Page 74 of Saving Shepperd

“Hellllll no,” she groaned. “I’m so full, you may have to just roll me to the bedroom tonight.”

“It’s chocolate,” I sing-songed to taunt her.

“You’re an evil man, you know that, don’t you?” she said through a wide grin.

“You love me anyway.”

“It’s true. I do. Very much, as a matter of fact.” She leaned over and kissed me softly.

If I didn’t have a major surprise up my sleeve, I would’ve deepened that sweet kiss into something we both wouldn’t walk away from.

But I sat up straight in my chair and looked at her for a long moment. When I reached for her hand, she willingly wrapped hers around mine.

“Do you know what today is?” I asked. I knew she would because she was one of those girls who was obsessed with dates. Our first kiss, our first date, our first fuck even. We celebrated it all!

“Of course I do,” she said proudly. “It’s been six months of putting up with your ass.”

Shepperd, it turns out, had a wicked sense of humor. She was funny and witty too, but most of all, so sarcastic. She could come back with a one-liner for almost anything. More times than I could count, a serious conversation or even a disagreement ended with us laughing so hard we had tears rolling down our cheeks. It was just one of her many gifts.

I rolled my eyes, calling her bluff. I knew I made her as deliriously happy as she made me. All jokes aside, we were perfect together.

“Well, despite the fact that you’re such a smartass, I have something for you.” I went to the cabinet where I stashed the box and pulled it down from the shelf. The parcel was a flat square. A little bigger than a shirt box, and the same length on all four sides. There was a yellow satin ribbon tied into an artful bow on top that reflected the overhead light when I set it in front of her.

“Law…” she started as her eyes bounced between me and the box. “What did you do?”

“Open it and find out,” I encouraged. I loved giving her gifts. Her reaction was always so humble and grateful but more than anything, happy. We both made peace with the fact that gift giving was my love language, and I was over apologizing for spoiling her every chance I got.

“But I didn’t get you anything.”

“Having you in my life is the best gift you could ever give me.”

She rolled her eyes.

Her response coaxed a dark growl from the back of my throat. “Was that an eye roll in my direction, miss?”

She’d gotten a little taste of the darker side of my personality in the bedroom and enjoyed provoking me whenever she could. I’d be more than happy to end the night with a good discipline session.

“Maybe.” She added a shrug on the end for extra effect.

“Open the present before I take you over my knee, woman.”

She giggled and tugged on the ribbon, unleashing the bow into a haphazard pile of satin.

I was equally as excited as she was. Well, probably more so because I knew what was inside. As she lifted the lid, I held my breath.

There was always that moment of panic in my gut right before the recipient discovered what I gave them. What if she didn’t like it? What if it was, like everyone kept insisting, too much, too fast? No, I knew it wasn’t. I knew all the afternoons that led to this idea and all the effort to execute this surprise. I knew Shepperd would be blown away.

Studying her reaction, I tried to gauge if I was correct or not. She looked at the contents and then at me. Then back to the gift and right back to me once more.

“Law? What is this?” She gulped, sounding so small and uncertain.

“What does it look like?”

“Well, it looks like a real estate listing for the house we looked at a few weeks ago. This is the one in Malibu, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “It sure is.”

Months ago, we’d discovered we both had a secret love of touring open houses. So at least twice a month, we’d take a Saturday to look at amazing properties all over Los Angeles. Some we loved instantly. Some not so much. Then we’d spend the drive home talking about what we’d change or how we’d decorate each one to make it the perfect home.

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