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Chapter twenty-two

Gifts

R ai was awakened by a giggle and a kiss on the cheek.

He opened his eyes. Poppy was leaning over him, beaming.

She was fully dressed, one of her intriguing T-shirts hugging her curves, and he could not hold back a pout.

He was quite energized after the all-night rain and had hoped to drown himself in Poppy’s sweet essence yet again.

“Wake up, sleepyhead!” She rubbed her nose against his. “You’ve got presents to unwrap.”

“Ah, that is why you are clothed,” he murmured, still sleepy. He began to tug her shirt upward.

She drew back, laughing, and pulled her shirt back down.

“No, real presents.” She pushed at his shoulder, rolling him away from her until a pair of brightly colored boxes came into sight, one large and square, the other long and thin.

“They just got delivered this morning. Sorry it’s Christmas paper—that’s all I have, and I didn’t have any ribbons, but I wanted to make it special. ”

Rai blinked. “You have purchased me gifts?” He could not recall the last time he had been gifted anything unexpectedly—his family often contacted him on his name day, of course, but he wanted for nothing, and was rarely in a community long enough to be part of a festival or to build a friendship.

He received hospitality, yes, but not gifts.

But perhaps this was another human thing he should accustom himself to—certainly the ads he saw on Google often suggested baubles and flowers for one’s lover.

Of course, he was not certain what he would do with boxes, however lovely, but the etiquette sites had told him that with gifts it was the thought that counts. How kind Poppy was!

“They’re nothing big,” Poppy said, and Rai turned back to face her. Her face was pink and she was smiling, wriggling as if she were too full of energy to be contained.

“They seem quite large,” Rai reassured her, drawing her into his embrace. “And they are indeed lovely boxes. Truly I shall enjoy filling them.”

She laughed as if he’d made a jest. “You have to open them, doofus.” She bent and kissed him, then reached out and grasped the long, thin box, setting it in his hands.

Rai sat up and studied the box, aware that Poppy was eagerly watching. But what was he supposed to do?

He carefully slid a finger into what seemed like an opening.

The bright patterned paper tore, and he froze.

Poppy bounced. “Go on, just rip it off! Unless you like to save the paper. But you didn’t strike me as a save-the-paper kind of guy.”

He gritted his teeth and ripped and ripped—it was delightful!—exposing a plain cardboard box. A sealed plain cardboard box. He frowned at it, puzzling where to rip next. Cardboard was no match for his strength, of course, but what could be inside? If he broke it, would Poppy weep? Almost certainly.

“Hang on, I’ve got scissors for the tape.” Poppy handed him a pair of shears with bright plastic handles. Rai glared at them for a moment while he figured where his fingers should go, then snipped at the shiny bits.

The box came open and he reached in to pull out the contents. “An umbrella?” The furled fabric was patterned in familiar shades of blue.

Poppy bounced again. “You didn’t want to take mine, remember? Open it!” She stilled. “Unless you’re superstitious. Are you superstitious?”

Rai fumbled at the handle and found the mechanism to open the umbrella, spreading it out to show— “My shirt!” He frowned at it. “ What are those?”

“Cats!” Poppy flopped onto his shoulder, gazing at the umbrella with him. “It’s the Great Wave of Kanagawa, but with cats. Do you like it?”

Rai stared at it for a long moment, his heart overflowing.

“It is magnificent,” he whispered at last. He was unsure what a cat was, but the shapes reminded him of the jaguars of Brazil, and he felt…

He was not certain what he felt, except that renewed love for Poppy flooded through him.

She had never seen his true self, he was sure of it, yet on every occasion she showed that she somehow understood him, could read his subtext even though he was so careful not to say it.

Perhaps…she would love his subtext if he told her?

No. Of course not.

Poppy rolled over on top of him, her face blocking his view of the umbrella. “I’m glad you like it. I’ve been so worried you’ll catch cold, going out in the rain so much.”

“You are most kind.” Rai let the umbrella fall off to the side, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her down for a kiss.

She giggled against his lips. “You have to open the other one.”

“You are so happy,” Rai said, stroking her cheek. Her eyes were sparkling. He could not help but compare to the day before, when the letter had stolen her spark, made her eyes dull and sad. She was like quicksilver, like lightning herself, the way she changed.

