Page 164 of A Little Tempting

“Why, thank you.” I adjust my glasses and shift onto my elbows. “Merry Christmas to you, too, by the way.”

“How’d you sleep?”

“Good. You?”

“Never better.”

He dives in for one more quick peck, but I block it with my hands and fall back onto the pillow. “Morning breath.”

“So?”

“So, I haven’t brushed my teeth yet! No kissing until my teeth are brushed. PS—What time is it?”

“It’s seven in the morning.”

My brows pinch. “Why’d you wake me up so early?”

“We have to be at your parents’ house at nine,” he reminds me. “Besides, I got you something.”

“I thought we agreed you weren’t allowed to buy me any more presents.”

“Youagreed.” He scoots to the edge of the bed but hesitates before revealing my present. “Close your eyes.”

“Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. Close. Your. Eyes.”

Covering my face with my hands, I listen for any clues but am only met with the softest of clinks. Then, his deep, husky voice orders, “Open.”

My eyelids flutter for an instant, and I sit up fully, reaching for the glass aquarium resting on the nightstand that most definitely wasn’t there thirty seconds ago. “What is it?”

“Look,” he prods.

I lean closer, grateful for the morning light spilling in through the window and giving me a glimpse of what’s inside the large glass terrarium. There’s water. Dirt. Green plants with big leaves. A light. The thing is legit. And then I see it. A bright green frog in the corner of the aquarium. My jaw drops.

“You didn’t.”

“I did.”

I shake my head, caught between laughing and full-blown peeing my pants. “No, you didn’t.”

“I most definitely did,” he counters.

“You bought me a frog.”

“I bought you a frog.”

“Finley’s going to kill you.”

“Not when we can threaten her with this little guy.” He shifts the glass terrarium, aquarium,thinga little closer to the edge of the nightstand without unplugging the light or the pump for the water. With my nose a few inches from the glass, I marvel at the little devil as he takes a littlehop-hopand jumps in the water.

Clutching at my chest, I whisper, “My heart.”

“Do you like him?”

“Like him?” I tilt my head, turn to my boyfriend, and move onto my knees. “Dude, I love him. What’s his name?”

“He’s yours. You get to name him.”

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