Page 22 of Gifted

Chapter Twelve

~ Poppy ~

What Noah didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, though my bottom might hurt when he found out and spanked me. The moment he’d entered the grocery, I’d nipped out and gone to one of the other shops. It sold clothing and other household merchandise, as well as some gifty items.

I’d purchased a fishermen-knit sweater for him, as well as hammered, brushed silver cufflinks with a Celtic knot design. I wasn’t sure how Scottish it was, but I thought it would be a nice reminder of being here.

To my surprise, I came across a sexy little Christmas outfit and some pink thigh-high tights with little bows on them. I hadn’t expected to find something like that here, but there were women in this town, and surely, they wanted to please their men, too.

It was all at the bottom of my bag, along with a leather journal I’d also gotten Noah and a travel book about this region of Scotland for me.

“What do you want to do after we get these back to our room?” he asked me.

I gave him a half-smile and raised a brow. Then my gaze skittered away as shyness hit me. I was being a little…forward, maybe. But then, I had called him Daddy and had his cock in my mouth this morning, so there really was no such thing now.

“It’s snowing a lot harder again. Maybe, we can stay in.”

“I can run over to the pub and see about bringing something back. To-go containers for leftovers aren’t really a thing, but they might have takeout. If not, I’ll figure out something. Then we can hang out in the room, watch another movie…”

“And kiss and stuff,” I added when he trailed off.

“And kiss and stuff.” He chuckled, shaking his head, but I saw the heat in his eyes. “Sounds like a plan.”

I was mostly interested in the and stuff, but I didn’t know how to say so. I was aware the phrasing made me sound young, and I hated that. Still, I couldn’t really fake experience I didn’t have. I didn’t really have those kind of acting skills.

Annoyed with myself, I grimaced and stared at the slushy snow piling up on our path.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, catching my mood.

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Yeah, my mom tells my dad that when she’s pissed off.”

I laughed. “I’m not pissed off. I was just thinking.”

“Share?”

I glanced around to see if anyone was in earshot. No one. “It’s embarrassing.”

Crap, now, he’d probably think I’d gotten my period or cold feet or something. None of which were true. I was more concerned with him changing his mind, since he’d been so against anything between us just last night.

“I don’t want you to change your mind because I’m younger than you are.” I hated pointing it out, but bald honesty was part and parcel to the lack of brazen acting skills.

“Little lamb, I’m definitely not changing my mind. I’m more concerned about your feelings. If you’d rather we didn’t—”

Moving fast, I reached up and covered his lips with my mittened hand, almost smacking him with my bag in the process. “Don’t say that.”

He growled then nipped at my hand through the fabric. His arms came around me, our parcels banging into our bodies as we moved. It was perfect, especially being pulled tight to his larger frame.

“Not ever changing my mind about you,” he rumbled against my ear, his warm breath skating along my neck and making me tremble more than the cold did.

“Me, either. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted you, Noah. How often I’ve…thought about you.”

I felt him nod, but he kept hugging me tight there on the walkway. “We do need to talk, though. Before anything happens.”

“That sounds ominous. Do you have a wife or something?”

“Fuck, no. If I had a wife, no force on earth would have gotten me into that bed with you, even just to sleep like we did. You certainly wouldn’t have had my cock fucking your mouth this morning. Same with if I had a girlfriend.”

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