Page 33 of Infatuated as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #2)

Sawyer

The first thing I saw when I opened up the door was Holly with her arms crossed over her chest giving me her pissed off face. I had been on the receiving end of that face enough times to know exactly what it looked like.

“What?” I asked, shutting the door behind me. “What’s wrong?”

But she stayed quiet, her head shaking that tiny bit.

“What is it?” I asked, but I still got nothing from her. My mind went back to the morning and then to the night before, trying to think of what I had done to fuck up. Maybe I broke something without realizing it, and Holly had a lot of fancy stuff around the apartment. “What? What did I do?”

“July. Eleventh,” she finally said, emphasizing every last syllable.

I groaned, head thrown back. My birthday. “Who told you? Was it Brodie? How’d you get it out of him?”

“This has nothing to do with your cousin.”

“How’d you find out then?”

She shifted a little on the spot. “One of your co-workers.”

I frowned at her. “Who?”

“Audrey. I met her today.”

“Great,” I said before realizing what she had said. “Wait, you came into the shop today? When?”

“At lunch time. I brought you some food, and then I found out that that was a pointless endeavor, because Sawyer Westbrook barely ever takes a lunch break. ”

“Well… I don’t know, I don’t get hungry at work,” I lied. “You should have told me you were there. We could have eaten together.”

“You told me your birthday was coming up, Sawyer.”

“It is. Technically.”

“ Next year. It’s almost a whole year away. You were with me to celebrate my birthday and you got me such a lovely gift. It’s the best thing anyone’s ever given me.” Her fingers lowered, brushing them along the pendant resting against her chest. “It’s my favorite gift ever .”

“I wanted you to have that.” My eyes flickered down to the necklace, and those words echoed there in my head. My favorite gift ever . “I didn’t give you that so you’d give me something back.”

“You don’t let me do anything for you. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Rubbing at the back of my neck, I just gave her a shrug. “I don’t know.”

Closing the gap between us, she rested her hands on my shoulders, squeezing at me softly. “You always do so much for me. Why can’t I do something nice for you? All I wanted to know was the date…”

“Holly,” I said. Grabbing her hands, I moved us over to the couch, loving how she practically sat herself right there on my lap. “You’re sweet for caring. I appreciate that. But…”

“But?”

“Birthdays just aren’t a big deal for me. My birthday, at least.” I let my hand rest on one of her thighs, the skin all soft and smooth. “I like celebrating yours.”

“But yours is just as important,” she said. “We could have gone somewhere for a few days. A different city, a different state, overseas, some place you’ve never been but always wanted to visit. I would have taken you wherever you wanted to go.”

No one had ever offered me something like that before, but Holly said it all so casually. One swipe of her credit card and she could have done all of that and more, but that had never been my life, and I was still getting used to all of her generosity.

“My birthday’s always just been another day of the year, you know? It’s nothing special,” I said .

Holly kissed at the side of my face softly. “It’s special to me. Really special.”

“I know birthdays for your family are a big deal. But for me… For my family… It’s different, Holly.

No one ever really made it feel important.

” I coughed uncomfortably. “I’d be surprised if my dad even remembered the date.

I don’t think he ever wanted to remember it.

My birthday’s not a celebration for him, you know?

It’s just a reminder of how much he wishes I was never fuckin’ born. ”

“You deserve so much better than that. Your birthday’s important and you’re important and every bad thing he’s ever said about you isn’t true.

” She closed her eyes for a second, pressing a hand to my chest. “My dad, too. If he’s ever said anything that made you doubt yourself or your worth, just know it’s not true.

I love you so much no matter what they both say.

” And then she let out an uneven, shaky breath.

“I’m bringing up bad memories, aren’t I? ”

“It’s okay. I know I need to talk to you about this sorta stuff,” I said.

“You can share everything with me,” she said firmly.

“I know I can’t take away any of those bad memories you have with your dad, but we can make lots of good ones together, and maybe they’ll be the ones you remember first instead of all the bad ones.

I guess the bad ones won’t go away just like that.

Bad memories are harder to forget than the good ones, right? ”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“It’d be so nice if we got to spend the rest of our lives making all those good, better memories.” Her fingers toyed with the collar of my shirt, fidgeting with the material. “For special days like your birthday and just… any day.”

