Page 158 of Holiday Hire

She glances at it again, then sets it on the bed. She tosses her arms around me, kisses me, then says, "I love it. Thank you."

I pull her closer, and we kiss for a long time until I murmur, "I'm going to have to get you more gifts."

She retreats from the kiss. "You don't have to buy me any gifts. You know that, right?"

"Of course. And I know you don't expect anything. But I like buying you stuff. Especially things you actually want."

She stares at me and bites her lip.

"Don't get all weird on me about me getting you a gift. You should change your viewpoint on money anyway," I add.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you come from a scarcity mentality. You should come from a thriving mentality."

She scoffs. "It's not easy to come from an abundance mentality when you don't have much."

"I don't know. I bet we can change your mindset," I declare.

She laughs and gives me a little salute. "Aye, aye, sir."

"I'm glad you like it though."

"I do," she affirms.

"Good." I kiss her again, and within minutes, I'm tugging her shirt off and unhooking her bra.

Her phone blares with a new song she added to her ringer last week. She retreats from me a step.

"Do you have to get that?" I question, pulling her back to me.

"No." She kisses me again, and the song dies, but then it rings again. She pulls away and scrunches her forehead. "Maybe I should get that."

"Okay. Maybe you should."

She goes over to her desk, picks up her phone, then turns it off, groaning.

"Who is it?" I question.

"No one. Let's go back to what we were doing." She takes two steps toward me, and her phone rings again. Her face falls and then irritation blooms in her expression. She grabs her phone again and silences it.

I press, "Baby girl, who is it?"

She rolls her eyes. "It's Lance."

My gut drops and then anger fills it. "Lance? Why is he calling you?"

She shakes her head in annoyance. "To bug me, why else?"

My jealousy flares. "I didn't know you were still in contact with him."

"I'm not."

"Then why is he calling you?"

Her head jerks back. She holds her hands in the air. "I don't know. He likes to call and try to get me back. I don't take his calls though."

The jealousy explodes inside me. "You made a big stink about Cheyenne, who I've done nothing with since you got here, and you've still been in contact with Lance?"

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