Page 86 of Born in the Spring

He stops me at the couch as he keeps walking toward the table by the door, then removes something from the top drawer.

Something that turns out to be a small blue box.

My heart clamors as my head whirs with the only thought it can, knowing this is too fast after…and we haven’t even told Amie yet—

He turns my palm up and places the box there, quieting that part of my mind and alerting the part that said we weren’t going to get each other gifts this year because we have everything we want.

My mouth opens on a scolding. “We said—”

“I only said that becauseIhave everything I want,” he cuts in, slipping his hands into the pockets of his pants with a tiny shrug, his stance almost bashful as he adds, “You needed something else.”

The box hinge makes a low creaking sound as I open the top, and a gasp parts my lips as I stare down at the two pearls nestled inside.

“Jasper.” His name is my next gasp as tears fill my eyes, then I meet his with the loudest arguing face I can manage while being speechless. And he only smiles.

“I didn’t work alone.” He starts his explanation and defense in one, putting a crack in my stubbornness. “I know how important these are in connection to your mom, so I talked to her first so she could pick them out.”

I swipe at a tear before it can roll down my cheek, then run my finger over both earrings, stilling once I feel their ridges and cold temperature, as I blink away the haze to then notice the varying tones in their color and their uneven shape.

“They’re real.” My third gasp as I look up agape at Jasper.

“We both agreed they should be,” he murmurs, his eyes so attentive to my face.

“And you paid for them?”

He mouths ayeahthrough his silent laugh, like I’maccusing him of stealing them.

“How much?”

“Money I have to spend,” he says as a simple answer that I try to protest.

“Jasper—”

“You’re mine, Elara.” His hands find my hips again. “To love and honor and cherish andspoil”—his lips quirk with the stress—“forever.”

I let a tear fall, tasting the salt as I look back down at the pearls, a heavy breath releasing itself from my lungs, about to accept the gift, when a panic zips through me. “It’s too much. If I break these too—”

“You won’t break them. You’re with me now.” Jasper soothes me with his teasing assurance, a lilt of cockiness, my thoughts his thoughts, and I laugh.

“You’re funny,” I tease back with a dry tone, then turn one of his palms up to place the box and free my hands, my pulse skipping as I smile up at him. “And wonderful,” I sigh out as I start putting on the earrings, feeling their weight and the weight of Jasper’s still attentive gaze.

When they’re now nestled in my ears, he closes the box and tosses it to the couch, knowing my new pearls’ home will be the old pearls’ home in my jewelry basket.

I swipe away leftover tears and take a breath, risking more wrinkles on his shirt as I grab at him. “Well, I took you seriously, like I expected you to take me seriously, and now I have these beautiful pearls, and you—”

“Have you,” he finishes, taking me by the wrists to move my hands faster up his chest, my arms wrapping around his neck as his then hold me flush against him at my lower back. “And spending this Christmaswithyou…my life with you,” he says low before a smirk touches his lips. “And when the night’s over, we’re gonna come back here, and I’m gonna unwrap my present.”

I tilt down my blush, and Jasper cups my face, my hands lowering back down his chest in two more fists as he lifts my chin, always wanting to see what he does to me.

“I really want to ruin your lipstick,” he breathes out.

I hum, managing to push away from that temptation myself. “If you kiss me now, I won’t let you stop.”

“That means I should kiss you now.”

I laugh into his next tug with another light push away, but not before I glide my finger down the opening in his shirt, leaving him with a coy, “I like unbuttoning things too,” as I make an escape to the coat rack.

He’s on me in a flash, tickling my sides, and I lean against him with more laughs as we stumble around for our jackets.

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