Page 65 of Loving You

Reaching into his apparently very spacious jacket pocket, he pulled out a flat, rectangular box. Sliding it across the table, he watched me as I took in the pretty wrapping. It was way too big to hold a ring or even a bracelet, butfuck,was it a necklace? If so, as gorgeous as it would probably be, that wouldn’t be good.

It would be theoppositeof good. It would be triggering in the worst way, and I immediately knew this entire night would be ruined if so.

“Eric, what is it?”

“Open it.”

“Tell me first.”

Something in his eyes showed me he understood the gravity of my request, and he dipped his chin. “It’s a planner.”

Relieved beyond measure—and also highly amused thatthiswas his idea of a birthday gift—I giggled. “A planner?”

“Open the damn box, April.”

With shaky fingers, I did as I was told, revealing a beautiful, leather-bound planner with my first name engraved in a delicate script in the bottom-right corner, next to an image of my favorite flower, a tulip. I flipped it open, finding no lines or boxes with days of the week. Instead, each page had a grid of dots.

“There’s a custom gift shop in town and I pulled some strings to have it engraved today. You know, since I only just found out it was your birthday.”

I mock glared at him, and he returned the gesture.

“I’ve personally witnessed the mess of papers and sticky notes you use to keep your work… organized.” He paused, jerking his shoulders as if my organized chaos was enough to give him hives. “So, I thought something like this would be perfect for you. You can format each page to suit your needs, so it’s flexible rather than too structured, but still keeps everything all in one place. There are online tutorials you can watch for how to use a planner like this.”

Tears welled up before I could stop them, and I blinked rapidly to clear them. “It’s perfect. I love it. And I love—”

He straightened in his chair, not appearing unwilling, exactly, to hear the next words, but bracing for impact.

“If you still want me to wait a while to tell you how I feel about you, I will. But this means more to me than you’ll ever know, and when I do tell you how I feel about you, I think you’ll be happy to hear it.”

“I have a feeling I might. But does it make me an asshole for wanting to wait until after we resolve things with your ex? I don’t want that to be tied up inthis.”

I watched him watch me for a beat, then narrowed my eyes. “You told me first, you know.”

His eyes sparkled as he fought off a grin. “I know.”

“I’ll wait if it means that much to you,” I said, reaching for his hand. Then instead of taking it in mine like he expected me to when he opened his, I trailed my fingers along his palm and lowered my voice to a husky whisper. “But just so we’re clear, actions speak louder than words sometimes. So even if I don’t say the words out loud, I can still make youfeelthem.”

I pulled my hand back and picked up my fork, and with a long, meaningful sigh, he picked his own up again and finally took a bite of his food.

We ate together in companionable silence for a few minutes, then after a while, Eric jerked his chin toward the planner. “So, you really love it?”

“I do.”

“And someday, when you’re ready, do you think you can confide in me about the birthday aversion?”

I held his stare for a long moment, then nodded. “I do.”

“Good. How’s your food?”

“Amazing. Orgasmic. Best pastawhateverin the world.”

He smiled wryly. “A little unsolicited advice: don’t ever let Will hear you speak so casually abouthisfood.”

“I’ll try to remember that. But these days, I’m the kind of food-lover who doesn’t care about fancy names or what’s in it as long as it tastes good, and this mystery meal right here tastes downright delicious.”

“‘These days’?”

Huffing out a shaky breath, I put down my fork and leaned back in my chair. He’d opened up to me, so it was only right for me to return the favor inthisway since it felt somehow safer than discussing my aversion to birthdays. “I had an approved menu.Before.It started with him ordering for me when we went out to eat and eventually turned into an actual list of off-limits foods and drinks. Including alcohol. All those sugars and carbs are dangerous, apparently. Which sucked for me because champagne is basicallymein drink form, don’t you think?”

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