Page 99 of Falling

“I have my sources.” Scarlett shrugs as Kennedy drools over them. “Now me.”

She picks up her present, which is in a small envelope from me.

I try to hide my smile when she opens it. The anticipation surges through me as she takes out the small, handwritten note.

“To Scarlett,” she reads aloud. “‘Here’s a present that you can use for the next year, and you don’t have to lie about sleeping with the hotel owner to get in.’ Wren! You sneaky motherfucker. How did you do this?”

“I havemysources. Plus, if you keep pretending to get access to the hotel without a real ID, you’re going to get thrown in jail, or worse, your family will find out. Now you can stop lying about it. You can use it for a whole year too,” I explain. She jumps into my arms, and I almost topple over as she suffocates me, pressing kisses to my cheeks. “Okay, get off me, you animal.”

She giggles, and we pull apart. I get back up into a sitting position and pick up the gift bag in front of me. I know it’s Kennedy who got me this from the process of elimination and the terrible wrapping. I take out the hundreds of tissue papers before digging my hand into the bag and I pull out…

“Batteries?” I ask Ken. She nods and gestures toward the bag for me to keep looking through it. Then my hand finally hits a big box. I pull it out and start laughing.

“What is it?” Scarlett asks from across me, her knee bouncing like a child. I turn the box around so she can see the front of it. Scarlett also bursts into hysterical laughter. “This is the most Wren thing I’ve ever seen. Now I wish that Ken had me.”

“I had to do a lot of research for this. And the week when the Wi-Fi was down, I had to go to the library to search up where I could get a good one. You wouldn’t believe how many times my account got blocked for searching, ‘Where can I buy the best vibrator?’” Kennedy explains.

“Thanks, Ken. You always get the best presents,” I say when my laughter dies down.

“Well, I thought if you’re not going to sleep with Miles, you might as well get some action elsewhere.” She shrugs, and I couldn’t agree more. Having Miles’s fingers inside me was more than enough, and I can’t let myself get that out of control again. I’d rather slowly set my body on fire than let him kiss me again for real.

Milesand his friends arrive soon after. Xavier arrives with a bottle of expensive champagne, and Evan, rich boy of the century, arrives in jeans and a button-down.

And Miles looks fucking sexy.

He’s wearing a dark blue button-down, his shirt sleeves rolled up, giving me the most delicious view of his arms, and black pants. This is the most I’ve seen him dressed up since the event, and if I wasn’t so committed to keeping things friendly between us, I would have told him that. So instead, I just eye fuck him until he walks toward me.

He immediately snakes his hands around my waist and presses a kiss into my neck even though the only person who doesn’t know this is fake is Evan.

“I got something for you,” he whispers into my skin as everyone walks into the living room, where Kennedy is setting up board games.

I take a step back. “Why?”

“Because it’s Christmas,” he says.

“But why?”

“Because it’s Christmasandyou're my girlfriend,” he says, but it still doesn’t make any sense. We never agreed on getting each other gifts, and I sure as fuck didn’t get him anything. “Do you need everything explained to you? You’re a lot smarter than that, Wren.”

I cross my arms against my chest. “Tell me why you got me something.”

“Because I wanted to.”

I don’t say anything else, and he rolls his eyes. He drags me by the arm into the corridor to my bedroom, and when we get inside, his woody cologne clouds my senses as he towers over me, my back pressed against my closed door.

“What are you doing?” I laugh, looking up at him.

He smirks. “Close your eyes.”

I raise one eyebrow slowly. “Why?”

He takes a step back, hiding the small bag that I only just noticed behind him. “Do you trust me, Wren?” I nod because I do. Probably more than I should. And I'm excited to find out what he got me. “Then close your eyes.”

I do as he says, all my other senses heightened as I feel him move closer to me. The fresh lavender smell of his soap crowds my mind and my senses as I feel his hand come to the top of my chest where my collar is opened slightly.

My breathing picks up as the tips of his fingers skim the exposed skin on my chest. His touch is so soft and light that it drives me crazy, but I keep my eyes closed as he starts to button down my shirt.

When I feel the cold air of my room hit my stomach, I know the shirt is unbuttoned. This whole ordeal feels insanely intimate, like he’s undressing me to lead to something more when I know he isn’t.

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