Her smile softened. “I haven’t gotten to give presents in… I always make something work for Mom for Christmas. But not a just-because gift.” She glanced away. “And I wasn’t sure… Well. They’re just little things. And if you don’t like them—”

“I love them.” He kissed her nose.

“You haven’t even opened the second one yet.” She rolled past him, catching up the larger box and setting it on his stomach.

Now that he knew the bright paper was to be discarded, he sat up and ripped at it with abandon, growling dramatically as he flung it aside to make Poppy laugh more.

This box was brightly patterned with photos and words on the outside.

He frowned at them, puzzling them out. He knew the words, but they did not make sense together, no matter how he considered them.

“What is a beer helmet ?” he asked at last, admitting defeat.

“Welcome to America! Though…I guess you came from an America. Just not ‘Murica. Sorry. I’m being weird.” Poppy rolled away, reaching off the side of the bed and returning with a full water bottle in each hand.

“I don’t know if you like beer, but it should work for water, too.

I figured you could wear it while I’m painting you so you don’t have to move as much.

And…and I’m babbling. Just… I know you like water. ”

Rai eyed her sharply, but she did not seem suspicious. Simply pleased. “My thanks,” he said and leaned over to kiss her again.

Her eyes danced. “Let’s try it!”

Together they opened the box, and Poppy helped him fit the water bottles with tubes and adjust the hard plastic hat to fit his head.

It was a beautiful bright blue, shaped like the yellow ones he had seen men wear when cleaning up storm debris or repairing the damage he had caused.

He snorted at the irony but hastily smiled when Poppy looked uncertain.

“It is perfect,” he said and basked in her relieved grin.

When it was in place, Poppy watched eagerly as he solemnly put the drinking tube in his mouth and sucked. “I hope it doesn’t taste weird,” she said. “I washed the tubes like the instructions said before I wrapped it.”

“It is good,” Rai said, both moved and confounded.

Though the hat was clever—and again Poppy had seen him clearly, despite his subterfuge—it also meant his secret hoard of water bottles, once more filled as she’d slept, was now useless.

He would not be able to easily disguise his consumption with the water bottles displayed atop his head.

Still, it had been a rainy night, and the weather app promised more rain today.

Surely he would be able to endure? He would need to return to his motel tonight regardless, to maintain his businessman facade.

Poppy flopped back on the bed beside him. “So you like it.”

“I do.” He let out another growl and rolled over to gaze at her, then bent to kiss her throat. “You are an endless delight.” He slid down to nuzzle her breasts. “A font of kindness.” He rucked up the hem of her shirt to kiss her belly. “A river of—”

She burst out laughing, though she was stroking the hair at the nape of his neck. “You are not seriously going down on me wearing the hat.”

He lifted his head and met her gaze, grinning. “Helmets are for protection. I only wish to be prepared. Like a Girl Scout.” He pressed a kiss to Poppy’s mound through her leggings, and her laughter was interrupted by a moan.

“You are going to earn so many badges.” She tilted her hips up and helped push her leggings off.

And though she continued to laugh as Rai pleasured her with his mouth, her gasps of release punctuated by frenzied giggles, by the time he had reduced her to quivering bonelessness and prowled back up her body to join with her fully, she had melted into a crooked smile that was part laughter and part desire, and all joy .

When he had spent himself in her and disposed of the condom—he had the trick of it now—he did remove the helmet and set it aside so he could lay his head beside hers on the pillow.

“Okay,” she murmured, regarding him through her eyelashes. “I am definitely leaving a five-star review for the hat. New kink unlocked.”

“It is most useful.” Rai caught up the helmet again, inspecting the tubes, but they did not appear to be bent.

Ah, kink must be another word with a second sexual meaning, as naughty had been.

He would have to look it up later. To cover his foolishness, he unfastened the half-full water bottles, offering one to Poppy.

She tilted up enough to drink, then fell back with a sigh, holding the water bottle high and gazing at it. “You’ve got a convert to the church of water.”

He drank his own swiftly. “I have read that nearly seventy-five percent of Americans are dehydrated. It is astonishing that die-dration is not more common. I have Googled, yet it does not return any percentages.”

She snorted. “I think we just get dehydrangry.” She flickered a glance at him. “I made that word up. It’s like hangry but for water. Or should it be thangry? Like thirsty plus angry?”

“Why do Americans not drink enough when devices like this exist?”