Page 66 of A Twisted Gift

“Well, now you can get as many books as you want, and you don’t have to keep them hidden. You can fill an entire library up with books if you’d like.”

Setting the book to the side, I slip onto the floor in front of him and fit my mouth to his. He lets out a surprised sound and grabs my waist.

“God, you taste like peppermint,” he groans. “You’re killing me, Raina.”

It takes us a minute, but we finally pull away from each other. Erik has me turn around and sit in between his legs while I open the rest of the presents. I love feeling his warmth at my back, the deepness of his voice soothing me.

There are so many presents that it takes me until lunch to open them all. When I’m done, I stare at the array of books, movies, games, jewelry, candles, bath bombs… The sight of it brings tears to my eyes.

“I always pretended that I didn’t care,” I whisper. “Watching everyone else open presents while I didn’t get any. But…”

“But it hurt,” he finishes for me.

“It did. And this… Erik, I don’t know what to say. No one has ever cared about me enough to do something like this.”

His arms slip around me, and he presses his face into my neck. “We’ll do it for each other, yeah?”

With a teary smile, I turn to face him. “I can’t imagine anything better.”

Chapter twenty-one

Raina

Two months after Charles’s death

A knock sounds on my door, the sound making my heart leap. I’ve been so full of anticipation all day that it’s felt like I’ll burst at the seams.

“Come in,” I call, knowing Erik won’t step an inch into my room without my permission. He’s never broken his promise to me, and I trust that he never will.

“You ready?” he asks.

“I am.”

If I’m being truthful, I’ve been ready since the day Erik broke into my room. I’ve always loved him. Always wanted him. But he needed time, and I can’t deny that I’m grateful for it. It gave me time to learn things, both about sex in general and about my own body. Things that helped me to feel much more confident leading up to today.

Erik smiles as he takes in my outfit. When he first saw this dress on me, I was trying it on in a shop, and he dragged me back into the fitting room and fingered me with a hand over mymouth to keep anyone from hearing. Later, he told me it was the way the blue fabric of the dress brings out the color of my eyes.

“You look beautiful,” he says, his gaze darkening. “I can’t wait to tear that thing off you.”

I frown. “You’d better not rip it.”

He’s had an unfortunate habit of doing that lately.

“I make no promises.”

“Erik!”

“I’ll buy you ten new dresses to replace it.” He’s in front of me now, his lips skating down my neck. “As many as you want.”

“Including replacements for the ones you’ve already ruined?”

“Mmm. Of course, little rose.”

I lost track of the amount he’s spent on me pretty quickly. We opened a checking account in my name, and he deposits money in it monthly for me, but he barely lets me do anything with it.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I ask, “You get off on it, don’t you?”

“What, tearing your clothes off you? I think you know the answer to that.”

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