Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
I nodded and followed, watching him flip off the lights downstairs as we passed them. They hadn’t put up a tree, and Am and I had trudged back to the garage apartment to grab the tiny one I’d bought and decorated with dollar-store ornaments, and we’d propped it up on top of some books besides the TV. The lights were battery-operated, and neither of us bothered turning them off.
Rhodes kept holding my hand as we got into his room, but it was me who kicked the door shut behind us. He glanced at me with surprise, and I smiled at him.
“Sit. Please,” he said after a second, before ducking into his closet.
I took a seat on the edge of the bed, tucking my hands between my thighs as he rooted around and produced two boxes. He’d wrapped them in brown paper, all nice and neat just like his ironing. He held out the smallest one first, stopping to kneel directly in front of me with the other box in hand.
“Here,” he said.
I smiled at him and slowly tore the paper, pulling out the gift inside and noticing the name printed on the top. My mouth formed an O.
“Since you won’t buy your own,” he explained as I opened the box, moved the tissue paper aside, and pulled out the tall, slip-on boots with fleece-like lining around the tops. “Now your toes won’t be freezing every time you leave the house.”
I hugged the boot to my chest. “I love them. Thank you.”
“Make sure they fit,” he said, already reaching down for my foot and lifting it up. I didn’t say a word as I handed him the shoe and watched as he slipped it on me, giving it a couple jiggles to get it over my heel.
His irises flicked up. “Good?”
I nodded, my heartbeat starting to pound away in my throat, and he did the other one. I scrunched up my toes to make sure they had the perfect amount of room, even though I was having a hard time paying attention to anything other than him kneeling on the ground in front of me, putting my boots on for me. “Perfect fit. Thank you so much. I love them,” I breathed, giving him another smile.
He reached to the side and handed me the second box.
“You really didn’t have to,” I told him, already opening it.
“I only got you things you need,” he explained.
I smiled at him as I finished ripping the paper off and then the tape holding the box closed and opened it to find something tangerine-colored inside. It was a down jacket. I recognized the brand as one of the most expensive ones we carried at the shop.
“It’s winter here a third of the year, and you’re always shivering when you come rushing in since that jacket of yours is too thin,” he said quietly. “We can return it if you’d rather get something else.”
I set the jacket aside.
And I threw myself at him.
Literally.
My arms went around his neck so fast he didn’t have time to brace, but somehow managed to, my cheek to his, my legs straddling his hips from where he’d been kneeling. And I hugged him. I hugged him just as tight as he’d hugged me after opening his frames.
The jacket wasn’t a diamond bracelet or a ruby necklace. It wasn’t some expensive purse picked blindly just because it was expensive. It wasn’t a new laptop I didn’t need because my old one was only a year old.
These were things I needed. Things that he knew I needed. Things to keep me warm because that mattered to him.
They were two of the most thoughtful gifts I’d ever been given.
“What’s this big hug for, huh?” he asked against my cheek as his arms went around the middle of my back, holding me steady on his lap as he rocked back to rest on his heels like we’d been in this position a hundred times before. “Are you getting upset?”
There were tears in my eyes, tears that snuck onto his neck and the collar of his sweater. “I’m getting upset because you’re so nice. It’s your fault.”
He hugged me a little tighter. “It’s my fault?”
“Yes.” I pulled back a little, took in the heavy lines of his bone structure, his brows, that adorable chin, and I kissed him.
Not like before, when they’d been pecks that had fed my soul with their sweetness, but really did it.
Rhodes groaned as he kissed me back—our first real-real fucking kiss. His lips were as soft and perfect as I remembered, and I doubted there was a mouth in the world better than his. Tilting his head to the side, Rhodes kissed me slowly, softly. Still so sweetly. He took his time, his warm lips plucking at my bottom one, sucking the tip of my tongue and starting all over again, the palms of his hands going up and down my back, holding me to him and touching me all at the same time.