“I want that too. I wanna make lots of good memories with you. You’re my favorite person to make memories with.” I pulled her against me, giving the top of her head a kiss.

“I get why you kept it to yourself, but you can share everything with me. All the important dates and important things. You might not feel like they’re important, but they are to me.

” Holly suddenly sat up straight, pulling herself off my lap, and I instantly missed how she felt on top of me. “Wait!”

I frowned at her. “What? ”

“Stay here. Close your eyes!”

“Wait—”

“Close them!” She grabbed my hands, placing them over my eyes. “Don’t peek!”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll be one minute!”

I was tempted to look over my shoulder at her, the sound of her feet patting against the carpet in my ears, but I kept my eyes firmly shut, letting my hands fall down to the couch.

I sat back against the soft cushions, hearing a tiny bit of commotion behind me.

The fridge opening, plates clattering, Holly humming to herself.

“What are you doin’ back there?” I asked.

“Just wait a minute! I’m nearly—okay, you can look!”

Eyes finally opening, I saw Holly with a plated donut in one hand while her other grasped one of the many big heavy candles she had around the apartment.

“I know it’s not a cake,” she said. “And if we had cake in the fridge I’d use that, but donuts are just as good, right?”

I laughed lowly. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“It’s an éclair on a plate.” She lifted up a shoulder. “Not a big deal. You deserve a proper party and a cake, so this is just a little something until I give you that.”

Not a big deal. But it was. I didn’t get things. I didn’t get cake or donuts or candles or a “Happy birthday, son” or even a damn pat on the back, but the girl standing in front of me with that hopeful look in her pretty eyes was trying to push all those demons away.

“This candle’s getting kinda hot if you wanna blow it out,” she said sheepishly.

“Sorry.” I leaned forward, blowing out the orange candle, the gentle smell of cinnamon in the air. I watched as she set the candle and donut down on the coffee table, climbing back into my lap, and my hands quickly found her waist. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

“Happy birthday,” she whispered. “We can pretend it’s today. ”

“What’s my star sign if it’s today?”

“Hm, Scorpio, I think.”

“Are we compatible?”

She pushed a hand through my hair and sighed dramatically. “I don’t know, but we’ll make it work.”

* * *

The first thing I saw when I woke up on Monday morning was Holly sitting on the bed next to me. Hair all sleek and polished, she was dressed up in some fancy, cream colored coat. And then I saw something behind her. Duffel bags. A lot of them.

“Good morning.” The words sounded so soft on her lips. “Did you sleep good?”

It had been a weird night. A weird weekend, actually.

Holly had been swept up in school stuff, constantly with her head in a book or typing away at her laptop.

But she had been distant too, taking phone calls outside of the apartment like she didn’t want me to listen to a word she—or whoever was on the other line—had to say, or snapping her laptop shut whenever I got too close.

Part of me thought it was because of everything that I had told her the other night.

I wasn’t used to being open, but Holly had a way of making me feel like I was always taking the right steps when I did that.

But her being all distant made me wonder if I had shared too much and scared her off.

Maybe that combined with me being so damn focused on work all the time and then me hiding my birthday from her had done it.

“What’s with the bags?” I asked.

“You deserve to sleep in, but I needed you to get up eventually. I have to tell you something,” she said. “And I know you’re not gonna like what I’m about to say, but I need you to hear me out and not get mad.”

My heart dropped. “Holly… Look, I know I’ve been too busy with work since we got here… And I know I gotta stop doing that…”

“Yes, I agree. ”

“What is it? Was it the other night?”

“What other night?”

“When I told you about… my dad and stuff…” I pushed a hand through my hair. “Maybe I scared you off with all of that. I know I have a lot of, you know, issues with him. I’m working on them. I’m trying to. And you make me feel like I can get past all of them.”

Her eyes rolled. “You didn’t scare me off, you silly goose. You can share things like that with me. I’m your girlfriend, remember?”

“I didn’t freak you out?” I asked.

“No, of course not.”

“Then what’s with all the bags?”

“I’m taking you on a nice long trip upstate. My parents have a place up there, and we’re going to have a lovely, relaxing time. We can pretend like the whole week is your birthday.”

I blinked at her slowly. “Wait, what?”