began to grow weak with the attempt at bracing herself. Dipping her head, Aura tried to force herself to keep balanced, grunting with the effort of holding the position as Reno's hand found the back of her neck again and he gave a particularly hard thrust followed by a pleasured groan, all the while holding her in place. "Nnnh… ah… Reno…" she gasped, fingernails scratching at the couch.

His hands went to her shoulders, lifting her up slightly, but then using that hold on her to pull her back to meet his thrusts. She groaned again, her hair coming loose from where she'd tied it atop her head and falling down into her eyes. "S-stop…" she thought for a moment that he hadn't heard her, but then he faltered, and his hands became gentle, moving down to her waist.

"…You okay?"

"Yeah…" she pushed her hair back, "… just…"

"Aur?" he asked, pulling out of her as she slid off the couch. Aura turned to face Reno, taking in the concerned look on his face. "Did I hurt you?"

"No." She lifted herself to sit on the back of the couch again, reaching out to pull Reno closer by his shirt. Then, smiling up at him, she pushed his jacket back off his shoulders. "I want to look at you." She told him, "Now that you're back…"

"Is that so?" he asked, his hands moving quickly to pull his shirt off. "See something you like, yo?" Aura nodded, pulling her dress up and over her head. She pushed her hair back from her face again as Reno stepped closer, his hands moving over her appreciatively. Smiling at him again as he carefully took a wayward lock of hair from her face and gently smoothed it back, Aura lifted one of her own hands to Reno's cheek. She met his eyes for the briefest moment before he was kissing her once more, and Aura slid her hand around to the back of his neck as he pressed forward again.

When she felt his hands slide up her thighs, she wrapped her legs around his waist and drew a deep breath when his hands came to rest on her lower back and he held her in place as he pushed into her once more. Aura bit back a gasp and pressed her face into Reno's shoulder. This time he was still for several moments, and she relaxed as his arms wound around her. When he began to move, Aura clung to his shoulders, pressing her lips to his skin in an attempt to muffle the sounds she began to make.

Reno's grip on her tightened, and Aura looked up when he lifted her from the couch, holding her to himself for a moment. "What're you doin?" she asked softly, and one of Reno's hands came up to tilt her chin to look at him.

"Want you on your back..." his grin made her smile at him in return. Reno's eyes flicked around the room and Aura knew that he was debating where to put her. "Couch or bed?"

"Either." Aura breathed, her hand moving up into his hair as he carried her around the couch before he sank onto it, still holding her to himself.

He was more calm now, more steady. Aura lay back against the cushions as Reno moved over her, one of her hands moving through his hair while his own hands moved carefully over her skin. She wondered at the change as she watched him, enjoying the way he held himself over her, and the way she could feel his breath hot on her throat before his lips closed over her skin and she let out a soft moan.

Trailing her hand up his back, Aura closed her eyes as Reno moved inside of her with steady deliberate strokes. She listened as his breathing grew heavier and her own breaths began to come in shorter gasps, and before long he was panting in her ear and each one of his thrusts resulted in a small whimper from Aura. She was clutching at his shoulders now as he braced himself beside her head, his movement becoming more and more hurried as he began to grunt with the effort, and Aura made sure to keep her eyes open to watch him. She felt a shudder run through him when she met his eyes, and he held her gaze as he moved more quickly, her own breath catching in her throat as he did so.

He groaned her name into her ear when he came, trembling over her as he struggled to hold his weight, and Aura wrapped her arms tightly around him, his name on her lips when she fell with a small cry moments later. Reno didn't move for a long while afterwards. He lay atop her, nestled between her thighs, one arm across her chest as he held her pressed into himself, his face hidden in her hair. Aura just held him, her fingers making slow circles on his back as her heartrate slowed and began to return to normal. She was comfortable, and she was in no hurry for them to get up. "So… not dead." He murmured and she nodded in response.

"I believe you."

"Rufus showed me video footage of his office…"

Aura blinked, turning her head to look at Reno. "What?"

"When you slapped him."

"Ah…" She didn't know what to say. Had Reno seen what had happened after? Why would Rufus have shown him that? "So… you saw him…"

"Yes…" She felt Reno's hands tighten on her, and his lips pressed against her throat again. "But you're mine…" She nodded again, wondering if that footage hadn't contributed to the almost possessive way Reno held her.

"Yes, Reno." She murmured, combing her fingers through his hair, "Only yours."