Damn it. She sounded like she was going to cry. He f**king hoped she didn't. "I don't know your favorite flower. Or what kind of candy you like. I don't really know your favorite color. Shouldn't a guy know those things? Shouldn't I know how to please you?" he answered, his voice disgruntled.
Dropping the stuffed bear gently to the floor, she turned to him. "You didn't need to do all this. I've never even gotten flowers before."
What did he do? He went shopping. Big f**king deal! Sure, he'd usually rather have a root canal than go shopping, but for the first time, he'd enjoyed it. "I went shopping. It wasn't exactly a big effort." At the last minute, because he had only just realized that it was Valentine’s Day. How pathetic was that? Thank God for Nina’s thoughtful husband!
"You did all of this for me." Her arm stretched out, motioning toward the full dining room. "The flowers are beautiful. I love them all. I want a piece of that candy so badly that I can taste it already, and everything else is so overwhelming that I'm speechless. I would have been over the moon with a few flowers or a card. You didn't need to do this. It's more gifts than a woman gets in a lifetime. But it isn't the things that amaze me. It's you. Your desire to make me happy. You're the most incredible man on the planet. That's why I love you." She took a long sip from her can of soda and set it on a small, available area of the table.
He caught her body as it rocketed into his arms, savoring her softness as it pressed against him. Warm lips nuzzled his cheek and the side of his neck. As he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, her body gliding slowly along his until her feet touched the floor, he decided that maybe he would give Marcie and Nina a raise instead of a lecture in the morning.
"You're insane. You know that, don't you?" Pulling back, she planted a loud, smacking kiss on his lips. "But I love that about you."
Okay. He was willing to be bat-shit crazy if it made her love him more.
Giving him an adoring look, she added, "But one gift next time, okay? Or a card."
Oh, hell no. He wasn't getting roped into that promise. "We'll see." His answer was noncommittal.
"Wait. I have something for you." She pulled away from him and scampered to her room.
She returned with a small gift bag, decorated with hearts and little devils. "The bag was definitely screaming your name." Shooting him a mischievous smile, she handed him the bag. "I don't really have my own money to spend, so I had to improvise."
"You need more money? Why didn't you tell me?" He glowered at her, pissed that she hadn't told him that she needed cash.
"I don't need you to give me anything more. I want you to take some of it back. I have almost a hundred grand in my bank account. I don't need it, Simon." She met his eyes with a stubborn tilt of her chin.
"You haven't spent hardly any of it. How in the hell are you living, taking care of your needs?"
She snorted. "You take care of my needs. What in the hell do I need money for? I don't have one single need or want. I'm living like a spoiled brat right now. All I have to do is mention something and it magically appears. I don't need to buy one single thing."
"Women love to shop. Buy things. Even when they don't need them." Hell, he knew that much from his mom. Her favorite activity was shopping.
"Not me. I'd rather be reading. Or playing Myth World II if I have time. I have every comfort, every need met." She reached a hand to his face, tracing his lips lightly, running the back of her hand softly over his five o'clock shadow. "The only recurring need I have is you."
She was trying to distract him, and damn him, it was working. "The money was a gift. You're keeping it." he snarled, determined that she wouldn't get her way by getting his c**k hard...which it was. Extremely hard. Totally ready.
"I'm not keeping it." She placed a soft kiss at the side of mouth his mouth. "Open the bag."
He had all he could do not to strip that f**k-me robe from her body and devour her whole. His whole body was tense as he opened the gift bag, trying not to think about his pulsating c**k and his nearly impossible-to-ignore compulsion to be driving into her body right at the moment.
His head jerked up before he could finish the task, suddenly remembering that he needed to tell Kara that the other ass**le that had tried to abduct her was in jail. "They caught the other guy today. He's in jail. You probably have a message from Harris."
"Oh, thank God. You can call off the security. I think they intimidate some of my fellow students. They don't exactly keep a low profile anymore." Her voice was light, but her body visibly relaxed.
He saw the relief on her face. No matter how much she denied that the man had been a threat, he knew it bothered her, knew that she was still frightened. She'd have to be a fool not to be. She had come too damn close to losing her life on the day they had injured her. "Not happening. The security stays."
"I don't need them anymore--"
"No! I can't take the risk of something happening to you. There are too many crazy people out there and I've made enemies over the years." Granted, he hadn't pissed as many people off as his brother Sam had, but you couldn't become a billionaire without having a few people out there who hated your guts. "The security stays."
He pulled on the red tissue paper in the bag, sending pieces of heart-shaped paper fluttering to the carpet. He caught one in his hand, clutching it tightly, before it hit the floor. She dipped a hand into the bag and pulled out the material that lay at the bottom.
She held up the black silk boxer shorts by the elastic. Generally a boxer-briefs type of guy, he stared for a moment before his lips curved upward. The black silk was dotted with little devils and hearts.
"They're so...you, Simon." She wiggled her eyebrows and the underwear at the same time. "You'll look hot. Not that you don't already, but all I could think about was how sexy they'd look on you." She pulled the material to her face, nuzzling the soft silk.
He stared at her with horny fascination, imagining his c**k inside those boxer shorts, her lips on the material. Holy f**k! Those underwear had just become his very favorite. He didn't give a shit if he didn't usually wear traditional boxers.
"I already took the tags off. Try them on so I can take them off later." She held them out to him with a seductive smile.
He had his robe open in seconds and the shorts over his hips a moment later. He shuddered as he felt the soft brush of her delicate hands on his shoulders as she slipped his robe completely off, leaving him standing before her in his new pair of favorite underwear.