Page 71 of A Billion Desires

“Take a bite,” Cherry instructed, pointing her fork at me.

“You first.”

She closed her eyes, letting her mouth fall open. “It’s your birthday,” she said, staring at me again, “you go first.”

I smiled at her impatience with me and scooped a piece of the chocolate cake into my mouth. “Mmm, absolutely delicious, my dear.” The coconut icing on the outside was some of the best I’d ever had.

“It’s German chocolate cake. I wasn’t sure what kind you liked, but I can make this one by heart, so that’s what you got.” She dove into her piece—which looked to be half the size of mine.

“Why is your piece so small?” I asked, nodding toward her.

“So that my ass can still fit into this dress tomorrow?” she said, her tongue slipping out and licking at the chocolate on her top lip.

“If it doesn’t, I’ll just buy you a new one.”

She ignored me as we finished our cake. Once I scraped the last bit of icing off the plate, she said, “Present time.”

I set down my fork. “No, you don’t buy me presents, Cherry. That was very kind of you. I have everything I need. Return this,” I said, pointing to the stack of wrapped gifts, “and save your money.”

“I’m starting to understand why you don’t have birthday parties,” she said with a huff. “I bet all your friends stopped coming. You are seriously the worst birthday boy, ever.”

I laughed at her, but stuck to my guns. “You’re starting to catch on. But I mean it. Return whatever you bought.”

She leaned her elbows on the table, then set her chin on her entwined fingers. “I get that you’re richer than God, Nick. I didn’t get you Rolexes or anything. But it did take me a while to pick out what I got for you. Do you think you could feign excitement and open up your crappy gifts now? Please?”

“I’m sure they’re not crappy.”

Her shoulders bounced up and down. “They’re kind of crappy,” she said, making me laugh again.

I exhaled and decided to do as she asked. I’d pay her back for what she spent, no matter what she said. I pulled the top gift off the stack and began tearing the glossy, red paper.

Of course, I was curious about what was inside—but I was even more interested in her reaction.

Right now, she had an adorable smirk on her face. I took this to mean she was more than happy with what she’d picked out for me.

Little did she know I didn’t give one fuck what was inside.

The fact that she’d prepared all this for my birthday was more than anyone had done for me in a really long fucking time.

“You made the pasta yourself? And the cake? Who taught you? If you don’t mind me asking.” I kept removing the paper, then taking the tape off the sides of the box.

Her head nodded, and she grinned wider. “My grandma. It takes forever but it’s worth it.”

I stopped opening the present and gazed over at her. “It most definitely was.”

“She lived with us for a long time,” she said, sharing one more tiny morsel of her life with me.

“It took a while before I was any good,” she said, her eyes getting glassy, but her smile stayed, “I finally got the hang of it.”

“You enjoyed spending time with your grandma?” I asked, hoping it might spark her to tell me more about her life. I had no idea why I seemed so obsessed with wanting—needing—to know more about her and where she came from.

But I did.

“Of course, I did. Who doesn’t love their grandma? Would you open the box already?” she asked, her mouth open as she frowned at me. “You’re taking forever. Does it always take you this long to open gifts?”

I thought on that for a moment, combing my mind for the last time I’d opened a present. “Umm, I’m not sure.”

“Oh my gosh, man. Rip it,” she said, motioning with her hands. That made me burst out laughing, which seemed to frustrate her even further.

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